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What is the future of healthcare? How can it become health care vs sickness treatment? What role do technology and innovation play?
Healthcare costs are rising, the population is aging and medical needs are greater than ever. How can patients receive better quality care at an affordable price? How can we leverage technology to provide better and more affordable healthcare around the world?
Topics:
Healthcare e-health innovation medicine
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Cheng Zhang
Policy Makers: Thanks to innovation in medicine/technology, most people now die of chronic diseases as they age. This is very different from acute care and requires an long-term doctor to patient relationship. This is just not possible with myriad of private insurance companies. Moreover, our insurance provider is ultimately determined by our employers. So, without sounding too socialistic, there is a need for a centralized healthcare system so that patient information can be easily accessed by the primary care physicians REGARDLESS of where the patient is.
Drug Companies: Instead of focusing on developmental research ( to extend patent period), drug companies should worry less about profit and invest more in diversifying their target diseases. For instance, developing a drug to treat a small population of patients might not be profitable but it is certainly necessary (government should also subsidize these research).
Clinicians: Patients from an area with more specialists per capita are more likely to be subjected to invasive and expensive procedures. There has been an overwhelming push to churn out primary care physicians but without success simply because it is not profitable. Bach and Kocher have proposed an interesting solution that would effectively make medical school free for primary care physicians and specialists would still have to pay for training.
Patients: An an age when information is readily available, patients have an responsibly to monitor their own well being and conditions. From a cultural perspective, there is a need to promote a healthier lifestyle.
technology: promote more transparency between patient and their information/physicians. (i'm out of characters)
Christina Nesheva 50+
It will be interesting to hear more from you about what role you see technology playing in healthcare particularly mobile. as a whole, the industry is very conservative (for the right reasons).
Cheng Zhang
Regardless, I think mobile healthcare communication is inevitable and eventually, patients will be able to communicate about their chest pain or suspicious lesion with their physicians over their phones.
One topic that I'm particularly interested in is wireless monitoring of not only patients but various other parameters within any healthcare environment from patient traffic to equipment locations, infection risk level all with respect to time, location and responsible personnel. This will be an interesting way to measure general hospital quality.
If you don't mind, can I ask why you're interested? I see that you're working for GSK which is predominantly a drug company? Are there plans to incorporate wireless technologies into our pills?
Christina Nesheva 50+
I work for GSK but this conversation and question is because of personal interest and represents my own views.