The landscape of healthcare services will continue to change, experts at the HLTH in Boston, United States have agreed. The conference, which took place from October 17 to 20, brought together major players in global healthcare.
Experts discussed transformations happening in the digital health space, such as patient-facing devices and the personalisation of care to meet patients where they are.
The CEO of mobile electrocardiogram device company AliveCor, Priya Abani, said: “Getting sensor data is step zero in my mind, and it’s fantastic that we already are. But then what do you do with the data? What do you expect the patient or customer to do with the data? This is the new age of medicine. This is the most transformative time.”
Abani was part of a panel discussion on “The Blurring Lines of Health Devices”. Abani said companies are much more focused on customers and the customer experience in the health tech space, influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. The next step is to focus the data and make it more intelligent.
Harpreet Rai, the CEO of Oura, said his company, a consumer health tech, produces the Oura Ring, which tracks heart rate and body temperature. Last year, the company and the University of California, carried out a study to predict the onset of COVID-19 symptoms using data from Oura Ring wearers.
For Eddie Martucci, the CEO and co-founder of biotech software company Akili Interactive, the landscape changed long before the pandemic.
“I believe we’re going to see a massive acceleration of good data on really futuristic technology that wouldn’t have happened a decade ago,” Martucci said.
A panel discussion on “Getting Personal with Digitally-Enabled Care” highlighted the importance of healthcare accessibility.
The conference availed Amazon the opportunity to unveil its hybrid care model. It said it would bring Amazon Care to Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and Los Angeles, among others.
Amazon Care Director Dr. Kristen Lloyd Helton said: “Employers want to retain their talent. They’re very invested in health and safety. We’re also looking at outcomes. We want to make sure the services we provide are improving health, but also eventually lowering costs.
“In doing that, we’re building trust that we’re going to solve whatever problem they have. It gives them the confidence to start virtual and know we will take them through that entire journey and deliver great care.”
Helton added that Amazon Care’s additions would be based on listening to what patients want, such as self-scheduling options and the inclusion of primary care. She said: “Those points of interface may happen later in the roadmap.”
On Wednesday, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the agency’s head, detailed some of its strategies during a virtual keynote at HLTH 2021, especially those targeted at the millions of people who are eligible for coverage through CMS programs but are not enrolled.
At another session moderated by Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, chair of the medical ethics and health policy department at the University of Pennsylvania, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure of CMS, said: “At the start of the administration, the president opened up a special enrollment period and really increased the education and outreach effort. And what we saw was a bump in enrollment. We take it for granted that people know that there is coverage available to them.”
Brooks-LaSure said his firm was looking at ways to better the implementation of automatic enrollment into health plans, adding that CMS is allowing lower-income individuals to enroll in marketplace plans throughout 2022.
A key CMS goal, Brooks-LaSure said, was health equity, which is about the providers that serve underserved populations.
“I’m really focused on making sure that we don’t move in what is overall a positive direction, but then leave behind the people who are most in need,” Brooks-LaSure said.
Speaking at a panel session, Dr. Luther T. Clark, the deputy chief patient officer and global director, scientific medical and patient perspective, at Merck, said: “Bringing the voice of patients into our decision making is critical to the work that we do. While there are a number of important considerations, what we have found is that…developing collaborations and partnerships with the community.”
Clark added that partnering with trusted community organisations and individuals was an effective way to engage patients in research and clinical trials, which would help ensure that products and treatments were tested among a diverse population.
Christina Speck, the head of product and employer strategy at BlueCross BlueShield of Rhode Island, guided decision making was vital to healthcare.
“There are 350,000 apps in the app store today just for healthcare and 19,000 of those have just been added in the last year,” Speck said during the panel. “That’s very confusing.”
Speck continued: “Navigation integrated with digital health, integrated with some of the care management programs that we put in place like second opinion, etc., could be very valuable if there is one point of contact in addition to a doctor that is trusted. In our world, in the payer world, we feel like that is the navigator.”
The co-founder of medical access app CarpeMed, Olaseni A. Bello Jr., said providing simple and digestible information to patients was key for achieving patient centricity.
“I’ll speak from my perspective: I’ve read [health] records and I have to ask ‘What does this mean? What does that mean?
“When we are talking about family history, having the ability to really share and disseminate information, that’s where you start to trust,” Bello said.
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