Online platforms often disrupt existing markets

Online platforms often disrupt existing markets. Sometimes even the entire market is turned upside down. Think about how we all listen to music nowadays via streaming platforms such as Spotify. And Netflix has secured a significant portion of television revenue. Amazon and other web shops have made it very difficult for existing retailers.

Although privacy in healthcare is of course much more important than in other sectors and there are many more legal restrictions, the first platforms have also presented themselves there. Often it still concerns datasets that focus on an specific aspect only. Think of diet and health apps.

A large foreign player has jumped into the gap that the regular healthcare providers are ignoring. It provides a platform where all data related to our health can be stored. Anyone can create an account and upload his or her data there. Everything is then analyzed with artificial intelligence. The more data the system collects, the better analyzes can be made. It is not only data from official studies, but also all data collected by the DIY equipment that everyone has at home nowadays: smart watches, pedometers, scales, blood pressure monitors, etc.

All healthcare providers can subscribe to referrals and diagnoses from the system. If there is reason to do so, people with an account will be referred to the affiliated healthcare providers.

Research shows that the market is not yet ready for a platform like this. Potential customers have very little confidence in the security of the system and what else the provider will do with the data (-3). The healthcare providers are also very suspicious (-3). It is obvious that parties that will collaborate with the platform will not make themselves popular within their existing network (-3)