During the Digital Health Summit at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, executives from three notable companies turned their focus toward patients.
Or in the words of John Lennon, they discussed giving “Power to the People.”
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People often think of data as an important stepping stone on the journey to patient empowerment. But having access to so much information also poses a challenge.
Rob Le Bras-Brown, Nokia’s global head of digital health, said his company isn’t simply shoving data at people. Instead, its sleep coaching program — called Sleep Smarter — helps consumers get better sleep over the course of eight weeks.
“We try to hold the hands of our consumers,” he noted.
It’s also crucial to look at everything from the patient’s perspective. What a healthcare company thinks a patient wants isn’t necessarily what that patient actually wants.
Marc Leibowitz, global head of health technology at Johnson & Johnson, suggested entering the space with an open mind.
“We have to leave a lot of biases that we might go into an experiment with on the table,” he said. “Very often we see something completely unexpected.”
One thing all patients desire is something that’s simple to use. “These devices need to be easy and intuitive,” Le Bras-Brown said.
But they don’t only want a service or device that’s uncomplicated. They also need to know they’re receiving quality care.
“Ultimately the house of cards falls if the medical quality isn’t there,” said Teladoc CMO Lewis Levy. “One can have all the apps and digital know-how, but people need to receive great care.”
The task of patient empowerment can’t simply be dumped solely on patients. The duty also falls on providers and healthcare leaders.
Healthcare is a “pretty medieval experience” compared to other sectors, Leibowitz said. Thus, healthcare leaders should borrow techniques from the successful work being done in other industries.
Le Bras-Brown agreed.
“We all have the responsibility to listen to signals coming back from our customers,” he said. “If we don’t get that right, we run the risk of failure. The potential benefit to human health is too significant to get this wrong.”
Interestingly, the panel took place on the same day as a massive power outage at CES. Twitter went wild, and hashtags like #CESblackout started trending. The isolated incident affected certain halls in the Las Vegas Convention Center, according to a CES press release. The Digital Health Summit wasn’t impacted.
In its own way, the outage did the exact opposite of what the panelists were talking about — it inconvenienced attendees rather than empowered them.
Photo: FotografiaBasica, Getty Images
