Patient-Generated Data: The Future of Healthcare | Community Health

Patient-generated data (PGD) refers to the health-related data created by patients themselves, such as fitness tracker data, mobile health app data, and electronic patient-reported outcomes. This data has the potential to revolutionize healthcare by providing clinicians with a more complete picture of a patient's health and enabling more personalized care. According to a study by the National Institutes of Health, 71% of patients are willing to share their PGD with healthcare providers, but only 27% of providers are currently using this data in clinical decision-making. Companies like Apple and Google are already investing in PGD, with Apple's Health app allowing users to share their health data with healthcare providers and Google's Fitbit acquisition expanding its reach in the wearables market. As the use of PGD becomes more widespread, it is likely to have a significant impact on the healthcare industry, with a projected market size of $53.8 billion by 2025. However, there are also concerns about data privacy and security, with 61% of patients reporting concerns about the security of their health data.