What is Patient Data? Types, Uses & Hospital Patient Databases

Patient data includes demographics, treatment records, and contact information, enabling better patient care, clinical research, and healthcare analytics. Learn more in our guide and explore our curated selection of patient datasets.
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Eugenio Caterino
Editor & Data Industry Expert

What is Patient Data?

Patient data refers to any information related to an individual’s health and medical history. This data is collected and stored by healthcare providers to facilitate patient care, research, and administrative purposes.

What Are Examples of Patient Data?

Patient data comes in various forms, depending on the type of insights or applications you need. Here are some examples:

  • Contact Information: Includes verified postal addresses, mobile phone numbers, and email addresses, ideal for marketing, direct outreach, and patient engagement campaigns.
  • Demographic Data: Covers age, gender, socioeconomic status, and geographic information, providing a foundation for healthcare market analysis, risk assessment, and population health benchmarking.
  • Health Metrics and Lifestyle Data: Examples include life expectancy, obesity propensity, smoking behavior, and biological age insights. These datasets help in understanding local health trends and planning community health interventions.
  • Clinical Data: Structured data from electronic health records (EHRs), such as medications administered, lab results, and treatment histories. Synthetic EHR datasets provide a detailed view of patient care without compromising privacy.
  • Synthetic Patient Data: Generated from real-world hospital records to replicate patient journeys. This includes ICU stays, vital signs, drug administration, and physician roles. Synthetic data maintains statistical accuracy while eliminating patient privacy risks.
  • Population Data: Insights into healthcare usage across specific geographic locations, such as postcode-level health analytics.

Best Patient Databases & Datasets

The best patient datasets provide insights into medical records, demographics, and treatment outcomes. This curated list features the top patient datasets, selected for accuracy, privacy compliance, and trusted providers.

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Patient Data Use Cases in Detail

Patient data is used by both medical professionals and businesses:

  • Healthcare professionals and scientisits - Data records help manage and diagnonse individuals with medical issues. It also provides reference information for researchers to study diseases or the human body in general.
  • Businesses - Pharmaceutical companies rely on patient data for market research to identify gaps in the market for healthcare and medical solutions. Marketers for these companies can also use patient data for audience segmentation to target specific patients suffering the same sickness with ads for a suitable treatment.

Patient Data Collection

Anytime you go to a medical professional your data will be recorded by the doctors and nurses for their internal databases. This could either be by tests and observations they make on you or by information that you freely provide. It is the latter which especially gives an insight into the patient’s behaviour and lifestyle.
Similarly, the rise in health apps and products, such as smart watches, means that individual behavior is being more constantly recorded and from this patient data has evolved to include behavior data as well as basic medical information.
Research projects also provide patient data as well as historical records and family medical information.

Main Attributes of Patient Data

The attributes of patient data can be split into two sections:
Traditional medical data - Traditional data includes information such as health history, diagnoses, current medications, vaccination record, and ongoing or historical treatments.
Newer patient information - Contemporary patient data has evolved to include more information which is less medically-focussed, so that it includes information about people who aren’t necessarily sick. New patient information includes demographic and behavioral intelligence, such as lifestyle, eating habits or patient behaviour.

How can a user assess the quality of Patient Data?

Because it’s classed as PII (personally identifiable information) patient data is protected by strict privacy laws. Moreover, there are doctor-patient confidentiality laws which mean it’s essential that your patient dataset is privacy-compliant. Always check that your patient data provider is GDPR and CCPA-compliant, and that their data sources follow ethical guidelines.

Due to the wide variety of patient data available, it is important to pick a dataset that is suited to your personal needs. Ask for a sample of data from the data provider before buying to ensure it matches what you are looking for and always check the data provider’s reviews before you make any purchase.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Patient Data Secure?

Absolutely. Privacy is a top priority. Synthetic EHR data contains no identifiable information, going beyond HIPAA and GDPR compliance to eliminate privacy concerns. For all datasets, only public and compliant data is utilized, and robust delivery methods such as secure FTP and encrypted APIs are employed to safeguard data integrity during transfers.

What Measures Ensure the Quality of Patient Data?

Our patient data offerings undergo rigorous validation processes to ensure high-quality and accurate records. Providers maintain match rates of up to 100% for certain datasets and validate information in real-time or batch modes. For synthetic data, advanced algorithms ensure it mirrors real-world datasets, preserving statistical accuracy while eliminating privacy risks.

How is Patient Data Delivered?

Patient data is delivered in multiple formats, including CSV, JSON, XML, and SQL, allowing easy integration into existing systems. Delivery options include batch processing, real-time APIs, and on-demand exports. Updates are available on a schedule that fits your needs, ranging from hourly to yearly.

How Much Does Patient Data Cost?

Pricing for patient data varies based on the dataset type, volume, and delivery frequency. For instance, monthly licenses start at around $1,000, with yearly options and usage-based pricing available for specific datasets. Synthetic data is offered at scalable price points, ensuring affordability while meeting specific project requirements. Many datasets also offer free samples to help you assess their suitability for your needs.

Eugenio Caterino

Eugenio Caterino

Editor & Data Industry Expert @ Datarade

Eugenio is an editor and data industry expert with over a decade of experience specializing in B2B data marketplaces and e-commerce platforms. He has a strong background in data analytics, data science, and data management. Eugenio is passionate about helping companies leverage data and technology to drive innovation and business growth, ensuring they can easily and efficiently access the solutions they need.

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