Healthcare will get cheaper in the future
A repository of data and information does not “think” it holds vast amounts of possibly valuable material. The challenge is to access stored information that we need, when we need it and to also be able to understand this information.
One person, thinking, deciding and acting in isolation is limited by who they are, what they know and the information they have readily available to them. While there is indeed a need and value for us to think, create and work independently, the ability for groups of people to connect and collaborate has proven to be incredibly valuable.
In healthcare, we are only seeing the beginning of augmented thinking for medical decision support, medical analysis, diagnosis, information retrieval and more. We are starting to use thinking computers to analyse and process mountains of noisy data, generate and retrieve relevant health information, using the network of millions of doctors and medical technologies cheaply, quickly everywhere.
Massive cost of care reduction
When talking about “The Future” I can say whatever I want — because today, no one can prove me wrong. Looking at the development of technologies, I predict there will be no more need for radiologists, pathologists or dermatologists in 10 years, as pattern recognition software will replace them. With the development of AI diagnostics will be done by computers and it will be done better faster and cheaper compared to today.
Undeniable advancements are being made in connectivity, biosensors, synthetic intelligence, data storage and more. In isolation, each will provide significant benefit, but in collaboration, the positive impact will prove to be truly exponential.
The power of personal medical data
No, this will not happen over-night, healthcare changes more evolutionarily than revolutionarily — but positive change is underway.
Eventually, patients will own their medical information. This information will have a value to many; In turn, Medical Information Exchanges will be formed to monetize this data. It is possible that the combined value of these exchanges will eclipse to cost of care delivery.
However, the weak link in all of this is the ability to authenticate the sources of all of this data, and this is where the significant importance of Blockchain comes into play. I was immediately attracted to IRYO when they shared their unique and exciting vision for global healthcare ecosystem run on open standards and high levels of security, alongside giving the patient the ultimate control over his medical data.
The future of better healthcare is not going to come from the ossified dinosaurs that created the mess we are in, but by innovative leaders like the team at IRYO, I am very optimistic about their future and proud to be part of it.
My background:
I’m an experienced business executive with more than 20 years of healthcare experience in the USA, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. I have used “connectivity” to improve healthcare for two decades, having established his first tele-radiology and TeleStroke programs in South Asia to improve care for the hospitals under his responsibility. Today with Ver2 — I continue to use connectivity to improve healthcare in many ways.
