6 Excellent Healthcare Data Sources for Biotech and Life Sciences

Data is the backbone of the healthcare system, from researching new pharmaceuticals and therapies to treating patients with personalized care based on individual needs. However, there are dozens of healthcare data sources. So how do you know which ones offer relevant information, and how can you use that data once you have it?

Today we look at six of the most valuable healthcare data sources for biotech and life sciences and how you can use them in researching and marketing new drugs and therapies to patients.

Key Takeaways:

• Healthcare data sources will help you understand patients and offer individualized treatment options to each one.
• Data sources can be first-party data from your research and patient interactions or third-party data from other healthcare facilities and public research databases.
• A patient’s electronic health record is a valuable source of demographic and medical data that helps research and market new healthcare products.

What is a Data Source in Biotech and Life Sciences?

A data source is any channel where you can receive information about patients, therapies, or products that will help you produce, promote, and distribute medical treatments. Between 2010 and 2020, the amount of data globally increased from 1.2 trillion gigabytes to 59 trillion gigabytes.

You can gain healthcare data through two primary channels:

• First-party datais the information or research results you gather from your studies or directly from the end-user, like physicians or your interaction with patients.
• Second and third-party datais information you receive from outside sources. You can either find this information in public databases from research facilities unconnected to you or a facility in your network’s collection of first-party data.

Why Is Healthcare Data Essential for Providers?

Data is essential for biotech and life sciences organizations because it can streamline your research, offer more accurate results, identify the most compatible patients for treatment, and get life-saving drugs and pharmaceuticals to patients faster. You can use data in research, clinical trials, marketing new products, and connecting personally with patients.

For example, you can use data to educate patients about their treatment options and market your drugs and pharmaceuticals directly using the information you have about their current healthcare needs and the best marketing avenues for reaching them.

The image below shows five options for provider data management technologies that collect and analyze your healthcare data from the sources we cover below so that you receive the most comprehensive overview and data reports.

Image source: Maryville University

6 Healthcare Data Sources You Can Use to Improve Your Patient Interactions

Here are six healthcare data sources for life sciences and biotech you can use to improve care and interactions by unlocking a patients 360 view. In addition, the video below examines some other potential sources you can use to find relevant data in your industry.

Video: What Are the Sources of Healthcare Data that Can Be Integrated into Health IT?

1. Clinical Trials

Clinical trials collect data on your patients, including demographical information, health information, and research data associated with the trials. This data can help you identify the types of patients most compatible for future trials and the patient’s primary needs which will help you create products that are best suited for their lifestyles.

Patient demographics will also help you know who your ideal client is and what their pain points are when marketing new drugs or therapies. This data is essential for reaching the patients who need certain drugs the most in a way that will help them trust you as a provider.

2. Patient Medical Records

Patient medical records are a valuable source of secondary data from a patient’s other healthcare providers like hospitals and primary physicians. You can access this data through electronic health records (EHR) that other providers share with you. EHRs give one of the most comprehensive views of patients across medical facilities as 96% of hospitals have an EHR certified by HHS. You might also collect medical data from wearable devices the patient might have. This data offers you a real-time look at your client’s daily life.

You use this data to identify the best drugs for each patient’s situation and offer more relevant educational information on your website or other educational patient resources to help patients understand their treatment options and make more informed decisions.

3. Patient Feedback

Patient feedback and testimonials give you direct feedback on how your products and therapies work and are also a valuable tool for marketing those products to new patients. You can gain patient feedback from online comments and testimonials. However, you can also regularly send out surveys to gain feedback on specific areas where you want to focus your research.

Another source for patient feedback is from online channels like comments, posts in healthcare groups, or healthcare forums. These sources can give you more personal insights into a customer’s experience and offer testimonials for marketing purposes. Testimonials help build trust with new patients because they show your products in real-world scenarios instead of only demonstrating their uses in marketing campaigns.

4. Administrative Records

Administration operations will give you data on insurance claims, hospital administrative records, and other third-party sources. This data provides a more thorough overview of treatments by adding treatment times, location, days of service, drug costs, and other contributing factors influencing patient behavior.

It will also help insurance providers process claims more accurately as they will have a complete view of the claim.

5. Sales and Marketing Reports

A CRM tool will gather data about your marketing and sales efforts with healthcare facilities and with patients. This data tells you how well your marketing processes succeeded and where you need to improve to reach more patients.

6. Online Content

Websites, social media, and public databases are excellent online content sources that will help you understand your patients.

For example, social media gives you valuable insights into consumer behavior, as the following image demonstrates. In this study, researchers found that areas where patients posted more frequently about telehealth on social media also had the highest COVID-19 outbreaks.

Image Source: NIH

Public research databases are also excellent sources of information on consumer behavior, drug and therapy results, and demographical information that helps develop and distribute new pharmaceuticals and therapies.

Unify Your Data for a Complete Patient View

Your data can quickly become siloed or scattered as it streams in from multiple channels. Instead of losing valuable information, use our Corperor One Patient platform for managing each patient’s journey from end-to-end and creating a unified view of their data.

A single source of truth will help you market, educate, and reach more patients with relevant information about your pharmaceuticals.

Contact us for more information about our data solutions to find the best platform for your needs.