It would be tough to assemble a group of investors, entrepreneurs and healthcare technology professionals in one room and not produce at least a few memorable insights on medtech innovations, healthcare industry trends and the future of healthcare. Here’s a list of some of the comments from the Digital Healthcare Innovation Summit that resonated with me.
“Big data is like teen sex. Everybody is talking about it, everyone thinks everyone else is doing it, so everyone claims they are doing it.” In his keynote talk, Dr. Eric Topol referenced Dan Ariely, a professor and director of the awesome-sounding Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University. Yet Topol’s use of the quote was apropos for an industry that relishes the prospects for big data to improve outcomes, especially for chronic conditions. Although mainstream implementation figures into most people’s vision for the future of healthcare, it’s still in the early stages of adoption by hospitals.
“There is a Cambrian explosion of devices in healthcare.” Walter DeBrouwer, the founder and CEO of Scanadu.
“I work in healthcare, then I go home at night to the 21st century.” David Levin, Cleveland Clinic Chief Medical Information Officer, shared his perspective on the need to reform healthcare and to balance healthcare technology with improving the quality of patient-physician interactions. He emphasized the need for medical devices and health IT to fit into hospital workflows. “I don’t want tech to be sexy, I want it to be seamless.”
“Will 2014 be the year of the digital health IPO?” Rock Health Chief Strategy Officer Malay Gandhi presented a projection of companies he said are positioned for an initial public offering, highlighting their fundraising activity over the past 18 months:
- ZocDoc – $75 million Series C in August 2011; $55M in debt: June 2013
- Castlight Health – $100 million Series D round: May 2012
- Care Com – $50 million Series E round: August 2012
- Practice Fusion – $70 million Series D round: September 2013
“Epocrates lucky moment was when Steve Jobs’ MD refused iPhone unless the epocrates app was on it.” Jeff Tangney founder and CEO of Doximity, was president and COO of medical app provider epocrates, which was acquired by athenahealth earlier this year.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“Efficiency is finally coming to healthcare; only the paranoid and the good will survive.” Shafiq Rab, CIO of Hackensack University Medical Center.
Asked about where the opportunities are for entrepreneurs in healthcare, Dr. Farzad Mostashari said: “Don’t go for gimmicks. Focus on improving access to health insurance, quality of healthcare and cost… What we get for our healthcare (considering what we pay for it) sucks!”
Another memorable line from Mostashari: “A lot of hospitals are milking the cash cow [of] fee -for-service and they are going down a plank they won’t be able to return from.”
“We gave people drugs for free after they had a heart attack and we only improved adherence from 43 percent to 45 percent. We couldn’t crack 50 percent.” Dr. Lonny Reisman, chief medical officer for Aetna, talked about the very tough challenge of improving adherence.
[Photo credit: People talking from BigStock Photo]
