Heroes
Long Time Health Tech Nerd, First Time Telemedicine User
I’ve spent most of my career at the intersection of healthcare and tech, and it’s safe to say I’m more than a little obsessed with all things digital health. But, I have a confession to make—up until last week, I’d never had a virtual visit with a doctor. I Facetime with my friends on the regular (and use Google Hangouts with my Redox teammates), and I’m as tech savvy and app addicted as the next 20-something. Yet every interaction I’ve had with a healthcare professional has been in a traditional physician office environment. I’m not alone—despite the hype, it appears that consumer adoption of telehealth is, on the whole, still fairly low. When I spoke at a health tech-focused event the other month, a quick poll of the 100+ person audience revealed only a small handful had ever seen a provider via video, yet apparently the majority of us want to. According to a 2017 American Well Telehealth Consumer Survey, 66% of Americans reported that they would attend an appointment via video. Moreover, 57% of primary care physicians indicated that they would be open to holding appointments with patients via video, too. So, what’s the deal? As it turns out, there are a number of perceived barriers to adoption on both the patient and provider sides. A 2016 Medscape survey revealed that the top concern for patients is getting the correct diagnosis via video. They also pointed to the lack of access to telemedicine as a big challenge. For providers, practice issues were top of mind, with malpractice and liability concerns ranking highest. Not surprisingly, reimbursement was also high on the list. Ultimately, it’s also just a matter of preference: 68% of patients surveyed would prefer to see doctors in person. Up until this past weekend, I fell into that bucket of non-adopters (with the caveat that I’m fortunate enough to not have the need to see a physician more than once a year or so), but an unexpected bout of hay fever quickly changed all that.
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Interviews from Healthcare’s Frontlines: Dr. Stephen Breneman
With access to more healthcare data than ever before, medicine is at a pivotal moment in its history. Redox is fortunate to have a front row seat to watch as innovative solutions redefine technology’s role in healthcare, and with us, our network is on the forefront of this new wave of digital technology adoption, too. In this series, we interview physicians and other clinicians for their perspective on what innovations they’d like to see adopted, the new tech they're excited to use, and general insight into the current state of the industry. They are, after all, on the front lines of patient care and have first-hand knowledge about the impact of medical technology—and they know better than anyone else what tools could help them and their patients. Kicking off the series, we interviewed Dr. Stephen Breneman, an anesthesiologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center. As a practicing anesthesiologist who also trains his peers and works as a liaison to IT, he is well-informed about the practical applications of EHRs and technology adoption. Because of his background, Dr. Brenemen has a uniquely valuable perspective on the state of healthcare. Read on for some of Dr. Breneman’s ideas for future clinical innovations (though some are likely not to be so distant). Tell me about your digital health technology wishlist. If you had a magic wand to create any technologies as part of your workflow today, what would they be?
Health Tech for the People: P2Health
The average invitation to happy hour rarely involves a quest to transform public health outcomes, but for Vanessa Mason, drinks with friends was the perfect platform to challenge why tech had yet to answer the call to prevent chronic diseases. Spending much of late 2015 culling peers of engineers, designers, and trained public health professionals, Mason sought answers by pushing these groups to intersect in a series of meetups throughout San Francisco. With her co-founder, Marquesa Finch (formerly communication strategist at Kapor Capital), P2Health launched in early 2016—a $15 million dollar early-stage investment fund for public health tech startups committed to reducing or eliminating health disparities by innovating population and preventive health.
