Health 2.0 Day 2: Highlights and Musings
Tags: Pharma, Health 2.0, Keas, Athena Health, Sage SoftwareDay two at the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco was just as busy as the first -full of amazing ideas and inspiration.
The day began with Jonathan Bush of Athena Health being interviewed by Chris Lawton of the Wall Street Journal. I was struck by Jonathan's blunt appraisal of the problems in the healthcare system. He was especially aware of the plight of the physician and how to incent them to adopt change (money). While I agree that certain things that cost money will require some financial inducement, I also believe that physicians will ultimately do what is in the best interest of their patients.
There was a great panel on various health technology initiatives from around the world. There is an understanding that mobile apps are the key to improving health and access to healthcare in underdeveloped countries. Deb Levine of ISIS showed off some pretty cool apps for disease prevention (HIV) using SMS (everyone's phone was beeping). James Mathews of Sage Software is one of the best moderators that I have seen - his calm demeanor and extremely insightful commentary was excellent.
There was a strange, but entertaining period where Matthew Holt dared to dress in drag and go through the process of testing a number of 'Consumer Tools' from H20. From genetic testing (23andMe) to apps that check for generic drug equivalents, estimate your savings, and even call the doctor to change the prescription, there are all sorts of fun toys for us to play with. Adam Bosworth unveiled Keas to the world today and it looks like a Consumer Decision Support Tool. It takes in health data from Microsoft Health Vault or Google Health and helps the consumer build a health plan while forecasting outcomes from specific diet, exercise, and other lifestyle changes. It was a bit underwhelming but I suspect we were only seeing the tip of the iceberg.
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