The future of medicine 101 !!

When Berci asked me to write the foreword for his book, i was honored of course. But most of all i was thrilled to read this great book that can guide through a compelling overview on the developments in medicine. Below my foreword.

In fifty years from now, I expect more than 50% of the revenue in healthcare will come from companies that do not exist, or do not have any business in healthcare today.

Technological developments as well as changes in society will create the 5th democratization. After music, travel, retail and media; healthcare is next to be disrupted. Adding to that, the increasing patient empowerment brings in “the perfect storm” for health(care). In my keynotes I often use the 4D anagram: Delocalization, Digitalization, Dollars and Democratization. Because they are all tied together and starting to peak at somewhat the same time, it creates the ideal eco-system for autonomous change.

Change that will hit health(care) for a lot of people ?overnight’, not that this wasn’t foreseeable, but the signs have been neglected over and over again. Medicine is starting to adopt new treatments, medication and protocols but is lacking far behind where it goes on reflecting on the model of health(care) itself. We basically deliver healthcare the same way it was done a hundred years ago. Now due to the exponentially growing possibilities technology is bringing to the table, we, for instance, will start bringing back health(care) into the homes of people. This also brings the need of new payment models, changes in curriculum for medical students like the one that we’ve crafted at Radboud University Medical Center, or even new legislation.

For these kinds of transformational processes, we need people who can address these changes and paint a picture of the world of tomorrow. In my work of changing healthcare through innovations, conferences (TEDxMaastricht 2011, 2012) and lectures, I sometimes meet people who have the ability to bridge the world of medicine and the one of technology on a high and most of all broad level. One of those was a young medical student who was running a medical blog (Scienceroll), at that time already the best read blog in this area. Sharing the same vision with a different approach we got connected through the Internet in 2009 and I asked him to speak at our REshape conferences in Nijmegen. The latest he spoke at our TEDxNijmegen in 2013.

Berci is one of the few people who have the insight, the feeling, the expertise, the tone of voice and the network to guide medicine through this era of change. He’s crafted himself a way through huge challenges, carefully choosing his options, staying authentic to changing medicine. Being faculty at Singularity’s University in the Exponential Medicine track (formerly known as FutureMed), I asked Daniel Kraft who is running the track, if I could donate half of my lecture time to Berci in 2013. What better place than NASA’s Moffet Field campus to show these guys his great competence; and as expected he absolutely rocked the place. Over time, his opening sentence in his keynotes changed from ?I’m a medical geek” to ?I’m a medical futurist” and that is spot-on. The question only was how and when he would set the next step. His latest endeavour is his second book he just released over at Amazon.

An exciting guide through developments, paradigm shifts, hurdles and opportunities. Although the model of writing a book, might become obsolete in the future, it nowadays still is a great form factor to spread knowledge.

I actually think it should be added to every curriculum’s (either doctor or nursing) mandatory reading list in the medical as in the nursing field, but also to every Health MBA program out there. I’m also looking forward to the online course version of this book that he hopefully will create.

In it you’ll find a lot of very interesting topics assembled into one place to guide you through your own journey. Since that is Berci’s biggest suggestion to you: start NOW exploring the world around you from an innovation perspective, find your own way, and choose your own battle.

My ‘prescription’ to you would be to read a chapter a day, digest it for another day, explore that area yourself for the day after, and then execute on it the next. But the chances you’ll read this book in one take are actually much higher, and that’s fine too. Next to this incredibly well written and overarching book, he’s also created a virtual landing space for the discussion on www.medicalfuturist.com. I really do hope to meet you there.

To Berci: congratulations my friend, you’ve done it again! You never stop amazing me and many others with the thorough steps you take. I would like to advise you with an adapted quote of the great Steve Jobs ?…keep the courage to follow your heart and intuition… Stay hungry, and be a bit more foolish sometimes…”