Hospital executives are experiencing a swarm of start ups and other tech companies calling to make their bid as to why they should partner, according to CNBC.
In many cases, these companies are looking to gain access to patients' health information, whether it be de-identified or not. At Dell Medical School and University of Texas Health in Austin, CIO Aaron Miri says he gets at least one pitch a day.
"We are getting inundated with requests from companies who tell us they want to make our medical record more searchable," Stephen Klasko, CEO of Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health, told CNBC. "I'll hear about something like this at least once a week."
These start ups don't often take "no" as an answer. Instead, if a company gets shut down from an executive, they will make the same pitch to a physician or researcher at the hospital. Hospital executives need to display caution when hearing these pitches. While companies may detail how they will use patient data, it could still be used in unintended ways.
"I don't believe that most people are in it for the wrong reason, but it's often not easy to make heads or tails of what's legitimate and what isn't, and the real intention behind it," Mr. Miri told CNBC.