Study finds untapped potential in underused resource

“If we optimize the use of health data, we are convinced that they are sources of innovation and efficiency for our health system“, according to Emma Ros, Health project manager at the Institut Montaigne, a think tank on public policies. He is at the origin of a study which was just published on February 27. Baptized “Health data: let’s give them a second life“, it is based on hearing”of around sixty people from the public and private world to have the different trends and obstacles“, detailed the expert to The Digital Factory.

Giving health data a second life

The goal of secondary use of health data is, as the expression suggests, to give the data a second life. Every day, healthcare professionals and patients produce a lot of data that feeds medical records, Health Insurance reimbursement bases as well as the information systems of healthcare establishments. This data is collected as part of the treatment. As the Montaigne Institute explains, “it is possible to give a second life to health data through secondary use: this involves taking advantage of the data collected as part of care“.

The benefits of secondary use are immense, according to the study. Emma Ros cites a few, such as shortening the duration of clinical trials by making patient cohorts, or control cohorts, available to researchers quickly and making them more reliable. It also mentions the establishment of “synthetic control arms” which means “a cohort of virtual patients presenting all the properties of real patients“. Besides “saving time“, this device allows “reduce the detectable placebo effect in a real-life clinical trial“.

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