Highlights of the Healthcare Club Panel: Insights & Predictions for Healthcare Industry in 2018: Amazon / Berkshire / JP Morgan, virtual reality, telehealth, healthcare predictions about consumer-driven innovation from an audience member

Lager time at WeWork!
It’s only February – but so far I have attended 3 healthcare networking events hosted by WeWork. Looks like a trend for 2018!
And yes, all the spaces feature the notorious mini-bar with the self-serve draft beer.But contrary to the WeWork reputation, the vibe has been more brainy than frat-boy…
“Consumer-driven” – time to move on?
Just a thought — maybe it’s time to retire the buzzword “consumer-driven” in healthcare. Lately it feels like it can mean almost anything. For example I’ve heard it in conversations about high-deductible plans, patient education, brand experience, wellness behavior, value-based payments, and, of course, Amazon / Berkshire / JP Morgan’s new healthcare venture. Can we move on?
Highlights from Insights & Predictions for Healthcare Industry in 2018
Please note this is my entirely subjective take — as an audience member — on the Healthcare Club NY event, and may not reflect the panelist’s intentions.
- New technologies get a look: Virtual reality for pain management; quantum computing
- Utilization of new and broader datasets: Such as social media, internet of things, and biosensor.
- Acceleration of “retail” healthcare offerings, led by Amazon / Berkshire / JP Morgan, of course.
- Telehealth is fading as an investment opportunity. Increasingly it will seen as standard feature integrated into a technology platform, rather than a standalone servic
- Why healthcare innovation is hard: It takes buy-in from both providers and consumers. Also: providers are labor-intensive local monopolies, so they are inherently change-resistant.
- Why healthcare ROI is hard: Providers have difficulty defining success. Startups often don’t count implementation cost in RO
- Hospital systems underfund innovation. A few years ago many systems started innovation departments, but then allocated funds from marketing, rather than a dedicated stream. That is slowly changing.
- Amazon / Berkshire / JP Morgan is in the house! What does that mean? Answers vary:
– They are Godzilla and will smash the whole healthcare stack
– Healthcare is moving to the home, where Amazon dominates
– Both Google and IBM tried and failed to gain a beachhead in healthcare. Amazon will fail too.
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