GAFAMS, STARTUPS & INNOVATION IN HEALTHCARE by PHARMAGEEK

Google says it is ramping up its investments in health-focused initiatives even as it dissolves its single unified health division.

From consumer-facing products like sleep tracking tech with its Nest Hub smart home devices and Fitbit wearables to clinical initiatives like its Care Studio EHR search tool and its health AI work, Google has intensified its focus on health tech and expanded its reach into the healthcare market.

But those projects will now be split across Google's myriad teams and divisions as the tech giant pivots away from a unified health strategy and reassigns its 570 employees across the company, according to a leaked memo obtained by Insider.

Google Health chief David Feinberg, M.D., who joined the company in 2019, jumped ship to health IT company Cerner as its new CEO and president. The electronic health record software company announced the move late last week.

Meanwhile, the projects and teams that make up Google Health will now be scattered across different parts of Google, Insider reported Friday. 

A source at Google said the company remains deeply invested in health-focused initiatives but confirmed there will no longer be a single entity at the company focused on health projects.

The teams under Feinberg will all continue on, and there will be no job eliminations or project changes.

In a memo sent to employees Thursday, Jeff Dean, Ph.D., the head of Google's research division and Feinberg's boss, said Google Health would no longer function as a unified organization, Insider's Hugh Langley and Blake Dodge reported.

Google's chief medical officer, Karen DeSalvo, M.D., who leads the team focused on regulatory and clinical matters, will now report to Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker, the memo said.

Google Health's clinicians team, which is building a tool for physicians to more easily search health records, will now report directly to Dean. The health AI group, focused on projects like medical imaging, will report to Yossi Matias, the vice president of search and AI, Langley and Dodge reported.

The move to shutter the dedicated health division signals the end of a unified healthcare strategy at Google, Jeff Becker, principal analyst for healthcare at market intelligence firm CB Insights, told Fierce Healthcare.

"They are going back to a business-line vertical healthcare strategy, rather than the top-down pursuit of healthcare at scale at Google. The fractured healthcare strategy across Google never did get resolved," he said. 

He added, "Nest is still following its health strategy, Fitbit has its own healthcare strategy as does Google Search, and that's on the consumer-facing side. Google Health has an enterprise health strategy while Google Cloud has an enterprise health strategy and so does Verily. Different parts of the business are still pursuing a non-unified and non-cohesive healthcare strategy."

In a statement provided to Fierce Healthcare, a Google spokesperson said "Google deeply believes in the power of technology to improve health and wellness and we have increased our health investments across the company. This has included developing projects within Google Health, launching and expanding health-related features on Search, Maps and YouTube that reach billions of people, and welcoming Fitbit."

"Today, health is a growing, company-wide effort and the Google Health name will continue and encompass our projects that share the common purpose to improve global health outcomes," the spokesperson said.

Google reorganizes its health teams … again

Google Heath was formed in 2018 as a way to silo all of the tech giant's health efforts under one division. The company tapped Feinberg, former CEO of Geisinger Health, to lead it and develop a centralized, overarching strategy for the health-focused projects.

Back in June, the tech giant’s health division went through a significant reorganization, resulting in a downsized team and a streamlined focus on clinical and regulatory work rather than consumer-facing offerings, Fierce Medtech's Andrea Park reported, based on initial reporting from Insider.

That reorg included a transfer of nearly 20% of Google Health’s staff to other teams throughout the company, including its search division and newly acquired Fitbit.

"That was telling and a sign of another fracturing of the unified healthcare strategy," Becker said.

He added, "Google’s health strategy was notoriously fractured. We saw some early movement that it looked like this was going to go somewhere."

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Google Health created community mobility reports to aid public health efforts and worked with Apple on exposure notification technology. Google Health has built out clinical tools like Care Studio, developed an AI-powered dermatology assist tool and ramped up partnerships with health systems through its Google Cloud healthcare data products

Former employees previously told Insider that Google Health had a central business development team to explore ways the product area could make money, Langley and Dodge reported. The idea is to bake healthcare into what Google's already doing as opposed to making it a separate line of business.

And that could prove to be a more pragmatic approach to creating a revenue stream for different healthcare-related products.

"David was brought in to establish a broader aim and vision for the portfolio but other parts of the business seem to do just fine with their own niche. Maybe the more pragmatic approach is to let businesses that know those product lines verticalize them independently," Becker said.

Tech giants have struggled to rebrand as health tech companies. Microsoft tried and failed at a personal health records business. Microsoft HealthVault launched in 2007 but ultimately closed down in 2019 because of low adoption.

There also came news last week that Apple is reportedly scaling back one of its most ambitious healthcare projects. According to a report from Insider, Apple is scaling back HealthHabit, an internal application that Apple employees can use to track fitness goals, talk to clinicians and manage hypertension.

Healthcare innovation is one of the most important battles in the fight to prolong human life, so here we discuss which medical technologies are leading the way to a brighter future.

The future of healthcare holds many possibilities, and medical technology has a large role to play in ensuring that we are able to tackle all of the biggest health issues we face. Often, we consider healthcare jobs to be very human labour intensive; for example, doctors and nurses put in a lot of hours and physical work to look after patients.

However, it is new healthcare technologies that allow medical professionals to progress in their field, save more patients and fight new diseases. In this article, we’ll explore global healthcare in the current climate and how the industry has changed in the past decade, before discussing seven promising new healthcare technologies.

