HealthTech Perspectives from 2018

What an year 2018 has been! I for one am guilty of finding excuses to not write regularly. In that time however, I have been pondering about healthcare trends. The entry of major players into HealthTech has been happening regularly, boldly, far and wide. Here are the top three that caught my eye during the last year.

First was the coming together of industry giants to solve the rising employee health insurance costs when Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan teamed up and Apple opening on-campus clinics. Secondly, major technology players are diving deep into transforming healthcare with an interest like never before from Facebook working on imaging algorithms, Apple’s entry into patients records, Google’s multiple forays and pretty much everyone in big tech is investing in Healthcare. Thirdly, the transplanting of “common” innovation from other industries into healthcare with the entry of Uber driving patients and Amazon streamlining your daily pills.

And an year later it may seem like not much has happened, but I cannot wait to see  what Dr. Gawande’s CEO checklist shows us at the yet to be named company. Similarly let us keep an eye on the smart watch improving elderly care at home by detecting falls or avoid false positives in dealing with irregular heart rhythms; now that would be consumer led population health revolution! Can something as simple as a dependable ride service really be key to avoid healthcare waste by reducing patients no-shows?

Each trend seems to open up more possibilities and questions. I do believe that eco-systems matter, connecting disparate entities helps enable seamless flows and the computing power in our pockets is going to help us do a lot more. What are your top trends in healthcare at this time?