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19Jan, 2018

Healthcare Price Transparency Comes to America (Part 2)

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In our previous blog, Healthcare Price Transparency Comes to America (Part 1), we started a conversation on price transparency.  Today, we will discuss the findings of a recent report from Health Affairs.  The report, by the researchers from Harvard and UCLA, noted that they cannot find a previous report or research on this subject, making it potentially the first in the space.  I can confirm I have seen nothing like it.  I will add that I am sure this will not be the last time this subject is published. The […]
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18Jan, 2018

Healthcare Price Transparency Comes to America (Part 1)

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The Internet, and its natural progression to e-commerce, has transformed how we buy everything from groceries, apparel, and attaining an education, to how we purchase cars and even homes over the last 20 years. One industry has been only slightly impacted by the Internet; that industry is healthcare.  Let us be clear, we are very aware that we live in a world where Google is most of Americans’ first step in the self-diagnosis of a symptom or disease.  It is also our second step, once our physicians tell us what […]
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5Jan, 2018

2017 – Amazing Year for Digital Health Investments

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We now have quantitative data that 2017 was an amazing year for digital health investments, by the headline, “$5 billion (USD) was invested by venture capital firms into digital health in 2017.”  This was impressive, not just because of the size, but because it was DOUBLE the amount of what was invested in 2016.  Though the majority of these investments were from the U.S., some were from international companies.  These investments were only those made publicly; it excluded private investments, angel investors and those made by strategic relationships. It was […]
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6Nov, 2017

Silicon Valley and Healthcare (Part 6)

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In our ongoing series on Silicon Valley and healthcare, we began with the discussion of Alphabet/Google’s growing interest in healthcare. We continue this series with Google, so that we can discuss Amazon, Inc. next, and then discuss other, much less prominent players, coming into healthcare. We believe that Amazon will have the largest impact on healthcare in 2018. It seems that the news of healthcare technology is clogging not only my email, but also my Twitter feed daily. As a student of healthcare for over 25 years, I have been […]
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7Oct, 2017

Silicon Valley and Healthcare (Part 5)

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As we continue our series on Silicon Valley and Healthcare, we move to Mountain View, California; the headquarters of Alphabet, Inc. and its monster subsidiary, Google, Inc. Later in this series, we will discuss what we think is the coming battle between Google and Amazon in healthcare, and possibly in other industries. I don’t think many companies have had the impact that Google has had in our modern world. I was fascinated when I could search what was the emerging web, on Mosaic, one of the first search engines available. […]
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14Sep, 2017

Silicon Valley and Healthcare (Part 4)

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Though Apple continues to advance in healthcare with the announcement on September 12, 2017, of the new Apple Watch, we will close this series with Part 4 for now. Later, in our future blogs, we will spend some time discussing Amazon, IBM, and other companies from Silicon Valley who are advancing into healthcare. As noted above, Apple just announced a new Apple Watch, and CNBC reported that Apple is working with Stanford University, as well as a telemedicine company America Well, to effectively turn the Apple Watch into a full-time […]
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24Aug, 2017

Silicon Valley and Healthcare (Part 3)

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In 2008, I gave a speech at a Florida International University conference, and I discussed the view that we were entering a new renaissance in healthcare. I must say, I am still amazed and saddened how so little has changed in the last nine years. As an optimist, I believe that change is around the corner, and the rest of this blog shows that hope. We have always advocated the need of transformation in healthcare, and more utilization of technologies that have already transformed nearly every other industry in the […]
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8Aug, 2017

Silicon Valley and Healthcare (Part 2)

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In our last blog, we began the conversation on Silicon Valley’s “new” interest in healthcare; let’s continue with Apple Inc. Recent reports from CNBC continue to refer to Apple’s interest in healthcare. Apple is seeking to be the “central bank for healthcare information,” “looking to host clinical information,” and is “talking to hospitals, researching potential acquisitions, and attending healthcare IT meetings.” WOW!! CNBC broke the story back in June 2017, and we have been following closely since. It would appear that Apple is trying to use applications, new processes and […]
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13Aug, 2015

Patients and Doctors, the Paradox

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A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) caused me to push my other blogs to the back burner. The article resonated so strongly with me as it reminded me of my experience trying to help my father manage his healthcare. He passed at the age of 74 just five years ago. The WSJ article titled, “When Patients Manage Doctors” had the subtitle of, “People with multiple chronic conditions often must take charge of managing their own care.” The article had some great statistics and some good, basic advice; […]
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