o s o z w o rld
Data-based innovation in healthcare needs a systematic change approach Maritta Perälä-Heape, Director of the Centre for Health and Technology at the University of Oulu (Finland), researches data-driven care and innovation ecosystems. We talk about the value of data in healthcare, the promise of the upcoming European Health Data Space, and the new strategy for data utilization for the benefit of citizens. Do we realize the usefulness of data in health care?
The value of data is still underestimated. Their true potential can be achieved only if we know data management principles, their importance in secondary use, and understand the technologies which are bringing new insights into preventive healthcare. It is a complex issue that cannot rely only on technical competencies but also must involve social-based determinants. Therefore, healthcare professionals have to take action and build the data management strategy while developing new predictive data-led service concepts. Furthermore, the value of data is higher if advanced analytic methods are involved, while the value of predictive analytics is realized only if good quality data is available. Thus, we need to build competencies in data collection, data sharing, and data processing and invest more and more in the data-based innovation mechanisms. The European Health Data Space will make data available for scientific purposes and policy-making. Should citizens be excited or concerned?
Citizens and patients are at the center of EHDS. Individuals will be able to share their health data with doctors or caregivers in a self-determined way, make them ava-
ilable to third parties such as research institutions, and use them for their own health purposes. Personalized healthcare stands to benefit significantly from the EHDS implementation. Is EHDS an ecosystem that will boost the use of secondary data for research, personalized health, and policymaking? Is it what you were waiting for?
We need new ways to make most of the data, especially regarding their secondary use. The European-level ap-
OSOZ Polska 4/2022
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