How technology is changing the doctor/patient relationship

Our Splash Health, Wellness and Wearables event is coming up on March 23 in San Francisco, and we’re going to have some great speakers, including Mario Schlosser, the Founder & CEO of Oscar Health; Brian Singerman, Partner at Founders Fund; Steve Jurvetson from Draper Fisher Jurvetson; J. Craig Venter from Human Longevity; and Lynne Chou, Partner at Kleiner Perkins.

Topics covered will include the future of care, the elimination of age related disease, tackling diabetes, and the promotion of healthy living.

One of our panels, called, “The doctor will see you now,” will tackle one of the most exciting things happening in healthcare right now: the advancement in wearables, augmented reality, mobile and how it’s changing our interaction with our physicians.

Moderated by Sarah Buhr, Reporter at TechCrunch, here’s who will be featured on the panel:

Ian Shakil, Founder and CEO of Augmedix, a service, powered by Google Glass, that allows doctors to focus on patient care by assisting them with their documentation.

Shakil has work experience from Intuitive Surgical, Edwards Lifesciences, and MC10. He received an MBA from Stanford University and BSE in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University.

Ron Gutman, Founder and CEO of HealthTap, a digital-health startup that is helping many millions everywhere find the best care and make better decisions about their health and well-being.

Gutman is also a writer and a speaker in health and technology conferences, including TED, Stanford Medicine X, and Health2.0. He is also an angel investor and an advisor to health and technology companies.

Sami Inkinen, Founder and CEO of Virta Health, an online specialty medical clinic focusing on type 2 diabetes.

Inkinen is also the Co-Founder of Trulia and worked at various business development positions at Microsoft, Nokia and McKinsey & Company. He is also a competitive endurance sports athlete with three Hawaii Ironman triathlon finishes and was ranked as #2 triathlete in his age group in the U.S. in 2009.

Arnaud Bernaert, the Head of Global Health and Healthcare at the World Economic Forum.

Bernaert  has more than 20 years of experience in the Healthcare industry, and more recently completed about 25 M&A transactions with a particular focus on targets in the space of Home Healthcare, Clinical Decision Support, Imaging and Image Guided Intervention and Treatment.

How technology is changing the doctor/patient relationship

The rise of techology enabled care (TEC) has resulted in a massive shift in how patients manage their care, and how doctors receive information.

Wearables can track data over long periods of time, which can then be sent directly to their physician ahead of their appointment, allowing the doctor to begin the appointment already knowing what to tell the patient. At the same time, companies like Augmedix are cutting down on another aspect: doctor paperwork, allowing them to spend more time with their patients.

A report from Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, entitled, “Connected health: How digital technology is transforming health and social care,” put out in 2015, found that a mobile working solution for community nurses reduced time spent on paperwork by 60 percent, while increasing patient face time by 29 percent.

Meanwhile, there’s been the rise in telemedicine, in which patients can connect with doctors without needing to leave the house. That is provided by companies like Doctor On Demand and TelaDoc. Telemedicine has been shown to help reduce patient visits for ailments that don’t require a doctor visit; according to the same report, 210 care homes that used a telehealth hub reduced hospital admissions by 35 percent, accident and emergency services use by 53 percent, and hospital bed stays by 59 percent. 

The healthcare wearables space has also been well funded; through November of last year, there were 82 deals in the space, raising a total of $557.96 million, according to data from PitchBook.

Some of the biggest deals of the year included:

• Jawbone, which raised a $165 million Series F round, bringing its total raised to $983.8 million, valuing the company at $1.5 billion
• Proteus, which raised a $50 million Series H round of funding, bringing its total raised to $390.68 million and valuing it at $1.5 billion
• Chrono Therapeutics, which raised $47.6 million in a Series B round of funding, bringing its total to $79.7 million 
• Doppler Labs, which raised a $24 million Series B round of funding, bringing its total funding to $50.5 million. 

(Image source: aatmastudio.com)