Health data ecosystems: Sharing health data to facilitate medical progress

Abstract

Sharing health data in a meaningful way that preserves privacy is the foundation of a well-functioning digital health data ecosystem. A digital ecosystem implies that stakeholders are embedded in the necessary conditions to collect, store, share, and use health data electronically. Health data ecosystems can provide many benefits to society, including effective personalised medicine for patients, greater innovation in research, and improved policymaking. As an integral part of these health data ecosystems, the pharmaceutical industry already contributes substantially to them by investing in and sharing health data in order to facilitate medical progress. While many countries have recognised the value of health data ecosystems, Switzerland lags massively behind when it comes to secondary health data usage. To change this, Switzerland needs to develop a coherent strategy to create a health data ecosystem involving all relevant stakeholders.