#Doctors being squeezed by many new trends in #healthcare & #tech. Via @EricTopol@NYeHealth#DHC14pic.twitter.com/5EMQKFPMlZ
— Wen Dombrowski MD (@HealthcareWen) November 17, 2014
Eric Topol, the director of Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla, California, shared some more details of his vision of democratized healthcare at the New York Digital Health Conference this week. In a world in which digital health devices such as sensors, smartphone labs are commonplace, medicine would become more personalized. The conference attracted quite a few doctors, so naturally, some wondered how they would implement the data generated from these technologies into their workflow. It’s a fair question that doesn’t appear to have any easy answers.
During his talk Topol dropped the names of numerous digital health and medical device companies that reflect a push towards people gaining more control over their healthcare and advancing a more personalized approach to medicine. Here’s a look at some of those businesses.
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.
Ultrasound on a chip Butterfly Network is developing a way to disrupt medical imaging with scanner the size of a smartphone containing a microchip to do ultrasound a smartphone sized scanner. Jonathan Rothberg founded the company three years ago. He previously started and sold DNA sequencing companies 454 to Roche Diagnostics and Ion Torrent Systems to Life Technologies. MIT Technology Review cited a patent application since Rothberg was tightlipped on how the technology works. It describes a device that creates 3-D images in real time. “Hold it up to a person’s chest, and you would look through ‘what appears to be a window’ into the body,” according to the documents.
Remote exam MedWand is a handheld, portable device designed to aid telemedicine exams. The idea is that patients would use the device to help doctors to listen to heart and lungs, obtain basic vitals, and check over a patient’s ears, nose, and throat. The developer behind the device is Dr. Samir Qamar, CEO of MedLion Management and Robert Rose, Cypher Scientific managing director. It’s unclear what its strategy to seek regulatory approval is, and the company, which officially launched in April, doesn’t mention it on its website.
Screening for oral lesions OScan is a smartphone-enabled screening device designed to spot early signs of what could lead to oral cancer among smokers. It is aimed at healthcare workers in rural areas of developing countries. The data the device generates can be transmitted to dentists and oral surgeons. The technology comes from the Prakash Lab at Stanford University’s school of bioengineering.
Reintroducing in-person housecalls For people who want an in-person appointment with a physician when they want it without having to sit in a waiting room, a handful of startups are building pools of physicians to make house calls in person. Topol singled out a couple, including Medicast and Pager, a business co-founded by Oscar Salazar, part of Uber’s founding team, with Philip Eytan, Gaspard de Dreuzy, charges $49 for an initial housecall in what’s essentially non-emergency primary care. Subsequent visits cost $199 each time, but the company claims these visits are reimbursed by several plans. It generated a lot of press for its one day collaboration with Uber to give passengers free flu shots in their homes.
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.
Smartphone-enabled assays Theranos has become shorthand for disruption of national lab testing companies. Although it apparently requires very little blood considering the 200 tests it claims it can perform on it, I wouldn’t call it a drop of blood — the person who took my blood at the Theranos booth at TEDMED squeezed quite a few drops from my finger.
