What’s happening in Digital Health?

A lot, on the surface! What’s underneath only time will tell…

Digital Health is not just a hot subject in Healthcare but it is also a new frontier that the tech geeks and hence the investors want to explore. My cue for this was from an audio podcast of Rock Health which notes that the H2 of 2017 witnessed a new record of investment in the healthcare with a total investment of $3.5 billion and also the largest number ever, 188 companies, receiving this investment. Read Rock Health’s full report here.

Now, that the stage is set for understanding how magnanimous this space is, let’s look at the the major themes around which these digital health firms are mushrooming.

• The App world — Numerous health related apps have come up over the last couple of years. This includes app version of the health encyclopedia WebMd which is not only a tool for symptom checker but also has a long list of drugs with information related to its uses, side effects, precautions, drug interaction, overdose effects. Micromedex, is a paid app for the same purpose as WebMd. Then you have apps like OneRx which helps you in drug price comparison.
• The App world 2.0 — With advent of precision medicine, several ailment specific apps have also been ‘invented’ for diabetes (Sugar Sense), asthma (AsthmaMD), stress (Stress Check). There is a wide array of fitness apps (Zombies Run!, StrongLifts 5x5, Motion Traxx) to choose from in addition to health wearables like Fitbit and Apple’s Health app which track your physical activity on a daily basis and gives you a beautiful-to-look-at analysis of your day.
• Telehealth/Telemedicine — The telehealth industry has picked up momentum with increased use of technology in the healthcare industry. Firms like Doctor on Demand, Health Tap, Teladoc allow you to consult doctors from the comfort of your home and also at a much lower cost. Read about these here. It’ll be interesting to look at how involved or supportive are the health insurance firms of patients using telehealth for chronic ailments?Will it be a game changer in this extremely expensive healthcare market?
• Internet of Things- In the era of this mobile savvy populous, it is no surprise that the healthcare industry players, namely providers, patients, insurance companies are drifting towards increased use of cloud for saving data related to medical records, drug information, scientific literature etc. HIPAA laws have acted as an enabler in this migration from traditional paper filing methods to digital.
• Healthcare Bots — Chatbots are being used to ensure access to health services in wee hours. These services range from taking doctor appointments, test results and prescription refills. Also, under research are bots which would help in carrying out medical surgeries insuring extreme precision. However, whether these bots can outsmart the human wisdom is something only time will tell.
• Smart Technology — From data savvy pacemakers (Medtronic app) to in-research glucose monitoring smart lens (considered a high-risk project now), we are seeing some really innovative technologies like AliveCor’s FDA-cleared mobile heart solution which could help in real-time monitoring of a patient’s health condition and take preemptive action. What else? We also have FDA approved digital medicines now with adherence tracking sensor that goes right inside our body sending out data signals, Creepy!

Creepier — There is now a preserve-your-brain-and-upload-it company!

The list does not end here, as there are more players active in undefined and overlapping categories mentioned above. It is therefore no surprise that 30% of world’s store data is generated in healthcare industry.

As more and more patient’s data gets digitized, the concern for data security gets graver. We are living in a time when our psycho-graphic data is used to influence our political decisions and we have no clue about it! Here goes my message to the Torchbearers of Digital Health — Keep our health data ‘secure’ because it is far more precious, it impacts our decision to survive!