I wasn’t expecting the day to start off with a point/counterpoint about the state of digital health.
Two tech leaders in San Diego gave completely opposite assessments on Thursday at the What’s Next Boomer Business Summit.
Don Jones, the chief digital officer of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, talked about all the promise. David Inns, CEO of GreatCall, explained all the barriers that stand in the way of better health and lower costs.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Jones had an easy start: showing off all the cool health gadgets. Who wouldn’t be impressed by the Scanadu?
“Track all your vitals with a scanner the size of a hockey puck that costs only $199.”
Alive Cor’s EKG monitor for iPhones is cool also.
“Now instead of a doctor recommending an app, your app will tell you to go to a doctor.”
His metaphor about glucose testing is a good one.
“Twenty years ago you had to go to the hospital to get your blood-sugar level tested,” he said. “Now we’ve put lab testing devices in the hands of the consumer. It’s going to be the same with devices to track all vital signs.”
These ideas sound great in a VC board room and pitch contests, and some of them have made it all the way to market.
“This is not the future of healthcare, this is the now,” Jones said. “Checking your health will be as easy as checking your email.”
Next up on the podium was David Inns of GreatCall. GreatCall offers live triage nurses, medication adherence, wellness coaching, and personal emergency response.
Inns offered a great reality check for all the tech solutions that Jones described. He illustrated with his opening question that not only is the future of healthcare unevenly distributed, the distribution channels are almost nonexistent for most people.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
“How many people have had an app prescribed to them by a doctor,” he asked to open his remarks. Not one hand went up. (Being in San Diego, I was hoping for a few hands.)
Inns went on to give a brutal assessment of how hard it will be to fulfill the promise of digital health tech. A stick figure – an engaged caregiver/patient/spouse – on the left side of a slide was ready to use technology to make healthcare easier. A series of hurdles stood between that person and success on the right side of the slide:
- Cost
- Requirements
- Setup
- Ease of use
- Convenience
There were a few crushed stick figures in the middle of the illustration, brought down by complexity.
“We hear things like, ‘This service requires Wi-Fi, does your Mom have that at her house?’ or ‘This device has to be paired to the phone with Bluetooth or it won’t work,’ ” Inns said. “Any single requirement like that reduces the number of people who will use the product.”
Inns’ next slide was even more sobering as he listed the practical, business questions about digital health solutions that have no clear answer yet:
- Who is going to adopt mhealth solutions?
- Who is going to pay for them?
- Who is going to promote them?
- Where will people go to buy them?
“It’s always the healthiest people in the room who have the Fitbits,” he said. “That is not going to cut any costs in the healthcare system.
Inns closed with the most basic question: Where do you buy all this stuff? The pharmacy seems like a good option, but we’re not there yet.
“Mass scale adoption may mean you have to do it yourself,” he said. “You need a compelling solution at the right price, and you need to partner with distribution channels who believe in what you are trying to do.”
