2019 shapes up to be the best year for digital health yet. From a global FDA, to A.I. in hospitals, let’ take a look at what we wish to see this year. Here are the major trends that we look forward to. National digital health strategies While technological development soars, healthcare systems around the globe struggle with unsustainability, and a shortage of medical professionals. Digital Health is the only viable way forwardand we would like to see more and more countries catching up. Denmark is already building a robust digital system for medical records and empowers e-patients with more focus on prevention. New Zealand’s strategy focuses on patients as the point-of-care. And a small African country, Rwanda, is building their healthcare system so wisely, that digital health startups are swarming the region, and the newest technological marvels are rolled out nation-wide almost instantly. Only six countries have some sort of digital health strategy, but we would like to see more and more governments to develop their own in the new year. Cross-border cooperation It’s going to be a slow process, but we hope to see the beginnings of borderless healthcare. Transnationalization can enable treatments outside the national healthcare systems. Just imagine a French patient sending a tissue of his tumor to a Belgian company specializing in precision diagnostics. They establish that a Swiss pharma company has the exact type of clinical trial that the patient could use, so he gets healed bythe joint efforts of numerous healthcare systems. It was unimaginable before. But with well-developed digital health tools,it can become a reality.
Discussions about a global FDA With cross-border cooperation comes the question of oversight. We already see the demand for a regulatory organization that goes beyond borders. Every day, there are more and more ethical and legal challenges, like gene editing in China and genetic big data in the West. The emergence of some sort of a global FDAseems inevitable. Medical chatbots aiding medical professionals 2019 could see the rise of health chatbots. Britain’s National Health Service already used a chatbot for a trial period to reduce the burden on its non-emergency helplines. Unfortunately, the first experiences were mixed. Patients didn’t trust the system and theywere able to play it to get an appointment with their doctor quicker. But as these bots develop, and patients embrace digital health, the bots will be able to take off the burden on medical professionals whenit comes to easily diagnosable health concerns or quickly solvable health management issues. Cars become the point of care When it comes to the future of healthcare,this is not something you would say from the top of your mind, but cars could be one ofour most valuable diagnostic devices. Mercedes already has cars that are able totell if a driver has become too tired to drive. And they’re aiming to arm their cars withmore and more health sensors. The seat belt, the steering wheel or practically anything the driver might touch, can be used as a biometric sensor to gain information. They could help detect a drop in blood sugaror even an impending heart attack.
We’d like to see more car manufacturers think this progressively. An FDA approved bio printed tissue The San Diego-based company, Organovo is focusing on the technology of 3D printing biomaterials. They have successfully bio-printed liver tissuesin 2014 and they seem to be years away from printing liver parts for transplantation. Based on their announcements we already expectedlast year that their first bioprinted products are expected to make it to the FDA in 2019,and we already saw a lot of regulatory discussions about 3D bioprinting - these will continue more intensively into the new year. A smart alarm revolution There are tons of wearables, sleep sensors and sleep apps out there. Even fitness trackers can follow your sleep. But the Holy Grail of health tracking is the smart sleep alarm. Since we sleep in cycles, we can feel completelygroggy or fully rested depending on where we are in the cycle at the time of wakingup. But Smart Alarm analyzes your sleep and wakesyou up at just the right time. A few days ago, I realized that the FitbitIonic has a smart sleep alarm feature, I tried it and it works wonders. I hope that the rest of the sleep trackermanufacturers will also pull it together, and in a few years, when we look back, wewon’t even understand how we could torture ourselves by waking up to a regular alarm clock. A.I. based algorithms and services approved by the FDA As wearables and innovative digital health technologies swarm our lives and our hospitals, we have access to more health data than ever. And with A.I. we have the ability to process them and gain insight that was unimaginable before. A.I. applications will help us with faster and more accurate medical diagnosis; and cheaper, more effective R&D.
IBM has already taken the first steps. Watson launched a special program for oncologists which is able to provide clinicians with evidence-based treatment options. Deep-learning and machine learning is ready to take healthcare by storm and we hope we’ll see a flock of approvals in the near future as A.I finally enters our lives. Big Tech in Big Pharma We’ve talked a lot about how Silicon Valley is looking into healthcare as their next big undertaking. Apple focuses on its consumer products to turn them into medical-monitoring devices. Amazon is building on its logistics and distribution savvy to sell prescription drugs and medical supplies online. Google, as a pioneer in AI research, is betting on the analysis of big data. And even Uber wants to replace ambulances. Healthcare is a 3 trillion dollar pie in theUS alone, and it’s ripe for disruption. These companies have clearly stated that they want a piece of that pie, and they have the ability to radically change healthcare for the better. Expect to hear more from them in the future. I hope you enjoyed this list about our expectations for 2019, and that you’re just as excited about them as we are. If you’d like to hear more about these topics,you can find my new Ebook on Leanpub.
Maybe we can start first by talking about health care and the digital transformation or the overall transformation that's taking place. You want to talk about your vision for how this industry in the landscape's going to change? I think we are on the edge of seeing just a complete transformation of health and healthcare as we go forward. I think the opportunities in front of us are just nothing short of going to be amazing. Because we are clearly evolving the health care system from a fix me a system to the question of what should we expect now going forward. I think as we now start to look at how do we integrate technology at this next level into the health care system, new possibility starts to come forward. The big one for us really how do we start to think about the holistic approach to a person's life? It's not just health care, it's a lifestyle, it's behavior, it's the whole ecosystem that makes up a person's day, that we'll be able with digital technology to bring all that together to really understand the whole person. >> That's fantastic. Not only are you thinking about the broad changes in the industry, but one of the other things that you're driving, again with some of the help with digital technologies,is the internal culture. You want to share a little bit about that? >> Well, you stop and think about it, if every single day our physicians, our nurses, our receptionist, our environmental services workers, they're with the members every single day. >> Right. >> They know more about the nuances of what can we continue to do to better the experience, better the relationship, better the trust, better the outcome. So now, with the kinds of digital platforms that we're looking at internally and working with internally, it opens up new channels of communication. >> Yeah, I know it's fantastic for us to be partnered with you around Office 365 as it's being used inside and things like Microsoft Teams, it's fascinating tosee when you empower the people inside the mission-driven organization with the right tools, how that can be a massive accelerant to the mission. >> When you get everyone using it, it speaks to it's the right thing that people are looking for and asking for. Everybody wants to use their time efficiently.
Having these kind of tools and connective tissues as we call it inside the organization where people are communicating and relating to each other and the outside world, it improves how people feel and how they are contributing and it definitely improves how we're providing care and coverage to millions of people around the country. >> I know you are oneof the leading voices talking about mental health, maybe you can sharea bit on your vision for how we can destigmatize the conversation around this, and then find the right set of solutions to what is something that is so importantto all of our lives. ; We are working hard on destigmatizing mental health, creating new paradigms for people to think about it and reach out forhelp when that is needed. Ultimately, our vision is that people would think of mental health the sameway we think about diabetes or cancer or you name it, heart disease. It's just recognized as a part of our body, and inside and outside ofKaiser Permanente, we talk a lot about reconnecting head to the body. That simply means to look at the whole person which also define as total health. Thank you so much Bernardfor sharing your thoughts and your leadership both at Kaiser Permanente but broadly in the industry, and also tackling some of the most pressing for our challenges for our society. Thank you so much.;
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