How to harness the power of patient-generated data

Most doctors, if asked to define the term “patient-generated data,” probably would associate it with answers given in patient interviews or the clipboard forms new patients fill out in the waiting room. But in the computer age, patient-generated data includes far more than that. The sources of this information now range from pre-visit questionnaires and health risk assessments to functional status surveys and remote monitoring devices.

The government wants physicians and hospitals to start using this kind of information more broadly. For example, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recommends that physicians administer health risk assessments (HRAs) to gather information for annual Medicare wellness visits.