Sabeen Shaikh is a global healthcare executive with deep industry experiences and a Partner leading Crescent Strategy Consulting.
Today, the U.S. healthcare system suffers from a lack of cohesiveness. In 2019, more than a third of Medicare beneficiaries saw five or more physicians. And this problem is being exacerbated by the evolution toward increased personalization, despite the undeniable advancements that personalization is bringing to patient care.
Throughout my 20-year global medtech career, I’ve been able to observe the powerful convergence of technology with healthcare and medical devices. From being a former commercial and operational leader in the medtech industry to now driving growth strategies with a multi-dimensional lens, I am witnessing firsthand the macro-level impacts personalized technologies can have—and how they could further fragment our healthcare system if action isn’t taken by leaders in the industry.
Understanding The Issue
“Fragmented care” is ultimately defined as “care that is diffusely spread across many physicians, such that no single physician accounts for a substantial proportion of visits.” This can, therefore, result in disjointed care for a patient.
Personalized healthcare involves incorporating individualized factors into diagnosis and treatment plans for each patient. However, this individualization can create difficulty in addressing large-scale health issues uniformly, thus contributing to the further fragmentation of healthcare. In my experience, this fragmentation caused by personalization generally stems from two main issues:
1. Providers often implement different and incompatible technology systems that lack interoperability.
2. Physicians and patients distrust AI and machine learning technologies that may otherwise help close gaps in technology and knowledge among different healthcare facilities.
I believe personalized healthcare could lead to a further fragmented system if organizations do not work to introduce and accept cohesive technology systems.
The Value Of Personalized Care
Today, there is a plethora of new technology that allows for accessible personalized care opportunities. These innovative technologies showcase the benefits of personalized care, as healthcare continues to evolve toward solutions that honor the individuality of each patient.
For instance, cardiovascular software has been developed to allow for more personalization. Consider Eko Health, which integrated noise-cancelling software into stethoscopes to help improve clarity and “reduce distracting background noise,” according to the company’s website. Eko pairs this tech with AI to assist physicians in earlier disease detection.
Similarly, big data and AI play a crucial role in analyzing vast amounts of health data, helping to identify patterns and predict outcomes, thereby enhancing the accuracy of diagnoses and treatments. Additionally, wearable technology provides continuous monitoring of health metrics, offering real-time feedback and personalized recommendations that enable proactive management of health conditions.
The Interoperability Challenge
The personalization of healthcare through new technologies offers an entirely new level of accessibility and health insights. However, some healthcare facilities may refuse to adopt the technology. Or, if the technology is adopted, the data gathered may not be processed and incorporated into existing patient data because of the lack of data flow capabilities.
This introduces a key factor limiting interoperability: the absence of different technologies and technology stacks that adequately share information. Medical device companies offer a robust system of technologies; however, many operate in closed ecosystems, which makes it difficult to transfer and compile data from different tech ecosystems. This minimizes communication and innovation because data is lost or never shared. In fact, 97% of data generated by hospitals is unused, according to Deloitte.
Tools Aiming To Address The Problem
In light of this issue, some companies are working on developing tools that aim to help. For example, Johnson and Johnson MedTech introduced Polyphonic, a digital ecosystem for surgeons “designed to pull together various data sources and offer a place for clinicians to workshop and ultimately disseminate best practices,” according to Fierce Biotech. The product intends to be “largely vendor-agnostic” as well. In my view, this could offer a new opportunity for external innovation and collaboration from outside developers and physicians to create a more clinically relevant experience with improved outcomes.
GE HealthCare’s CareIntellect for Oncology and Becton Dickinson’s Alaris are additional examples. Firstly, CareIntellect for Oncology aims to save oncologists’ time, as it “can quickly summarize patients’ histories, monitor disease progression and identify relevant clinical trials,” per CNBC. The company explained in a press release announcing the tool that it can organize patients’ data from disparate systems and compile it into a single view. Likewise, Becton Dickinson introduced Alaris, a device that works to combat infusion-related medication errors through an interoperable platform.
These examples showcase the importance of interoperability across differing tech stacks and work to set a new precedent for integrative technologies, allowing for the flow of more information between systems and introducing a new standard for efficiency.
Ultimately, the healthcare ecosystem can benefit from improved interoperability, as this can transform the patient and physician experience by making it more cohesive while still offering personalized care.
Moving Forward: Advice For Corporates And Innovators
Overall, groundbreaking technology produced in the medical field is redefining the boundaries of personalized medicine. However, these technologies are limited without a way to effectively transfer and communicate patient data. This underscores the need for open platforms to allow for the transfer of data and integration of innovative technologies.
I implore corporates and innovators to continue to develop open digital connected platforms to bridge technology limitations and promote a more cohesive healthcare ecosystem. Additionally, the market must focus on educating patients and clinicians on the clinical benefits of using AI and machine learning to reduce distrust and allow for further adoption of technologies that will eventually be a part of a cohesive ecosystem.
New products have the potential to revolutionize healthcare; however, they require transitioning a fragmented system into a cohesive model that is bound by a common goal of delivering the most optimized care. If we as an ecosystem do not address the lack of interoperability of technologies today, the current fragmented system will become more fragmented with the further introduction of personalized healthcare.
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