Exploring Markets of Data for Personal Health Information

To realize preventive and personalized medicine, large numbers of consumers must pool health information to create datasets that can be analyzed for wellness and disease trends. To date, consumers have been reluctant to share personal health information for a variety of reasons. To explore how financial rewards may influence data sharing, the concept of Markets of Data (MoDAT) is applied to health information. Results from a global online survey show that a previously uncovered group of consumers exists who are willing to sell their de-identified personal health information. Incorporating this information into existing health research databases has the potential to improve healthcare worldwide.