Securing healthcare's quantified-self data: a comparative analysis versus personal financial account aggregators based on Porter's Five Forces Framework for competitive forces

Abstract

This thesis explores possible solutions to secure the aggregation and sharing of healthcare's quantified-self data, based on lessons from the personal financial industry. To address this concern, Porter's Five Forces Framework is used to understand how consumers are impacted by the two sectors' differences in legislation, technology, and security. The analysis in this thesis indicates that consumers of financial account aggregators benefit from more secure and interoperable services. In contrast, users of healthcare aggregators are negatively affected by the healthcare industry's higher threat of new entrants and the bargaining power of suppliers. Therefore, healthcare leaders should improve consumer benefits by transforming their industry's competitive forces to mimic those of the financial services industry. To accomplish this goal, industry leaders could focus on filling the gap in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for self-generated data, improving security innovations, and attracting third-party developers to secure data interoperability.