How Personalized Health Data Is Empowering Patients

The coming together of high-speed mobile Internet, consumerization and wider availability of advanced medical devices, and integration of advanced health features in smartwatches and other wearable devices has given rise to one of the most powerful healthcare trends over the last decade: patients and other healthcare seekers are moving beyond being just passive recipients of medical care and are becoming rather active participants in their own health and wellness journeys. 

Responding to this trend, the global healthcare industry is now actively innovating to make this active involvement possible through a process termed ‘patient empowerment’. Personalized health data is a key enabler of patient empowerment, as it provides individuals with unprecedented access to information about their own health. 

Personalized health data includes genetic data, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), data from wearable devices, and patient-reported outcomes. Taken together, this data is influencing the way patients interact with healthcare providers (physicians, clinics, or hospitals) and manage their health.

One of the most exciting features of personalized health data is its potential to increase patient awareness and engagement. Patients who have access to detailed health information are more likely to understand the full nuances of their conditions and make informed decisions about the treatment. When patients can easily access and review their own health data, they become more proactive in managing their health, asking informed questions, and participating actively in their care. This level of engagement is essential for effective healthcare because informed patients are more likely to follow treatment plans and adopt healthier habits.

Personalized health data is also important for improving self-management, especially for individuals with chronic conditions. Patients can adjust their lifestyle and treatment plans on time by using their personal devices to continuously monitor their vital signs such as blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and physical activity. Wearable devices and mobile health apps serve an important role in this process, providing real-time feedback to patients and helping them stay on track. 

Personalized health data is revolutionizing patient care, enabling active health management, and improving patient-doctor communication.

Recent research has shown that among adults with Type 2 diabetes, there was a significantly greater decrease in HbA1c levels over eight months with continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) compared to blood glucose meter monitoring.1 This indicates how personalized health data can significantly improve disease management and overall health outcomes.

The perks of personalized health data go further to treatment plans. The practice of precision medicine, which adjusts treatments to a person's genetic makeup and specific health conditions, is becoming more feasible because of personalized health data. Understanding a patient's unique genetic profile allows healthcare providers to prescribe more effective medications and therapies with fewer side effects. This technique reduces the process of trial and error frequently linked with determining the best treatment, resulting in faster and better outcomes for patients.

Interactions between patients and healthcare providers is another area where personalized health data is having an important impact. Patients and physicians can have more effective and meaningful talks when both parties have ready access to health data. A patient’s preferences and values are taken into consideration through this shared decision-making process, resulting in more individualized and satisfactory care. 

Further, telemedicine platforms that include individual health data further improve this communication by facilitating in-depth virtual consultations. According to a recent study, 67% of surveyed patients felt more confident discussing their health concerns with doctors when they had access to their health data.2 This access to personalized information facilitates more informed discussions and enhances the overall patient-doctor communication experience.

And it’s not just about patients. Data from wearable devices and health apps is helping all users make better lifestyle choices. These handy devices provide real-time feedback on physical activity, sleep, diet, and other health-related behaviors, and even send alerts or notifications to wearers to be more active, which motivates and helps users to stay focused on managing their health effectively.

Finally, while we recognize and appreciate the various benefits of personalized health data in patient empowerment, a few concerns must still be addressed to weed out any untoward risks. First, a person’s health information is highly sensitive and private, and to guard against its misuse and unauthorized access, the acts of storing, managing, or transmitting personalized health data among devices or networks demands highest levels of security and privacy measures. It is equally important to carefully negotiate the ethical and legal challenges pertaining to permission, data ownership, and possibly unfair treatment.

Second, it is necessary to ensure the dependability and accuracy of data gathered from diverse sources. Third, patients must possess a certain degree of health literacy to fully make sense of their own health data and use it for informed decision-making. Fourth, a seamless integration of personalized health data with the current EHRs and healthcare systems must be enabled for all-encompassing care. 

Ultimately, personalized health data can truly lead to patient empowerment by providing them with better information, better ways to control their own health, and more individualized treatment regimens. Healthcare systems can take advantage of it and help patients and other individuals take charge of their own health, but they must address the various concerns around security, privacy, patient literacy, and ethical use of data. But the larger picture is clearer today more than ever: personalized health data will be an integral part of the future of healthcare.

Author: Ayush Jain, CEO, Mindbowser Inc.