“The usual way of doing things,” said Michael Painter, MD, “is not going to get us to the culture of health that we want.”
That future is built on data generated by doctors, hospitals and consumers, flowing seamlessly between patients, their families and caregivers across the continuum. That’s really rather difficult.
What healthcare needs is something like Apple’s Genius Bar, said Painter, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's senior program officer, during the mHealth Summit 2014.
Yet the healthcare industry is still “at the same tip of the iceberg” that it has been at for a while now, according to Bryan Sivak, chief technology officer at The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Despite the proliferation of electronic health records, mHealth apps and smart devices such as phones, watches and wristbands, as well as all the data that those technologies are generating, much of that information remains fragmented in isolated, often-proprietary apps or vendor databases, where it is hard for clinicians to access it.
The most significant problem?
That data is essentially powerless when it’s invisible to clinicians, according to Michael Birt, director of Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute for Sustainable Health.
Sivak pointed out five areas that the healthcare segment needs to tackle in order to move forward: data ownership, privacy, standards to make data flow seamlessly, incentives for consumers to participate, and clinician desire.
“There are so many things happening across the health ecosystem — and the human services ecosystem for that matter — but I wonder how we get these things to scale?” he asked.
James Levine, MD, a professor of endocrinology at ASU and co-director of the Mayo Clinic’s Obesity Solutions unit, said the plethora of devices need to be validated or the data they collect is worthless, and making that information available across care teams will demand commonly agreed-upon transport protocols.
Sivak suggested it “all comes down to incentives” and that people will change behavior when the incentives are properly aligned.
Ironing out those the financial incentives also includes getting providers and payers on board. As of now, there is very limited data to prove that wearables actually improve health and wellness, according to Harry Leider, chief medical officer at Walgreens. “We are not yet at a state where we can clearly say people are improving longevity using these devices,” he said.
While payers and providers are moving slowly, Leider added, consumers are incredibly optimistic about the potential for smart devices to help them lose weight and even become more athletic — but, then again, only 10 percent use such technologies daily.
“After you wear them a while, you know what the data will be,” Leider said. “So people don’t keep using them.”
Rick Bryant, national healthcare solutions architect at Symantec, explained that in order for mobile tools to create visibility for clinicians, they have to deliver a rich user experience.
“Engagement equals outcomes,” said Joseph Kvedar, MD, director of Partners HealthCare's Center for Connected Health. “And if you have to push a button your engagement goes down.”
Ultimately, motivating patients to be more engaged in their health requires personalization, rather than a checklist that will work for everyone, said Teri Pipe, dean of ASU’s College of Nursing and Health Innovation.
Individualized, much like Apple’s Genius Bar at its best. Painter recounted on stage a recent trip to the Apple store to pick up a new iPad Air 2. A few minutes after placing his order online and opting to collect it at the nearest Apple store, he received an e-mail saying an employee at the store was ready for him to come and get it. He walked in, someone came up to him, found out why he was there and went back to get the iPad Air 2 waiting for him. The whole encounter was hardly more complicated than that.
“Why can’t healthcare be as seamless and efficient, even delightful, as the retail experience at the Apple store?” Painter asked.
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