Healthcare organizations increasingly recognize the potential of transforming their data and software assets into revenue-generating products. By monetizing these resources, they uncover new growth opportunities and diversify their revenue streams.
However, successful data monetization in healthcare comes with its challenges. It often requires significant changes to enterprise processes, practices, and operating models. Despite these challenges, the rewards are substantial — making it imperative for tech leaders to drive these initiatives forward.
This article examines how healthcare technology companies approach data monetization and will provide strategies for tech leaders to advance these initiatives effectively.
How Data Monetization in Healthcare Drives Revenue Growth
The healthcare data monetization market is experiencing rapid growth as the industry increasingly recognizes the value of leveraging data to drive revenue and improve patient outcomes. According to MarketsandMarkets, the global market for healthcare data monetization will expand from $0.4 billion in 2023 to $0.9 billion by 2028, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.5%. Growth is driven by the industry-wide adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), the integration of external data sources, and a growing emphasis on reducing healthcare costs.
Key factors contributing to this expansion include the rise of partnerships and collaborations among industry stakeholders and significant investments in advanced analytics. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) for precision medicine, the rapid growth in bioinformatics data, and larger healthcare datasets all accelerate market development.
What Is Data Monetization in Healthcare?
Data monetization involves leveraging collected data to create valuable economic assets through actionable insights, innovative products, or services. Instead of viewing it as selling data, this process focuses on harnessing data to drive financial benefits and unlock new revenue opportunities by enhancing its practical applications and value.
Data monetization in healthcare involves leveraging patient information, medical records, and clinical insights to generate revenue or create value for healthcare organizations. Key areas include:
- Patient records: Leveraged for research, personalized medicine, and enhancing patient outcomes.
- Clinical trials: Data from trials is monetized through partnerships, research initiatives, and drug development.
- Operational data: Used to gain insights into hospital and clinic operations, improving efficiency and reducing costs.
What Are the Benefits of Data Monetization in Healthcare?
With the industry shifting from volume-based care to value-based care, harnessing data monetization effectively can be a crucial strategy for healthcare organizations to enhance their market position and drive growth through:
- Boosting Sustainable Revenue Growth
- Improving Productivity and Streamline Workflows
- Reducing Infrastructure Costs
- Decreasing Operating Expenses
1. Boost Sustainable Revenue Growth
Data monetization empowers organizations to leverage their data assets and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to drive economic returns. By capitalizing on these resources, businesses can unlock financial benefits, such as increased revenue, by creating adjacent industry business models and expanding into new markets. This establishes additional revenue streams while growing existing ones. Moreover, the increased availability of data enables the development of innovative, targeted products and services that cater to specific customer needs, strengthening their market position and profitability
2. Improve Productivity and Streamline Workflows
Data monetization in healthcare allows companies to significantly enhance workforce productivity with in-depth analysis of performance data. By identifying bottlenecks, streamlining complex processes, and designing more effective training programs tailored to employee needs, organizations can optimize overall efficiency and drive improved performance outcomes across the board.
3. Reduce Infrastructure Costs
Data monetization enhances a company’s revenue streams and is central to optimizing your IT infrastructure. By utilizing cloud-based analytics and storage solutions, firms can efficiently manage and scale their data capabilities to align with current demands. This approach enables businesses to avoid the high costs associated with purchasing and maintaining additional hardware, leading to substantial savings in maintenance expenses and overall IT infrastructure costs.
4. Decrease Operating Expenses
Data-driven insights play a critical role in empowering organizations to make informed and strategic decisions, resulting in optimized budget allocation and reduced wastage. By leveraging advanced data analytics, companies gain a deeper understanding of their operations, which allows them to manage inventory levels more effectively. As a result, they can prevent overstock and understock, ensuring that resources are utilized efficiently and that the organization can respond swiftly to market demands without the financial losses associated with inventory mismanagement.
4 Strategies of Data Monetization in Healthcare
Not all data will be equally valuable. Successful companies don’t worry about building a perfectly scoped data set. Instead, they follow strategies that enhance their data value and drive business outcomes. Companies are:
- Establishing Strong Data Collection and Management Practices
- Providing Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) Solutions
- Leveraging Advanced Data Analytics and AI
- Ensuring Data Privacy and Security
1. Establishing Strong Data Collection and Management Practices
Data completeness is essential for maximizing the value of healthcare data monetization, especially within complex medical datasets. Maintaining the integrity and quality of these data products requires robust data governance and meticulous capture procedures. Strategic partnerships with data governance and analytics platforms improve data quality by identifying and addressing any breaches or missing fields, supporting the overall effectiveness of your data-driven initiatives.
