CNBC Healthy Returns Summit: Is Health Tech the Cure?

Robust Innovation EngineBack in March 2001 futurist Ray Kurzweil asserted that technological change is exponential quotWe won39t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century it will be more like 20000 years of progress at today39s ratequot he asserted in the The Law of Accelerating Returns Today we see evidence of those exponential advances in a suite of enabling technologies ranging from computing power to data storage to the scale and performance of the Internet These critical advances are creating multiple tipping points in the healthcare industry moments at which technologies such as robotics artificial intelligence AI biology nanotechnology and 3D printing have crossed an important threshold and galvanized steady and significant change in the quality of patient care and health outcomesquotInnovation is the lifeblood of our JampampJ business everywherequot Duato said quotWe increased our investment in innovation by 23 a sign of how much we believe in the power of science and technology to improve patient carequot The role of external innovation at JampampJ through partnerships collaborations and acquisitions has driven 50 of new ideas and products at JampampJ with over 700 emerging companies incubated to dateAI and Velocity of DataAI and machine learning ushered in an era of quicker cheaper and moreeffective drug discovery patient diagnosis treatment and recovery quotWe can do genomic sequencing and at the same time with large data sets utilize AI and machine learning to create patterns in which we can correlate diseases with genomic profiling to identify what are going to be the underpinnings of diseases that are going to be the triggers the targets that we are going to be able to utilize in our discoveryquot Duato explainedThrough rapid testing powered by tools like AI and ML new potential drug targets can be assessed for therapeutic activity and potential toxicities and accelerate the development of new medicines quotWe can plan much better our clinical trialsquot he said quotWe are able to create synthetic control groups instead of having placebo groups and we are also able to stratify and identify patients that are difficult to find in rare diseases utilizing algorithms that enable us to identify them Iamp8217m very bullish about the potential of technology in accelerating discovery and developing new medicinesquotConsumerization of HealthMany presenters pointed out that we are moving towards a radical consumerization of health and valuebased care positioning patients as consumers as digital tools create transparency more ubiquitous access and autonomy to choose the best health solutionFrom the proliferation of healthrelated apps Calm Maven Talkspace and ZocDoc for example to the accelerated adoption of telehealth consumers are now in the driver39s seat with increasing flexibility to choose who where and how they access care This trend towards consumer empowerment has to be analyzed in the context of the reality of inflationary pressuresquotOverall we39ve seen volatility in the consumer demandquot Duato said quotBut we continue to see very solid consumer business coming through and we continue to try to deliver what is best for consumers and try to mitigate our cost increases by improving our own efficiency and in some cases also having price increases But overall we are bullish about the potential of our consumer health business and about our ability to navigate the inflationary pressures in a way that is optimal for consumersquotFor full consumerization to come to life the health ecosystem has to remove a number of entrenched friction points from payor breakdowns to transaction bottlenecks to systemic health inequityA 360amp176 Care ModelIn today39s complex healthcare landscape there39s only one way to stop patients from falling through care gaps Evidencebased telemedicine provides a valuable 360degree view of the patientamp8217s healthcare history and optimizes diagnosis and care coordination cost control and patient outcomes Telemedicine can benefit every player in healthcare from providers to patients to caregiversThe issue is that healthcare complexity can bring transparency on the most relevant factors in the patientamp8217s care story particularly with chronic disease management There39s often no central source of truth as the patient moves along the continuum of care A patient may be treated for diabetes by one doctor see a gastroenterologist for an irritable bowel visit a physical therapist for a neck injury and obtain medication for chronic migraines from another physician with none of those providers aware of each other39s diagnoses or treatment plansPatients are getting lost in the gaps between their providers The statistics paint a dismal picture for 360 degree care with only 59 of US hospitals notifying the patient39s PCP upon emergency room admission and only 25 agreeing that they can usually contact colleagues for collaboration in an efficient way What is more alarming is that 80 of serious medical errors involve miscommunication during care transitionsWithout effective collaboration accountability and oversight providers base their care plans on imperfect and insufficient knowledge Primary care providers may miss evaluating key symptoms and connecting the patient observation dots and therefore be unable to catch a serious illness in time Chronic diseases can become worse and turn lifethreatening leading to costlier and more timeconsuming outcomesVertical Integration in HealthcareAccording to Deena Shakir Partner at Lux Capital a venture capital firm that invests in emerging science and technology these frictions can be addressed through digitizing the entire health value chain quotThere is a mandate for longterm technology adoption with digital front doors and patientfacing platformsquot she asserted She posed the important question quotWho is going to be the next Stripe Shopify or the AWS for digital healthquotMohamad Makhzoumi Managing General Partner at NEA another venture capital firm that specializes in seed to growth stage companies highlighted a number of potential candidates to serve as the goto ubiquitous healthcare digital destination and ecommerce engine including Steady MD and CommurePerhaps the most likely company to serve as the king of healthcare is Amazon The Amazon Care model moves towards an inclusive and comprehensive onestop destination promising to provide the quotcare you need in seconds in all the moments that matterquot Amazon Care is expanding inperson healthcare services to more than 20 new cities in 2022 as the trend continues while other retail giants like Walgreen and CVS Health look to become more vertically integratedAccording to Rosalind Brewer CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance who spoke at the Summit quotinequities in delivering healthcare in certain geographiesquot has ignited more focus on novel care models including VillageMD clinics which consist of primary care physicians and CareCentrix which covers postacute care This is part of the vast network of 9100 Walgreen stores nationwide serving 75 of US households all within five miles of every household Walgreens is currently spending another 52 billion on VillageMDBrewer also spoke to the important healthcare provider role that pharmacists can play and how their role has been elevated during the pandemic as administrator of the COVID19 vaccine quotPharmacists are absolutely front and center and the first touch point at many times with our customers and patients and has grown through this pandemicquot she explained By opening robotpowered microfulfillment centers across the US to fill customers39 prescriptions Walgreens is reshaping the role of its stores and giving back time to pharmacists to develop patient relationships Another health retailer CVSamp160continues to add more physician practices as it expands its diversified strategy to grow its primary care business The biggest retailer in the world Walmart has also been expanding healthcare services in certain US marketsClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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CNBC Healthy Returns Summit: Is Health Tech the Cure?

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Raquelle Zuzarte

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