Soon, data will be at the heart of the healthcare revolution. The global healthcare big data market is set to be worth $71.6 billion by 2027, with providers investing as much as 25 percent of their total budget in technology.

Data drives innovation in diagnostics, life sciences and operational efficiency; it helps healthcare professionals focus more on patient care and well-being.

Likewise, artificial intelligence and cloud computing will create more integrated care systems that use available health data to improve treatment plans.

Therefore, access to the right data and the technology to leverage it effectively will unlock greater healthcare value. By understanding each patient’s unique journey, from diagnosis to the efficacy of specific treatments and managing any adverse effects, healthcare professionals can make informed decisions that ultimately lead to better outcomes.

However, there are barriers to achieving this intelligent, connected approach in healthcare. For starters, data is fragmented, which makes it difficult to deliver efficient, personalized care. Meanwhile, growing compliance and cybersecurity challenges require healthcare organizations to approach governance proactively.

Piecing together the puzzle

The healthcare industry faces unique challenges when it comes to data. Traditionally, healthcare institutions have bought and operated systems with disparate patient records scattered across different providers and databases, resulting in fragmented patient data within organizations and the industry at large.

Moreover, silos breed inefficiency and make it difficult to use data for individual patients and society. But, when this data is completely anonymized and used in aggregate, it is invaluable for the larger community and even worldwide diagnosis, research and action.

The traditionally well-managed structured data needs to be combined with unstructured data to create a single view across a range of data sets and unlock the potential of health data.

In fact, healthcare organizations are scratching the surface when collecting data from an ever-increasing range of sources. For instance, data from telematics, wearables and patient apps are often stored in massive data lakes, which amounts to looking for a needle in a haystack when finding key insights. Moving to an autonomous database in the cloud enables providers to use their data to its full potential and improve patient care.

American Hospital Dubai initiated a digital transformation program in the UAE to deliver better patient outcomes using data. Partnering with Cerner and Oracle, the hospital implemented a new electronic health record system to help physicians deliver a better patient journey. The system also introduced a resource planning platform to help reduce costs and enhance productivity. In addition, this integrated patient data drove the hospital’s AI and robotics research work, leading to further patient benefits.

Healthcare is not one-size-fits-all

No two patients are the same. They have different healthcare needs, treatment plans and contact preferences. Yet most patient care remains standardized. The pandemic has driven increased patient expectations, with the rise of virtual appointments and mobile health alerts expanding the range of personal experiences patients receive.

Indeed, telemedicine platforms alone have seen a 1,000 percent growth rate. If healthcare providers double down on personalized patient experiences, online and offline, everyone gets the proper support. In addition, outcomes can be improved by ensuring better individual patient adherence to treatment plans.

Most consumers also worry about the security of their health data, and personal healthcare records are rightly subject to protection. Providers can work with regulations, leveraging data to deliver better patient outcomes in a compliant, secure manner.

These systems follow laws such as General Data Protection Regulation, which includes categorization and safeguards specific to health data. They also have data localization requirements, which are especially sensitive for cloud-based healthcare providers. This approach makes robust governance paramount not just to protect patients but also to protect organizations from prosecution.

For instance, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, one of the leading biomedical and clinical research institutions, used Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to power its complex research into a potential treatment for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

KAIMRC’s medical research required diligent analysis of structures within the viruses. Oracle’s high-performance computing provided specific simulation tools and robust computing solutions that could capture large amounts of data and run applications smoothly and efficiently.

We have seen that healthcare providers who get their data management in order deliver better patient care and gain a competitive advantage. Connected and secure data will drive improvements within healthcare institutions and feed broader medical advancements, increasing diversity and efficiency in clinical trials, which can result in getting new treatments to market faster. The responsible use of healthcare data can save lives, and we have just begun to scratch the surface of what can be achieved.

• Richard Smith is executive vice president – technology, EMEA, Oracle.