This Week’s News

Dead on arrival?  Our salvation from government overreach? If passed as proposed, the individual mandate would be out, tax breaks would replace subsidies, and Medicaid expansion would be withdrawn. These all add up to a lot to debate, and no doubt a lot of headaches and potentially millions losing insurance. It seems that everyone has something to complain about. It doesn’t shrink government enough for some, and it cuts too deeply for others.  What will the budget impact be? There’s no CBO report yet, so your guess is as good as ours.

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Both patients and providers expressed that more can be done to increase data use. Ninety percent of providers somewhat or strongly agree that making it clear how PGHD will be used can help motivate patients to collect and submit data. Ninety-seven percent of patients also strongly or somewhat agree that when PGHD is used to develop their care plans, they are more likely to contribute data. Additionally, they will need to understand how patients perceive the benefits of PGHD, such as improving patient-provider communications, empowerment, and overall engagement levels.

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Fast Stats

…2 million to 4 million enrolled in ObamaCare individual markets could lose coverage, in addition to 4 million to 6 million who are covered through Medicaid.

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According to CTA projections, driven by the popularity of fitness activity trackers, the total wearables market in 2017 in the U.S.—including other health and fitness devices, hearables and smartwatches—is expected to generate shipments of 48 million unit sales (14 percent increase over 2016) and earn $5.5 billion in revenue (three percent year-over-year increase).

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The Last Word…

HIMSS, once again, was an extraordinary collection of companies and people who represent the vanguard in health care and technology. Reflecting on the event, there a few important observations that can be made. First, the “buzzwords” are getting old and tired, like “population health” and “patient engagement” and “analytics” … and, and, and… so many buzzwords.  A show as big as HIMSS makes pretty much every phrase a buzzword. But despite all those buzzwords, there are some things that stood out. Meaningful Use is subsiding. The EHR era is waning, and now the real work begins to use technology to ensure that our health care system, and the people in it, including the patients, have the information they need, when they need it, to make the best decisions possible. And data is beginning to free up…. Open APIs, FHIR, and lowering the burden by patients to become equal partners in their care… THAT is now becoming a front-burner issue.

Oh, and as a personal aside, one thing that stood out for me is that Andy Slavitt is amazingly forthright, smart, and will be a great asset to whomever snaps him up. It was a real privilege to have the opportunity to sit down with him.

Dr. Philip Marshall
Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer
Conversa Health