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The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the health disparities across the United States and is fueling overdue discussion on how they can be systematically addressed to achieve the bigger goal of delivering the best care everywhere. Much of this discussion is focused around how to best leverage the valuable troves of health care data generated every day across the ecosystem.
Because health care data are inconsistently collected and utilized, it can be difficult to identify inequalities and understand the causes. Further, much as 80% of health care data are unstructured, making it virtually impossible to glean patient and population insights that can be acted upon.
Ultimately, the country’s ability to achieve health equity will come down to how significantly we can improve the quality of huge volumes of health care data and how effectively we can make them accessible and actionable for key stakeholders.