A favorite health economist Jane Sarasohn-Kahn writing on HealthPopuli “Data Altruism: people more likely to share personal health data for the sake of others and to save money” takes a look at finding in the Healthcare Innovation Barometer published this December.
- 44% of Americans would be willing to anonymously share genetic information vs. 47% of people in other countries surveyed
- 33% of Americans would be willing to share health records, vs. 47% of other health citizens
- 31% of Americans would be willing to share medical records versus 45% of global peers.
The following surprised Sarasohn-Kahn, “people at the global level are more willing to share information to help others in three categories, genetic info, health and medical records”. Frankly I am surprised as well. Yet it speaks to social media and its ability to erode old thinking.
And who are affluent data altruists? They are higher income persons who are more likely to share information and have greater exposure to tech and toys. This speaks to the need help bring the lower socioeconomic demographics into an online, connected, computer world. It will move this idea of sharing forward and downward.
This is short optimistic piece that I hope points to an upside of the technology and human needs.