Health Data Monetization
Building Value Without Inviting Risk
Health care organizations generate vast amounts of data. Health data is a critical strategic asset, driving economic benefit and powering innovation, operational efficiency, and the integration of artificial intelligence across the industry. As companies explore responsible ways to leverage and monetize this data, they face complex and evolving legal, regulatory, and ethical challenges shaped by privacy and security laws, policies, contracts, and scrutiny from regulators and consumers.
Our Health Data Monetization video series shares practical insights on managing risk, responding to regulators and litigants, and positioning health data projects for long-term success.
Series Overview
Alston & Bird helps clients navigate these challenges across the full life cycle of health-data-driven initiatives. In the overview video for our Health Data Monetization series, Sean Sullivan, Andrew Liebler, Jen Pike, Jennifer Everett, Zack Higbee, David Carpenter, and Dan Felz introduce their vision for the series and what you can expect.
From Data to Durable Growth
In the first video of our Health Data Monetization series, Dan Felz explains what “data monetization” really means for health care and data‑driven companies—moving beyond the simple sale of data to a broader strategy for data‑driven growth. He outlines common monetization models, from internal analytics and AI to partnerships and research, and underscores why market-ready governance is essential to scaling these initiatives responsibly. Dan also highlights the legal team’s critical role in evaluating de‑identification and anonymization claims to ensure data strategies are both defensible and marketable.
Designing Privacy-First Monetization
In the second video of the Health Data Monetization series, Jennifer Everett explores how organizations can unlock the value of health data while navigating an increasingly complex privacy and regulatory landscape. She breaks down what health data monetization truly entails, why HIPAA is only part of the story, and how considerations such as AI governance, downstream use, and national-security rules shape modern data strategies. The discussion offers a practical, trust-first framework for responsible innovation with health data.
Aligning Innovation with Regulation
In this video, Sean Sullivan explains how fraud and abuse laws, information blocking rules, and corporate practice of medicine considerations shape data‑driven business models. He highlights practical ways to design compliant strategies that support innovation and long‑term growth. As data, analytics, and AI become central to health care business models, understanding these regulatory guardrails is critical to building solutions that scale and endure.
A HIPAA Framework
Jen Pike provides a practical, high level overview of how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) shapes health care data monetization strategies. What qualifies as protected health information, how do HIPAA permissions differ for covered entities and business associates, and how can de-identification unlock data monetization strategies? Jen also explains why business associate agreements (BAA) are often the gating issue for data use and why careful BAA review is critical before pursuing any data driven initiative.
Innovating Without Inviting Risk
In this video, Andrew Liebler discusses the compliance, litigation, and enforcement risks companies face when using health data—especially as innovation and AI-driven use cases accelerate. How can organizations evaluate their litigation and enforcement risk profile and mitigate that risk? To answer that question, Andrew walks through key federal and state regulatory frameworks, common litigation scenarios, and how consumer class actions and government enforcement often arise.
In the Crosshairs of Privacy Litigation
David Carpenter explores the growing wave of privacy litigation targeting the monetization of health data, with a focus on how courts are applying older privacy statutes to modern digital tracking technologies. He features recent class actions involving cookies, pixels, and session replay tools; explains why health data is treated as uniquely sensitive by courts; outlines the significant financial and operational risks for health care companies; and provides practical takeaways for organizations seeking to balance innovation with increasing litigation and regulatory exposure.
Protecting Data-Driven Innovation: Patents, Trade Secrets, and Strategy
In this video, Zack Higbee explores how health care organizations can create and protect value from the data they generate every day. He explains why raw data itself is difficult to protect and how companies realize substantial value using a comprehensive IP strategy that includes patents, trade secrets, and strong data security practices to safeguard data‑driven innovation—especially in areas like AI and advanced analytics. What makes data‑related innovations patentable, why does the “how” matter more than the “what,” and how can you think strategically about protecting innovations that competitors or former employees could otherwise exploit?
Key Takeaways for Health Data Monetization
In this concluding video of our Health Data Monetization series, Andrew Liebler, Jen Pike, Jennifer Everett, and Zack Higbee synthesize the key themes and practical takeaways from across the series. Drawing on earlier discussions, they highlight how successful data strategies require aligning innovation with regulation, embedding privacy and HIPAA compliance from the outset, anticipating litigation risk, and protecting data driven value through intellectual property and governance strategies. They close with practical lessons for positioning health data initiatives for durability, defensibility, and long term success.