It’s no secret our population is getting older. That means more and more people are managing chronic medical conditions, trying to stay as healthy as possible. It can be a real challenge to keep track of daily medications, blood pressure, blood sugar and other measures of our health.
Enter the cell phone as an aid in the management of our health. Cell phones already do much more than making phone calls. They connect us with the internet, show us the latest weather forecast, directions to where we are going, and the latest scores of our favorite teams. They even provide us reading materials by downloading the latest e-version of best sellers.
Young people have gotten used to tracking their mileage of their morning runs or bicycle trips. They can tell you how many steps they took every day. But seniors are less apt to use cell phones to monitor their health – and they need this more than anyone.
Regina Benjamin and Andrew Thompson, writing in The Wall Street Journal, tell us personal technology can make routine medical care and healthy living easier. Seeing a doctor can be a hassle, particularly for hourly workers who don’t have a lot of flexibility. But putting off doctor visits can make patients sicker until they finally show up in an emergency room, the most expensive point of care. To ease appointment stresses, Kaiser Permanente (where Dr. Benjamin is on the board of directors) allows patients to visit doctors virtually, including by videoconferencing, via a mobile app. The system is easy to use and works on Android or iPhone. Last year more than 50% of all Kaiser physician interactions were virtual—over a million every week.
A cellphone can also help manage Type 2 diabetes, which is most often the result of being overweight and inactive. A company called Omada Health has built mobile tools to help patients track their food, exercise and weight against goals set to reverse their Type 2 diabetes. The key is that technology makes these interventions convenient, affordable and scalable.
Many patients don’t do a good job taking their pills. Studies show that less than 50% of patients adhere to their medication regimens—often they don’t even pick up the prescription. The huge costs that this noncompliance adds to American health care have been estimated at $290 billion a year. Proteus Digital Health (where Mr. Thompson is CEO) has developed an FDA-cleared solution. Commonly prescribed drugs—such as metformin for Type 2 diabetes or losartan for high blood pressure—are combined with a microscopic sensor that turns on when swallowed. A small wearable patch detects the pills and tracks the person’s wellness, sending information to the patient and, with permission, to the doctor. Studies conducted by Proteus show that patients using the system take their medication 80% of the time or more, with improved outcomes as a result.
Digital technology can also relieve upward pressure on health-care prices. One example: New drugs are expensive in part because pharmaceutical companies have only a limited window, seven to 10 years, to recoup their investment before the patents expire. Digital medicines create new competitive barriers: First, the technology is patent protected. Second, users who become familiar with these systems and accumulate data on them are likely to be loyal customers. These advantages enable drugs to have extended product life cycles. As a result, research-and-development investments can be recouped over longer periods, and prices can be moderated.
Changing the payment model for medicine is vital, too. Today governments, insurers and patients buy expensive components: drugs, devices, professional services. What they really want is outcomes: weight loss, managed diabetes, controlled blood pressure. Digital technology can allow companies to offer solutions and then take responsibility for ensuring that they work. Omada can get paid for delivering weight loss; Proteus can get paid when patients take their drugs on time.
Healthcare is rapidly changing. Not all changes are improvements, in my opinion, but these new digital solutions to managing your health deserve your consideration in this never-ending battle to maintain our health, especially as we get older.
