Why tech companies keep hitting the same wall when they try to get into health care

Technology companies like Amazon, Google, Apple and Microsoft keep making moves in the health sector, which isn’t surprising given that it represents a $3.5 trillion opportunity.

But these companies keep hitting the same stumbling block: the inability to share health information across medical systems. Millions of patients are learning that they can’t share clinical data from their electronic medical records between doctors, especially among those working at different hospitals. They face a similar challenge getting billing information.

Paul Markovich, chief executive of Blue Shield of California, a health insurance plan with more than 4 million members, said big technology companies are highly motivated to work with the medical industry to solve this problem. It’s challenging to build systems using things like artificial intelligence, for instance, if companies can’t access the large-scale data they need to build their computer models.

“Without interoperability, they can’t scale,” Markovich said in an interview with CNBC.

Read full article published in CNBC.