Panel, Conference Presentation
Unlocking Health Data | Global Conference 2025
Panelist Perspectives on "Data Dreamy":
- Raman Bastani (CEO, Healthvana): AI and data tools would have significantly eased his personal experience caring for a dying father, particularly for non-native English speakers seeking clarity on health issues.
- David Feinberg (Chairman, Oracle Health): Data is not inherently dreamy; human trust and caregiving are the core drivers, with data serving merely as a tool to enable better human interaction.
- Deborah Kilpatrick (Partner, Sonder Capital): Data is vital for product performance; it becomes "dreamy" for patients when it is liquid, accessible, and aligned with incentives to contribute to collective health outcomes.
- Han Pak (SVP, Samsung): Data is necessary but insufficient; it becomes valuable only when liberated to connect people, services, and devices to simplify care.
Current State of Data Availability and Quality:
- Volume vs. Utility: All panelists agree the U.S. healthcare system is "data-rich but information-poor," generating massive streams of multi-omic, behavioral, and contextual data from wearables and EHRs.
- Primary Gap: The critical challenge is not data scarcity but the lack of linkage; data remains siloed, unlinked, and inaccessible via APIs or SDKs for product development.
- Real-World Evidence (RWE): Early adoption of adaptive AI in Class III implantables (e.g., Parkinson's deep brain stimulators) allows real-time therapy tuning based on patient-activated modes.
- Oracle Health's Data Scale: As the largest EHR provider, Oracle holds granular data on patient habits (e.g., diet, neighborhood, loneliness) that falls outside standard EHR records.
AI Integration and Workflow Impact:
- Clinical Burnout Reduction: Oracle Health's clinical AI agents allow physicians to dictate notes during visits, with the AI drafting documentation and prescriptions, enabling doctors to eat lunch and exercise.
- Patient Engagement Metrics: Healthvana's AI portal saw conversation lengths jump from an average of 60 messages to over 500, with some patients exchanging 1,200 messages in under two weeks.
- Predictive Accuracy: Current AI models can predict long-term health events with 90% confidence (e.g., stroke risk in six years), shifting focus from reactive to proactive care.
- Consumer Adoption: Patients increasingly rely on AI and "Dr. Google" for health triage, often prioritizing immediate reassurance ("Am I okay?") over privacy concerns.
Privacy, Consent, and Trust Dynamics:
- Trust Currency: Trust is established through transparency, simple consent processes, and consistent positive user experiences rather than brand reputation alone.
- Re-consenting Model: Sonder Capital advocates for dynamic, repeated consent mechanisms for streaming data to educate users and build trust over time.
- Data Ownership: Consensus holds that data belongs to the patient; commercialization should prioritize value exchange and de-identified usage rather than direct data sales.
- Crisis Response: In events like the 23andMe bankruptcy, the industry must focus on transparent communication and establishing data receivership to protect patient ownership.
Commercialization and Monetization Strategies:
- Value Models: Sustainable business models focus on post-approval Real World Evidence (RWE) for pharma and improving clinical outcomes rather than selling raw patient data.
- Data Liquidity: Samsung proposes treating data as a utility where seamless flow between consumer devices and healthcare providers creates value for all parties.
- Prohibited Practices: Healthvana explicitly avoids selling data, opting to be compensated for the value of work performed to maintain patient trust.
Future Outlook (10-Year Horizon):
- Paradigm Shift: Quantum computing is expected to revolutionize biology similarly to how AI revolutionized language, potentially redefining disease categories (e.g., Alzheimer's, depression).
- Decentralized Care: Patients will likely take greater control of health management, relying on personal data and AI tools, potentially reducing reliance on traditional specialist visits.
- Multimodal Integration: Medical technology will shift from closed systems to open, data-merged environments, enabling precision therapy tuning and remote telesurgery.
- Human-Centric Tech: Samsung envisions "AI as the sixth sense," combining five human senses with ambient sensing and AR/VR to restore humanity to the care experience.
Strategic Recommendations for Unlocking Data:
- Human-Centered Approach: The primary method for unlocking value is returning to the doctor-patient relationship and ensuring technology supports this bond.
- Direct User Inquiry: Organizations should directly ask patients and consumers what they need and how they want their data used.
- AI Utilization: Patients and organizations alike should leverage AI tools to interpret health data, as reliance on traditional methods alone is becoming obsolete.