The growth in healthcare data can be attributed to broader access to and adoption of digital tools as well as the ability for these tools to allow physicians to continuously monitor individuals. Consumer-facing digital tools expand the population that can generate health data. Individuals who were not “patients” or formally enrolled in clinical research were previously excluded from the data collection processes, but digital tools provide all internet-connected individuals with the opportunity to monitor and track their health status outside the four walls of healthcare. For instance, while traditional blood pressure cuff monitors provide static, infrequent measurements, wrist-worn devices can continuously record vitals over time with minimal effort from any end-user. Smartphones have become the access point to the end-consumer. Thirty percent of US smartphone owners use at least one health app, many of which allow individuals to track various health measures (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, physical activity, sleep). Researchers are also leveraging smartphones to reach a large population—more than 50 researchers have already contributed to Apple’s open source ResearchKit platform, and over 100,000 individuals around the world have chosen to contribute their data to advance research. Many digital health technologies enable more convenient, cost-effective means to collect discrete health measures, such as blood pressure and glucose, that clinicians can draw upon in decision-making processes. For example, AliveCor is an iPhone case that acts as a tool for consumers to take an electrocardiogram (ECG) at home or on-the-go. The ECG reading can be interpreted by a physician (or algorithm) to diagnose cardiac arrhythmias. Additionally, the digital footprint that consumers leave when they engage with the internet, through web browsing or social media activity, provides novel data that can be leveraged for healthcare purposes. Consumers on sites such as Facebook and Twitter are frequently willing to share their social media data, allowing researchers to draw correlations between this data and health outcomes. As other types of consumer data continue to be collected digitally (e.g., shopping behavior tracked through mobile apps), the industry has the opportunity to leverage the resulting data to create more holistic pictures of an individual and tailor care plans accordingly.
So - called digital biomarkers could change the way healthcare providers and payers offer treatment and insurance to patients , according to a new report from top healthcare venture capital fund , Rock Health . The technology would allow insurers to incentivise their offerings , and design their policies around the data they receive . Elsewhere , hospitals could use digital imaging to identify individuals at the highest risk , and therefore the highest cost to the system . The healthcare defines digital biomarkers as " consumer - generated physiological and behavioral measures collected through sophisticated digital imaging that can be used to explain , influence and/or predict health - related outcomes " , with an emphasis on the importance of " outcomes " : healthcare only becomes a biomarker when it has an impact .