Health data governance shifting to strategic role, says Roland Berger

Governed data can support M&A due diligence, AI development, and market access.

Health data governance is shifting from a compliance function to a strategic capability that can influence enterprise value, according to Roland Berger.

Data governance is relevant to merger and acquisition due diligence, licensing, strategic partnerships, market access, and artificial intelligence (AI) development, the consultancy said in an article published on 20 August.

The value of health data depends on companies’ ability to generate, govern, protect, reuse, and explain data across research, development, medical, market access, and commercial activities.

Mature governance frameworks can document data rights, lineage, quality standards, workflows, and controls, creating auditable and transferable governance capabilities.

This can strengthen transaction readiness by supporting due diligence and post-transaction integration, whilst signalling operational scalability and execution capability to investors.

“In the AI economy, data governance is strategic infrastructure,” said Kaouthar Lbiati, Independent Board Director at Theralase Technologies and co-author of the article. “Trust enables organisations to unlock health data’s value, drive AI innovation, boost enterprise value, and support national tech leadership.”

The consultancy identified market access as another area where data governance can create business value.

Payers, providers, regulators, and health technology assessment bodies such as NICE in the UK, IQWiG in Germany, and HAS in France increasingly assess whether evidence is collected, governed, shared, and reused transparently, ethically, and lawfully.

This is relevant to real-world evidence, patient registries, outcomes-based agreements, post-marketing evidence generation, and AI-enabled analytics.

Standardising data quality, governance, and reuse across markets and indications could reduce the cost and complexity of evidence generation, whilst increasing confidence amongst regulators, payers, and healthcare partners.

Cross-border data governance is another consideration for multinational healthcare companies.

The European Health Data Space provides a framework for primary and secondary health data use, whilst the US system remains more fragmented, with HIPAA forming a central part of its framework.

Enterprise-wide governance enables companies to manage data lineage, purpose limitation, responsible secondary use, auditable controls, and transparent communication across jurisdictions, Roland Berger said.

The consultancy also said governance should be embedded into AI development from the outset.

Genomic databases, electronic health records, medical imaging repositories, and real-world evidence can support AI development, but their value depends on provenance, consent, bias controls, validation, explainability, monitoring, and accountability.

“Data governance done right is no longer a cost centre—it is a value driver,” said Michael Baur, Partner at Roland Berger’s Brussels office.

The consultancy said boards and executive teams should oversee data governance alongside cyber resilience, AI governance, regulatory risk, innovation strategy, partnership readiness, and valuation.

It also pointed to the potential economic value of wider health data access. The European Parliament estimates that improved access to, exchange, and use of health data could save the EU nearly $12.8b (EUR11b) over ten years.

Roland Berger identified six areas for companies seeking to translate data governance into business impact: value, access, transnationality, AI, trust, and strategy.

(US$1 = EUR0.86)