I got into it because the things I saw written about that topic were way too technical, or a little too hyped-up for my tastes. I don’t think people were appreciating the reality of how hard it is to become digital and how many unexpected consequences there have been. I wanted to describe that in a way that was not Luddite — in a way that basically said: this is important. It’s right. We have to become a digital industry, but we also have to understand in a much deeper way what some of the consequences of that are.
So the session will explore those issues. As we all talk about the magic of big data, what of it is real and what is hype? What does the doctor of the future look like in the digital environment? Are we going to need doctors at all? Patients have massive access to data that they never had before — pertaining to their own conditions and labs and X-rays — and many can read doctor’s notes. Meanwhile, many have co-pays and deductibles that make them think twice about using traditional health care systems and doctors.
Is that good or bad? What is the role of the doctor in that new environment where they’re not the only fountain of information and insight for patients? What is the role of genomics in all of this?
The other speakers and I had a phone call recently where we kind of explored what we were going to talk about and we all just wished we taped the conversation because it was incredibly interesting and we’re coming at this from a lot of different angles. Some of it will be very tech oriented but some of it is kind of intensely human, which I think is the most interesting piece of all this.
When the travel industry went digital and when the bank industry went digital we all said, 'Fine, do we really need to see travel agents and bank tellers?' No — and that’s OK. But health care feels different and there’s something intensely personal and deeply human about it, so how do we get that balance right between the tech where it’s very useful and important, but also not forget that we’re dealing with scared, anxious human beings?
DOTmed News: In what ways is the World Health Care Congress an important event for the health care industry?
RMW: It’s a pretty visible conference that brings together a lot of very senior policy makers. The attendance tends to be well over 1,000 and — because it’s in D.C. — a good proportion of people have central roles in the industry and the delivery system.
It's an important setting where the right people will exchange ideas about interesting issues in an industry that’s undergoing more rapid change than any time that I can remember in my 30 years in it.
