Necessity, accessibility and acquisition cost of unstructured medical data for South Korean medical device companies.

Objective: This research aimed to identify the needs and priorities concerning structured and unstructured medical data of medical device companies engaged in developing medical software or hardware.

Method: The study was conducted between 23 March and 26 March 2023 and involved a survey of 76 managers, each of whom represented a single Korean medical device company.

Result: Companies focused on novel medical devices and software expressed higher demand for unstructured data than for structured data. However, the accessibility of unstructured data was hampered by high acquisition costs, and both structured and unstructured data suffered from limited openness and high pricing, hindering the progress of digital healthcare technology. To promote the development of innovative medical devices and software with increased value, these challenges must be addressed promptly.

Discussion: A crucial solution involves establishing a secure medical data trade platform that ensures the exchange of reliable and accurate medical information while adhering to legal regulations. By facilitating the circulation of high-quality medical data at appropriate prices through an invigorated medical data trade ecosystem, numerous medical device development companies with innovative ideas will have the opportunity to challenge the industry, consequently lowering the entry barriers to development.

Conclusion: This holds the potential to revolutionise the medical device industry by enabling safe, efficient and equitable access to medical data, fostering groundbreaking advancements in healthcare technology.