HAVE WE REACHED THE TIPPING POINT FOR INNOVATION IN HEALTHCARE AND LIFE SCIENCES?
Thoughts from Babson’s 7th Annual Healthcare and Life Sciences Forum
Did you know that peer review of clinical data is no longer considered the best? Or that for every $100 of cost associated with a hospital stay, it would cost $60 in a long term care facility or $40 at home?With a gathering of some of the most innovative thought leaders in the northeast at Babson’s 7th Annual Healthcare and Life Sciences Forum last week, participants received a candid and in-depth briefing about what is spurring the rapid change we are seeing today. The expert consensus was that we’ve made huge strides in accepting electronic health records, creating remote patient care that works, and facilitating mobile access to records and advice. With 17% of US GDP currently spent on healthcare however, there’s increasing urgency to drive down costs and improve outcomes. Here are my observations.
WHERE IS THE TIPPING POINT?
Are we near it, or is it behind us? The opinions of the healthcare forum panelists differed but most agreed that today’s standard for a tipping point is “meaningful use” rather than “meaningful implementation”. If doctors and patients don’t use the new technologies to a significant extent, then no tipping point has been reached.
By the way, from Gladwell.com I discovered that the origin of “the term tipping point refers to that moment in an epidemic when a virus reaches critical mass. It's the boiling point. It's the moment on the graph when the line starts to shoot straight upwards.”
Massive financial incentives: One reason the tipping point will be reached soon, said John Halamka, CIO of Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, is that under the new stimulus bill clinicians will receive up to $44,000 to implement electronic health records for their patients. The resistance from doctors who hadn’t the dollars to spend, especially on technology they had yet to master, is expected to melt away as financial incentives and faster reimbursement foster alignment between doctors, hospitals and payers. Doctors working within the Boston-based hospital complex have already benefited from many of these changes. By understanding and aligning interests of patients, providers and payers to launch services that deliver real value, as I have in other industries, we will make that “meaningful use” line shoot straight up.
More about the tipping point: Rob Havasy from the Partners Center for Connected Health agrees that the tipping point is near, particularly in mobile health. Mobile access to records, health advice, appointments and patient communities like PatientsLikeMe has been fostered by the alignment of money and by consumer acceptance of technology.
Chris Steel, representing PA Consulting’s expertise from the UK, says they’ve found that 40% of the hospital beds in the UK are filled by those 5% of patients who would be better served remotely. They are working intensively to improve remote utilization and improve patient care in the process. His research in the US shows that one in four Americans would upgrade their wireless plans if they had better access to healthcare information. This figure alone shows that consumers are ready. Alignment of interests will make it happen.
REMOTE SERVICES WILL BE THE NEW NORM
A couple of weeks ago I had a far-reaching discussion with the CEO of one of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield companies - - someone who has managed a significant performance turnaround for this payer in two very short years. In addition to much-needed changes in management, accountability and customer programs (he established advisory boards with his 25 largest customers that offer Blue Cross plans to their employees) he is also implementing a remote doctor/patient service for diagnosis and treatment of non-threatening conditions. The service, which is accessible by phone or webcam, allows patients to be connected to a doctor remotely as needed; the doctors sign on in their spare time to provide care to patients calling in from all over the country and then send the patient record along and collect their fee for the consult. Doctors are experiencing better utilization of their time in the office and higher fee income; patients receive instant response to their medical issues. It makes sense for the payer to sponsor this because it is one way to reduce the cost of care while improving outcomes through fast response and quick intervention.
WHERE ARE THE NEXT BIG OPPORTUNITIES?
Some of the most compelling insights came from panelists who described their ideas for future opportunities for innovation. Each idea will benefit from developments and innovations previously made in other industries. My work over the years in financial services, data modeling and intelligence, and real time on-demand services is particularly appropriate when you read this list. In addition, my past experience with companies like Pfizer and CIGNA confirms that the healthcare field is ripe for efficient, customer-enhancing solutions to real problems. The opportunities proposed, and I agree, are as follows:
· Mobile phone applications enabling universal accessibility; remote service of patients to save time
· Applications for the 65+ crowd; the fastest growing smart phone segment has distinct healthcare needs
· Communities to promote interactive communication between friends (the “biggest loser” game)
· Getting employers to engage employees in their own health issues
· Data mining and better analytical tools; analytics and decision systems that allow informed action on the spot
· Ability for a doctor to find structured and unstructured data (aka “Google search” ) across all his patients’ records
· Change management to overcome resistance from some doctors, patients and others
· Interoperability between multiple systems; common standards
