Commercializing Data Assets

Optimize the value of your health care big data assets

Digital transformation is dramatically reshaping the health care industry and how care is delivered, bringing opportunities for companies to create value in the new ecosystem. Science, data, and technology are helping us to better identify, treat, and understand disease progression along with the essential components of well-being. This confluence generates an ever-increasing amount of strategic data assets that are central to the Future of Health™—a future where data sharing, interoperability, equitable access, empowered consumers, behavior changes, and innovation will transform the health system from reactionary care to prevention and well-being.

This sharing of data creates promising opportunities and new business models. As this trend advances, health care organizations are combining data sets to tackle common challenges and pursue mutually beneficial revenue, operational, and research opportunities. These insights help drive society toward wellness by supporting health equity, population health, personalized medicine, and more—along with commercialization opportunities for companies ready to pursue new business models based on their data assets and artificial intelligence data analysis.

Unlock insights and generate additional revenue

For health care companies, the expanding use of digital technologies generates increasing amounts of data from patients, consumers, physicians, clinicians, and more, resulting in massive data treasure troves. Some organizations continue to add to their data and complement it with external data sets to unlock powerful insights and drive competitive advantage, while others may be sitting on a valuable trove of data, unaware of its potential.

Many companies are harnessing the power of structured and unstructured data to unlock deeper insights through the application of analytics and artificial intelligence. They are using these technologies to expand and improve customer relationships and generate top- and bottom-line growth. Today, patients monitor key health metrics using mobile apps; caregivers refer to digital profiles to personalize patient engagement; health physicians may tap into clinical data to identify successful protocols; and infectious disease specialists collect and analyze health data to identify significant trends and cause-and-effect factors.

Four new business models to expand your horizons

As part of Deloitte’s initiative on the Future of Health^™, we continue to explore the potential for health care organizations to take on new roles and make significant contributions to a world where public health is a priority.

As an extension of these explorations, we considered how health care organizations could optimize their data assets to generate value outside their typical operations. Consider these four potential business models that allow health care organizations to put their data to work to create new revenue streams, increase competitive advantage, and generate new insights to power the Future of Health^™.

Blending models

Organizations have various options for monetizing their data and exploring new data-powered business models, and the four business models discussed can function independently. However, a powerful option may be to implement two or more models in combination, offering both data and products or both insights and platforms. For example, a cardiology-focused platform might offer insights on demand to practitioners in addition to a mobile app that helps consumers monitor their blood pressure.

At the same time, the collected data is made available to pharmaceutical research companies. The models can also be designed to build on each other progressively. By starting with internal data assets, companies can initially explore aggregating and selling data and develop more complex offerings as they enhance and invest in building new capabilities.

Moving forward

For today’s health care organizations, data is an asset that may hold untapped potential. While your organization’s data can help drive total growth and value, shared data could play a key role in advancing better health and well-being. Companies interested in developing a data-as-asset strategy should consider the type of data they are collecting, its potential use cases and applications, and the investments in technology, talent, and infrastructure required to increase its value.

Armed with this insight, leaders can evaluate the business models and strategic direction best suited to their data and their organizational goals.

At Deloitte, our professionals can help you access and act upon the growth opportunities, potential returns, and risks associated with commercializing your health care data. Contact us for guidance.