A December 1 article in Bloomberg BNA's Health Care
Daily Report and other publications, "Tech Giants Ride
Data Wave Into Health-Care Market," discussed the development
of wearable devices that collect health information and devices
connected to hospital systems, and how major technology players
like Amazon, Google, Apple and Microsoft are trying to capitalize
on the surge in available electronic health data. Day Pitney's
Eric Fader was quoted in the article.
Eric opined that the presence of so many smaller companies
manufacturing low-priced wearables makes it unlikely that any of
the larger technology companies will be able to build better
devices or sell enough of them to make a significant difference to
their bottom lines. "I'm also skeptical that any tech
company will be able to establish itself as the one accepted
platform on which to store the information uploaded from all of
these competing devices," he said.
The increasing collection of healthcare data raises questions
regarding regulation, privacy and data security, Eric added, noting
that "Although the stakes are higher for any particular
individual if it's a
cardiac device or an insulin pump that's hacked, the
increased adoption and interoperability of mass-market consumer
devices will significantly increase the risk of data
breaches."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which oversees medical
devices, has issued several cybersecurity guidance documents, as
most recently discussed here, dating back to 2014. The FDA and other agencies will have
their hands full trying to ensure that device manufacturers take
data privacy and security seriously, Eric concluded.
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