Digital Health- What I learned in Boston

I spent last week at the Connected Healthcare conference in Boston- a summit hosted by Partners Healthcare focusing on using technology to improve healthcare. I found it ironic that all last week I played phone tag and portal tag with a specialist office at Partners trying to make an appointment for my concussion. It took over a week to finally reach someone to book an appointment- for two weeks out. Despite my own challenge with the current healthcare system, I found the conference worth attending and left optimistic for the future. Here are some of my highlights:

A Swedish delegate who toured to digital health space in Boston and Silicone Valley confided in me that here in Boston, companies and founders focus on improving patient care first, and in the Valley, it’s money and business first. As a born Bostonian, I agree with and appreciate this perspective.

The panel on using voice as a diagnostic tool, especially in the mental health field was fascinating and I previously failed to appreciate the maturity of existing science in this field. Voice is a real “tell” in a number of conditions and paired with other contextual data will be a powerful driver to future digital technologies.

One of the most engaging talks was by Chris Dancy- "the worlds most connected man" who shared his journey as an unhappy and overweight guy, who through technology and a "McGuiver" approach to solving his own problems, took a totally different approach to health and wellness by focusing on his interaction with others. It was a refreshing point of view, and one that sticks with you long after the fact.

Of course, AI was a big theme. Many of the companies speaking talked about the research showing how chatbot interfaces in many applications are more effective than people. Additionally, one panelist, when addressing the fear some physicians have about AI taking over their job said “AI won’t replace physicians, physicians with AI will replace physicians without it.”

If you new to meditation, how do you know if you're doing it right? Muse, a product to help people meditate by a Canadian start-up founded by Ariel Garten, showed a consumer device that measures brainwaves and can show if you're achieving a meditative state. The health benefits of meditation seem to be pretty well proven by now and I'm going to order one and give it a try.

While much of the conference was focused on improving care within the current healthcare pathway, the head of Comcast Digital health articulated what I believe is the future of healthcare when he said that healthcare of the future will be more like air traffic control featuring real-time monitoring and more automated management of our wellness and health. This fits nicely with Cambridge Consultants investment in exploring ubiquitous non-contact health sensing.

If you were there, let me know what you took away from the conference.