Connected Healthcare stems from my belief in ‘integrating’ Life Sciences and Healthcare.
Earlier this year I had read Joseph Kvedar’s book entitled “The Internet of Healthy Things.” He is the vice president of Connected Health, and part of the Partners Healthcare system in Boston. The book provides examples of using technology to close the healthcare gap (highly recommended). In sharing my insights into 2017, I am bound on one side by what cloud providers can do, and on the opposite side the needs of providing solutions to improve healthcare. This post is intended to provide the strategy for achieving healthcare cloud offerings, so what is driving the industry?
The rising cost of healthcare**
These are the top 5 Chronic diseases in the country. The challenge for healthcare care providers is in managing these diseases at the lowest cost. What is especially relevant as the numbers of patient symptoms increase how can technology help deliver better care at affordable price? Which leads up to the strategy for addressing the problem.
**Reference: 11 Most Expensive Diseases in the U.S., December 22, 2015
Strategy via Partners
Cloud services alone cannot solve the problem. Point solutions from startups and service providers need momentum to gain market entry.
During the past 10 months I’ve been focusing on key solutions, that together with our cloud offering, that will help improve the following business processes. You also need to develop a mid to long term strategy around innovation.
Focus for 2017
- The Internet of Things (IoT) – we will be presenting three use cases for improving the safety of our Drug Supply Chain. as many pharmaceutical and distributors must address the new regulations from the FDA.
- Big data analytics – if hospitals have patient information can we determine through Genomics which drug to recommend? This combines genomics study – patient health records (EHR) – and specialty drugs.
- Security – the good news is that Connected Healthcare promises to deliver business solutions that can help both Life Sciences and Hospitals (Healthcare). The challenge will be to safeguard patient and product data.
- SAP – our company has a very close relationship with SAP. Outside of the US market SAP is a very strong Healthcare provider. Additionally our ability to provide data centers that are both compliant to the FDA and EU regulations. As well as being HIPAA compliant both are required for the industry.
New Innovation
Looking past 2017 into areas that will include the following:
- Phase 1 clinical trials – the development of a cloud based solution targeted for new drug trials.
- Blockchain – the whole concept of the ‘distributed ledger’ will be applied to Connected Healthcare.
- Telemedicine – there is a solution waiting to be applied here in the US.
Happy New Years’s
2017 is shaping up to be an exciting time for the industry. Therefore the strategy for addressing healthcare costs is how best to apply technology to deliver quality care. I look forward to the challenges of bringing new solutions to the market.
I want to conclude this post by wishing you and your family and friends a wonderful New Years.
Thanks,
Jim