How open platforms help empower patients
As patients increasingly expect to play an active role in their healthcare decisions, access to medical information has become crucial. Open platforms are emerging as a key technology for meeting this need by breaking down traditional data silos and enabling seamless sharing of data across different care settings.

“Gimme my damn data!” This powerful call to action from Dave deBronkart, widely known as e-Patient Dave and a prominent patient advocate, captures the growing demand for patient engagement in their care.
There are numerous examples of why patient engagement leads to better patient outcomes. In Dave’s case, after being diagnosed with terminal kidney cancer in 2007 with expected survival of 24 weeks, he joined an online patient community, learned about high-dose IL-2 therapy, and collaborated with his medical team to undergo this targeted treatment, which ultimately helped him survive dire cancer diagnosis. This highlights how informed patients can play a crucial role in exploring life-saving treatments and improving their healthcare outcomes.
But for patients to be able to participate in their care, access to data and information is crucial. And in healthcare, there is lots of data: in 2025, more than one-third of 180 zettabytes of data will come from healthcare. Traditional healthcare systems often trap this valuable information in proprietary formats and isolated silos, making it difficult for patients (and healthcare professionals) to access their complete medical history or share information across providers.
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