Looking back, the transformation of healthcare has been slow.\u00a0 However, through the years it has been picking up materially, and we expect it to relatively go parabolic over the next few years. \u00a0Changes are underway, with the core change being the internet and all the points the internet has changed. \u00a0The ability for people to search, see, and share data in progressively smarter, faster and smaller devices. \u00a0From the late 90s, that vision of the future has changed everything. \u00a0We will admit that from the vision of 1998 to the reality of 2018 \u2013 those 20 years have developed slower than we anticipated. \u00a0However, when you look at it now, it appears those changes began almost immediately; the upward trend was clearly there as a technology S-Curve.<\/p>\n
The technology-driven transformation curve in healthcare over the last five years has clearly accelerated and that acceleration is driven by two master trends: technology in general, and the power that consumerization of information has caused. \u00a0We may be biased, but we see it everywhere.<\/p>\n
Over the last three years of this blog, we have highlighted this repeatedly, and the trend has accelerated, especially in the last 48 months. \u00a0To substantiate this, look at the graph on \u201cdigital health startup funding\u201d for the last eight years. \u00a0We think this is only the beginning.<\/p>\n
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Why? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Well, if you read our previous two blogs, we noted the cost of healthcare is going to effectively go up by 66% over the next decade. \u00a0We think those numbers are likely to be too low, and in particular, the growth relative to U.S. Gross Domestic Product.<\/p>\n One of the most interesting, and even harder to project developments, are the proposed vertical mergers in healthcare \u2013 the announced mergers of CVS\/Aetna and Cigna\/Express Script.\u00a0 As with the blown-up proposed mergers of Aetna\/Humana and Cigna\/Anthem, I am not very optimistic for these mergers either. \u00a0I could go into more detail however, suffice it to say, if either or both manage to merge, they will be disappointed, and will likely regret it in a few years.\u00a0 There is always the stand-by \u201cAmazon will buy them\u201d idea. \u00a0That can always happen.<\/p>\n I could argue why it would make sense for Amazon to do so. \u00a0The core issue is the complexity of dealing with patients on the insurance side, and it will distract Amazon more than anyone can imagine today. \u00a0You must have been in the insurance, managed care, clinic management and patient care business to understand why I am so pessimistic on that idea.<\/p>\n A few days ago, we started reading news that Walmart and Humana could be in merger talks. That could be a change agent in a lot of ways.<\/p>\n Since early 1980s, I have been impressed with Walmart\u2019s use of technology to control their entire supply chain from manufacturing to consumers.<\/p>\n In 1998, I signed a deal with Humana, who I have a long-standing history with, that eventually was worth hundreds of millions of dollars (USD).\u00a0 The company that I conceived and founded led to Humana\u2019s acquisition after my departure for a reported $800 million (USD).\u00a0 Therefore, I think my knowledge of Humana is not superficial.<\/p>\n I will discuss in our next blog the reason why a potential Walmart\/Humana hook-up is different from anything we have seen so far.<\/p>\n Just remember what I wrote above:\u00a0 What we see as the technology-driven transformation curve in healthcare over the last five years has clearly accelerated and that acceleration is driven by the two master trends: technology in general, and the power that consumerization of information has caused.<\/u><\/p>\n -Noel J. Guillama, President<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When we first began this blog, we wanted to discuss the things that we see that could, and most likely will, transform healthcare.\u00a0 We are a healthcare technology company, and while technology is part of our DNA, it\u2019s not all of it. \u00a0The other part of our DNA deals with facilities, systems, processes, and consumerization issues in healthcare. Those consumerization issues relate to patient\/consumer control of their own health data; at the very least, to see and share that collective information with other caregivers. \u00a0We carry that philosophy literally in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[55,337,41,42,266,45,92],"class_list":["post-3773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amazon","tag-cvs","tag-healthcare","tag-healthcare-technology","tag-humana","tag-pwer","tag-technology"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Global-Healthcare-e1507742521268.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3775,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3773\/revisions\/3775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}