2. Provide Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) Solutions
Healthcare organizations can monetize internal assets by developing Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) solutions that provide on-demand access to healthcare data insights and analytics. These solutions can include predictive analytics tools for population health management or personalized treatment recommendations based on patient EHR data, creating new revenue streams while adding value for clients. Consumer-facing DaaS solutions, such as Open Health’s PatientSphere, enable patients to monetize their health data by connecting them with pharmaceutical companies and research institutions for studies and analytics.
3. Leverage Advanced Data Analytics and AI
Optimizing operations through healthcare data offers a powerful indirect approach to monetization, enhancing bottom-line performance. Machine learning algorithms can analyze large datasets to identify patterns and trends, leading to optimized clinical workflows, improved patient outcomes, and cost-saving opportunities. Advanced data analytics and AI deliver valuable insights into patient behavior, disease trends, and treatment efficacy, allowing for more effective service and intervention tailoring. Predictive analytics further enables the forecasting of patient needs, streamlines resource allocation, and reduces operational costs, ultimately boosting profitability while enhancing patient care delivery.
4. Ensure Data Privacy and Security
Prioritize data privacy and security by employing encryption, access controls, and anonymization to safeguard sensitive patient information and prevent costly breaches. Regular audits and assessments are essential for ensuring compliance with regulations and industry best practices. Establishing robust data governance and compliance frameworks, such as adhering to HIPAA regulations, helps protect patient privacy. Implementing stringent policies and procedures for data collection, storage, access, and sharing is crucial for maintaining trust and mitigating risks.
What Are the Key Considerations for Data Monetization in Healthcare?
Healthcare faces more regulatory complexities than most industries, with stringent privacy regulations and a fragmented network of healthcare providers, payers, and patients hindering data exchange. Effectively managing data monetization in healthcare requires keeping these key factors in mind to make the most of your data:
- Organizational Readiness
- Data Preparation
- Enhancing Data Utility
1. Organizational Readiness
- Create a Strong Business Case: Develop a business case highlighting revenue potential, resource needs, risks, and strategic alignment. Get the appropriate leadership approval and secure investments for data governance and infrastructure.
- Ensure Privacy and Data Utility: Implement robust data governance to safeguard patient privacy while maintaining data utility. Explore solutions that balance privacy concerns with the need for impactful research insights.
- Utilize Data Aggregators Wisely: Consider using data aggregators to simplify monetization processes, but evaluate the options that allow retaining control over data use to maximize value.
2. Data Preparation
- Enhancing Data Usability: Focus on data quality and standardization to ensure accuracy and consistency. Remember that clean data is crucial for effective analytics.
- Extracting Unstructured Data Insights: Invest in tools to extract valuable information from unstructured sources like clinical notes and imaging results to enrich your datasets.
- Leveraging Multimodal Data: Integrate datasets across modalities such as genomics, pathology, and radiology to enable deeper analyses and increase data value.
3. Enhancing Data Utility
- Prioritizing Longitudinal Data: Longitudinal data offers insights by tracking patient medical history over time, revealing disease patterns and treatment responses. Solutions that connect and access patient history while preserving key details will boost research value.
- Overcoming Collaboration Barriers: Partnering with other stakeholders can boost data value, but competitive concerns like data ownership, monetization rights, and sensitive information can hinder effective integration.
Maximizing Your Data Strategy with KMS Healthcare
Adopting advanced solutions is the best way to enhance revenue potential as the healthcare data monetization landscape evolves. By integrating cutting-edge technologies and analytics, organizations can unlock new growth opportunities and become more efficient at managing and utilizing healthcare data.
KMS Healthcare is dedicated to helping you build innovative applications that leverage data insights to drive operational improvements and enhance care delivery.
- Integrated Analytics Solutions: Transform healthcare data into actionable insights with our advanced analytics platforms, designed to integrate with your existing systems seamlessly.
- Real-Time ROI Visualization: Simplify decision-making with our visualization tools to track ROI, performance metrics, and revenue growth in real time.
- Identify Strategic Growth Opportunities: Analyze market trends and patient data to uncover new revenue streams and strategic areas for expansion.
- Maximize Data Value: Leverage the full potential of your data to create targeted products and services — enhance profitability and increase market share.
Ready to unlock the full potential of your healthcare data? Explore our data capabilities and see how KMS Healthcare can help you surpass your revenue goals.
