Limiting health care data collection is a bogus, fake conversation, says Health iQ exec

Data is essential for health service improvements, drug discovery, and “everything that we do in the health system,” ​Health iQ chief commercial officer, Hassan Chaudhury, told delegates at Pharma Integrates last week.

Health iQ is a UK-based company that offers real world data insight services to life science firms.                       

“We’ve got aging populations, we’ve got polypharmacy, we’ve got multimorbidity. [Without data] we are unable to cope with the growing health burden that is going to hit us in the next few years,” ​he added.

The UK is in a strong position to collect and protect patient information, he continued: “We should be taking advantage of the advances in data science and artificial intelligence to make the most of what we have.​

“We're lucky, particularly in this country, to have what is as close as we can get to the best data available in the world for our health system.”​ ​

Tabloid fear mongering?​

However, there is ‘a real danger’ threatening data collection, and more specifically, how much data is collected through government health services and clinical research, according to Chaudhury: “The obstacle is [UK tabloid journalism] that says we should have access to that data.”​

Rather, “we all need access to that data in the most appropriate way,” ​he continued. “I’d like to highlight…that the conversation on limits on data collection is a bogus and fake conversation. It’s a red herring.”​

“The conversation here is ‘how do we prevent us going backwards at a time when data is still vital, and our capacity and capability of handling those data sets has improved?’” ​he added.

At the London conference, Najib Rehman, data strategy lead of FarmaTrust – a global tracking service for the pharma industry –  agreed with Chaudhury that focus should extend beyond collection limits: “I do think [focusing on limiting data collection] is a red herring, I think minimisation is a false argument.​

“[Increased data collection] is happening anyway, where we like it or not, the horse has bolted here,” ​he told delegates.

‘Intelligent’ measures​

Thomas Kelley, clinical advisor of Value-Based Health Care, NHS Wales, however, did not agree that focusing on collection limits is a ‘red herring’ or a ‘Daily Mail’ issue.

“I also don’t agree that we should just be collecting and getting as much [data] as possible. I think we have to use​ the data, which means we have to be intelligent about it and try to collect [it] in a way that [enables us to easily] use it,” ​Kelley told delegates.

“We do have to minimise what we capture, because the vast amounts that we have at the moment, we are not using,” ​he added.