| | November 20178CIOReviewFor about 10 years now, Partners Connected Health has been collecting data from patients, mostly from sensors in their environment (activity trackers, blood pressure cuffs, weight scales, etc.), trying to break free from less-than-reliable self reported data.We've shown that, properly used, patient-generated data is:· Central to improved quality of care for chronically ill patients (i.e., patients with heart failure in a telemonitoring program had significant improvement in mortality compared to controls).· Useful in engaging patients around lifestyle choices to improve the care of both diabetes and hypertension.· Useful in engaging patients in interventions that encourage them to improve their own care.Despite these studies and a bevy of evidence from other investigators in the field, I still get routinely reminded, when I am out presenting on connected health, that "physicians don't want this data." This is a resounding theme that ranks right up there with concerns about liability and reimbursement.On the one hand this response is predictable. Physicians' time is squeezed more than ever these days. The thought of having to pour over reams of normal values seems daunting or even foolish. I take this objection as evidence that we aren't clear in communicating our vision--or the true benefits of having real-time, real-world patient data available. In so many other industries, software has been designed to troll through complex data sets and cull out the meaningful relationships or events, and then presenting them succinctly as actionable information or valuable insight rather than just raw data. We can do this for patient generated data too.Then there is the objection that it is complex and costly to collect such data. Things are getting better on this front. We've shown that for diseases such as congestive heart failure, remote monitoring programs IN MY OPINIONPATIENT GENERATED DATA: INSIGHTS OR NUISANCE?By Joseph C. Kvedar, MD Vice President, Connected Health Partners HealthCareJoseph C. Kvedar
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