Data isn't the future of healthcare - its already driving the present
Jilani Gulam
Successful multi-exit entrepreneur across 3 industries || Biotech investor || Real estate investor
I was recently consulted by the Daily Telegraph to provide my thoughts on the future of healthcare and the technologies that are transforming it. Though the article has already been published here, this post is an elaboration of my thinking.
During my time at the BBC, the main focus of the technology team was the desire to truly understand the convergence of technologies and how the landscape was evolving and creating new possibilities. The challenge was to harness them.
To elaborate, nothing symbolises our modern age better than the iPhone. While accolades for it are well-deserved, the real story is the iPhone would not have been possible without the convergence of technology. The sudden commoditisation of storage, smaller processing chipsets, and longer battery life allowed the iPhone to really take off and redefine an entire sector.
Today, healthcare is at a similar point. The emergence of Big Data, cloud technologies, smartphone adoption and an explosion of data capture suddenly enable data to be triangulated (linked together and processed for new insights).
The linking and triangulation of data allow companies like Health iQ to analyse data and deliver insights previously difficult. We recently won an Industry award for a ground-breaking approach to early diagnosis of children with MPS I - an extremely rare condition. The project combined disease registry data, clinician interviews and advanced analytics to produce a novel approach that delivered diagnosis rates 3 times higher than standard approaches.
The key point here is various sources of data, though useful, only provide a selective use on their own. The real value is in connecting and combining these disparate sources, allowing for greater insights to be realised.
Previously this was a pipe-dream, but today is much more of a reality. The challenges are mired in information governance, data protection and ethics – all crucial considerations, but essentially surmountable.
Jilani Gulam ( https://twitter.com/Jilani_HealthiQ ) is founder and CEO of Health iQ.
Successful multi-exit entrepreneur across 3 industries || Biotech investor || Real estate investor
7 年Yes, sometimes the able-bodied can take things for granted and forget the needs of less able people. However, technology has made leaps and bounds in making things more accessible and I hope continues to do that. I think VR and Robotics in particular are two areas where a lot of new and clever ways to support and improve the quality of life of chronic and long term patients will really accelerate.
volunteer at sittingbourne and sheppey patient group
7 年Well technology is great for those who can use it and or have access to it BUT, there are so many who cannot for whatever reason so let's not forget the partially sighted, the mentally ill and those with dementia. do they not count? I ran a seniors' forum and of the 250 members only 16 had access tor. STOP forgetting these people or are we to further isolate people and not include ,de them in this hi-tech world? Jean Spain Campaigner for the elderly and disabled.
Experienced CEO in Health and NFP
7 年Yes, evidence based decision support tools are here now and they are only going to become more widespread in healthcare.
Director | UBIS Health Jobs Platform | Hire Top Leaders | Premiere Health Marketplace Australia | Author
7 年Big changes happening already Jilani Gulam. Announcing Ubis, the place for health professionals recently launched Australia's dedicated health employment site www.ubis.com.au