mHealth Technology Will Bridge The Gap Between Innovation and Profit In Healthcare

The sciences have a foul reputation when it comes to adequately rewarding the innovator for any new product. For the most part it seems that a handful of large companies acquire the lions-share of the market and distribute the profits internally as they see fit.

Steve Jobs built machines that were ergonomic and integrated and was rewarded greatly for it. As a result an entire industry boomed; products became more user friendly as they became more complex and a steady stream of consumer interest fueled the expansion.

As Matthew Herper of Forbes describes here the problem with medical innovation lay with the technology being largely uninteresting to the consumer, too complex to be of any use to anyone but a select few, or potentially unappealing to the innovator who would not see gains in proportion to their work.

I believe that mobile health technology, as it becomes more ubiquitous throughout society, will ultimately end the disparity between innovation, integration, and profit in healthcare. Healthcare technology applications such as Qpid.me and EndoGoddess are perfect examples of how healthcare can become a far-reaching and interesting consumer product. One which recognizes the will of the innovator, potentially as much as Steve Jobs recreated technology in his image during his lifetime. The field is ripe with opportunities.

In his article Mr. Herper states that  There are 50% more billionaires from tech than from health care, and they are far richer. I am compelled to believe that the direction healthcare technology is moving in will bridge that gap too.

Why Getting The Information Out Isn't Adequate

Reuters announced today that after 24 years of research a GSK scientist (Joe Cohen) has managed to make a viable vaccine against malaria. Here's the link:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/18/us-malaria-vaccine-scientist-idUSTRE79H59220111018

After initially jumping out of my chair with joy at the prospect of the elimination of a disease which kills in excess of 1,000,000 people a year my inner pessimist (yes he exists) started to pick at the problems which could arise from this update.

Beyond the problem of having the resources to deliver this medicine (should it work and become an available vaccine) to the people it affects most in rural Africa and Asia, the problem of misinformation about medicine and particularly vaccines has been an issue which persists even into the modern world.

Almost everyone has heard of Jenny McCarthy's allegation that vaccines are somehow linked to autism, a claim which she has popularized through her affluence and influence. On the other end of the spectrum many teens consider OTC and some popular Rx drugs to be completely safe and without any potential for side effects.

Getting the drug (or vaccine in this case) out to fix a problem is one thing, but without fixing misinformation we in the health professions are failing to address a major gap in the effectiveness of our therapies. This, i feel, is definitely an area in which interactive medicine can expand on the national and global level.

Would You Rather Swallow This or Insert That?

Ok, enough with the silly puns. Here's an amazing video of a very mobile piece of technology which is non-invasive, convenient, and has the added potential benefit of increasing compliance for colon cancer screenings (especially in men) as it could remove the necessity of an awkward and unpleasant endoscopy procedure.

Perhaps more complex devices in the future could link directly to our mobile phones and provide us with insight, and hopefully constructive criticism, on our own personal digestive behaviors along with a whole other array of information which would otherwise require the use of an uncomfortable serpentine camera and a doctor.