For most of us digital technology has become second nature. We depend on the alarms on our phones to get our day moving, have half a dozen forms of technology with us at all times, and rely on various apps to stay organized, productive and most importantly connected. Our digital technologies have been the answer to many of our daily hassles and challenges. It is a path we as society have entered and don’t plan on leaving.
Could this be the path that the healthcare industry is moving as well?
This past month, David Feygin, Chief Digital Health Officer and VP of Information Technology at Boston Scientific led our iHub Speaker Series in a discussion providing an overview of the hassles in healthcare, and where digital health and technology could be the answers.
He started from the beginning.
“Why is healthcare still behind?”, he asked.
Feygin explained that unlike other industries that had to fight and win against various competitors in order to grow, or had to become more customer focused – the healthcare industry hasn’t hit a lot of these pressures until more recently.
So what is making us join the trend now?
One of the factors is the changing mindset or behavior of the consumer or patient. As Feygin discussed in his presentation, 88% of consumers today feel confident enough to take responsibility of their own health. Another factor Feygin discussed, is that because of the daily manual administrative burdens, physicians spend less than 30% of their time actually devoted to patient health. Feygin’s answer however: “You can’t put this genie back in the bottle.”
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“When you talk about digital innovation think about solving the hassles. The more hassles you resolve the more impact your innovation will have.”
So, where do we start?
Currently some of the main challenges or hassles are new entrants, specifically of device and pharma, data organization and input, as well as new business recommendations. Feygin dug further into the issue of data explaining that “Data is still a mess, but improving. Until data collection is automated, it won’t be useful”.
What is the end goal? What will diving deeper into the digital world in healthcare do for the industry?
The promise of digital health will bring about engagement opportunities, personalized experiences for patients and employees, and more efficient simpler solutions to everyday hassles. Advances in digital innovation and technology have the ability to help reduce costs, improve quality, simplify processes and daily tasks and engage and empower patients. Feygin explained that overall as an industry we need to help entrepreneurs, innovators and partners to deliver solutions at scale, enter adjacent spaces, access breadth of digital capabilities and get to digital development at “clock speed”. To innovators, Feygin instructed them to think of “who in the health system will actually care about your innovation” and move in that direction. Figure out who will benefit from your new technology and who will care.
Together we can deliver the help that is needed through digital innovations and solutions.
Feygin and the industry’s ultimate question to you is, “How do we drive 10x improvements in efficiency, effectiveness and customer engagement” through the powers of digital health?”.
Didn’t have a chance to come to our March iHub Speaker Series?
Make sure to register for our April Speaker Series: Beyond the Pill !