Ruminations on the 2007 Healthcare Unbound Conference

Although a bit late, I’d like to share perspectives from the latest Healthcare Unbound conference. The conference took place in San Francisco on July 16 and 17 and attracted 400 attendees with a rich blend of business, information technology, and clinical backgrounds.

PowerPoint from Opening Keynote

Here’s a copy of the PowerPoint for my opening keynote presentation. My colleague and fellow blogger Tim Gee did a great job summarizing key points on his blog.  THANKS, Tim.

In a nutshell, my main theme is that the adoption of Healthcare Unbound technologies is becoming increasingly dependent upon adoption of broader health information technology (HIT) standards for interoperability and transportability of personal health information.  We should view the Healthcare Unbound ecosystem as highly interdependent — a crew team rowing in harmony rather than a bunch of kayakers in sleek craft that are independently powered and steered.

Major Takeaways from the Conference

Here are some of my key take away points from the conference:

• While the technology is not perfect, the technology itself is not a rate limiting step in adoption. Jeremy Nobel created an “aha” moment for the audience when he asked people to raise their hands voting on whether 1) the technology, 2) user interfaces, or 3) business models and reimbursement were the greatest limitation in current market advancement.  About 2/3 of the audience voted for #3 as the greatest single barrier.
• There is increasing interest in personal health records (PHRs), coupled with declining interest and optimism about electronic health records (EHRs).  Most people seemed very dubious about the progress being made on the National Health Information Network (NHIN) and Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs).
• There is increasing understanding about the latent potential of mobile/wireless applications.  Don Jones of Qualcomm talked about the notion of the “presence” that can be created 24x7x365 through mobile technologies.  My observation here is to connect Don’s description of “presence” with the evolving mantra of the disease management community — that chronic DM is much more about behavior change (a social model) than about late-stage medical treatment (a medical model).  Long term, how can we expect to maximize behavior change unless we have 24x7x365 presence?  As an example, what good is a medication reminder delivered to someone’s PC desktop — a medication reminder needs to be delivered here and now.
• Large consumer tech companies continue to show interest in the Healthcare Unbound space.  Dave Whitlinger reported that the Continua Alliance now has over 120+ members, including such household names as Intel, Philips, Cisco, Dell, IBM, Nokia, Oracle, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Siemens, and many others.
• Capital is flowing in to this sector.  3 separate venture capitalists/investors tapped me on the shoulder during the conference, all with a similar pitch — “Enjoyed your presentation, we’re very interested in this market space, let me know if you can recommend any good companies to invest in.”  What a world of difference from 3 years ago.
• Healthcare Unbound technologies are not islands. Maximizing long-term adoption of Healthcare Unbound technologies is dependent on widespread HIT interoperability and transportability.  Health care providers must be brought into the loop early and information must be shared among care providers, patients and others.
• The customer’s “experience” is critical.  Liz Boehm from Forrester summarized it well: “Experience is the differentiator that distinguishes success from failure

 Additional Coverage of the Healthcare Unbound Conference

The conference has received a lot of attention both in traditional media and in the blogosphere:

KQED Public Radio Broadcast — Healthcare Unbound, July 18, 2007 

•  Eric Dishman, Intel Corp. as well as the national chairman of the Center for Aging Services Technologies
•  Gordon Norman, executive vice president and chief science officer of Alere Medical Inc. and a physician for 15 years
•  Jay Srini, vice president of Emerging Technologies at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and president of Strategic Consulting Solutions

Reporting on Healthcare Unbound: Wireless Devices & “Health 2.0” by Dmitriy Kruglyak, Trusted.MD Network – Hippocrates

Health 2.0: Live from Healthcare Unbound by Matthew Holt, The Health Care Blog

Taking the pulse of eldercare tech, CNET News.com; July 17, 2007

Taking the temperature on Google Health, Extra Technology News blog; July 16, 2007