What is healthcare technology?
Before we discuss the current state of the global healthcare industry and how it’s changed over the past decade, we’ll offer a definition of healthcare technology. It’s fairly self-explanatory – any technology that is designed to support healthcare organisations.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) offers a more detailed definition of health technology, as the “application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of lives”.

What does global healthcare look like in 2021?
The healthcare industry has undoubtedly changed in the past couple of years since we’ve been fighting a global pandemic. COVID-19 overwhelmed healthcare systems all over the world, has killed as many as 3 million people worldwide, and forced many other dangerous diseases to be placed on the sidelines.

While social distancing and mask-wearing reduced the spread of infectious diseases like the flu, lockdowns and restrictions also meant that fewer people were getting diseases diagnosed and receiving important treatment.

However, one good thing that has come out of the pandemic is that more of the world now has access to healthcare through things like digital appointments and online prescriptions.

Thinking about the global healthcare outlook outside of COVID-19, Deloitte Insights wrote a report detailing six of the biggest factors driving change in the healthcare sector.

They suggest that consumers are seeking more on-demand, digital healthcare services, and healthcare organisations are transitioning to health IT systems powered by cloud, data and analytics tools.

In addition to this, we’re shifting to view healthcare as something encompassing our total wellbeing rather than just our physical health, and we’re seeing more collaboration between different governments, industries, academia and tech giants than ever before, in the name of healthcare innovation and progression.

How has the healthcare industry changed in the last 10 years?
Since we’re thinking about what healthcare could look like in the future, it’s worth acknowledging the amount of progress that has been made in the healthcare industry in the past decade. Below we discuss some of the biggest innovations that have changed healthcare for the better.

Remote monitoring
Remote monitoring allows patients and their progress to be monitored at all times without using clunky technology or a doctor needing to be present. Not only does this mean that doctors and nurses are able to help many patients at once, but patients are able to leave the hospital earlier and be monitored safely from afar. This creates a more comfortable and cheaper experience for everyone involved.

Electronic medical records
Since the introduction of electronic medical records, it’s been so much easier for doctors to view and seamlessly share medical history. This means that records are less likely to be lost and patient care is improved because the doctor has complete access to the patient’s health background, prescriptions and previous care. Electronic records also allow patients themselves to keep track of their medical data.

Telemedicine
Telemedicine consists of remote clinical services where the healthcare provider or doctor communicates virtually with the patient. Examples of this include appointments with a GP over video call, therapy over the phone, and text messages that reveal medical test results.

The positive consequences of this are undeniable – access to healthcare has been improved for those who are in remote areas or who face difficulties attending physical appointments.
Advantages and disadvantages of medical technologies
Before we dive into the seven new healthcare technologies of the future, it’s worth considering the advantages and disadvantages of medical technology. While the benefits outweigh the costs, there are still some drawbacks to be aware of.

• Advantages of medical technology
• More efficient healthcare systems
• More accessible healthcare
• Earlier predictions of diseases
• Faster surgery and recovery times
• Better analysis of healthcare data
• Faster development of drugs and vaccines
• Increased legibility of medical documents

Disadvantages of medical technology

• Forces reliance on internet connection – it’s harder for rural healthcare providers to communicate with each other and with patients
• Bigger risk of serious security breaches due to data sharing
• Higher chance of miscommunication in virtual appointments
• Lack of empathy due to it being more impersonal or relying on AI
• More expensive for healthcare providers and patients
• High chance of frustration if technology fails

7 promising new healthcare technologies
There are so many exciting new medical technologies being used in the healthcare industry, but these are some of the most prominent. Some of them have been around for a little while now, but they are becoming more technologically advanced as time goes on.

AI & robots
Artificial intelligence (AI) has so many exciting applications in healthcare. One of the most important applications is in diagnosis, as there have been several situations in which AI has been able to identify diseases like skin cancer and diabetic blindness better than experts in the field. You can find out more about this in our What are the Possibilities of AI in Healthcare? open step by Taipei Medical University.

Other than diagnosis, AI can be used to perform routine tasks, manage data, design treatments, manage medication, monitor health and more. AI can even be used on robots, and then these robots can act as medical assistants, take lab samples, assist in surgeries, and disinfect hospital rooms.

Clearly, there’s a lot of room for further development in the field of AI in healthcare, and AI holds plenty of challenges, but we could see some really life-changing results. To learn more, you could try our MedTech: AI and Medical Robots course by the University of Leeds or our AI for Healthcare: Equipping the Workforce for Digital Transformation course by the University of Manchester and the NHS.

Nanotechnology for diagnosis
Another innovative technology in the medical field is nanotechnology for diagnosis. You may not have heard of nanotechnology before, but it’s concerned with objects that have at least one dimension under 100 nanometres (nm) in size. One nanometre is one-billionth of a metre. You can learn more about nanotechnology in our open step.

So what does this have to do with diagnosis? Essentially, nanotechnology can be used to recognise unique cells and identify genetic content that might signify disease. This then allows drugs to reach specific damaged cells whilst avoiding healthy ones.

If this is of interest, you can join our Nanotechnology for Health: Innovative Designs for Medical Diagnosis course by the University of Twente and explore the potential of nanotechnology products in medical applications.

eHealth apps
eHealth refers to the use of technologies to improve healthcare, including health and wellbeing. Therefore, eHealth apps are mobile applications that tend to target a specific area of healthcare. Since almost everyone has a smartphone these days, eHealth apps make looking after your health and wellbeing feel more accessible and less daunting.

Good examples include Coala, a heart monitoring app that comes with a mini ECG device, and Elsa, an app that helps people with chronic illnesses monitor how they feel and why. To learn more about eHealth, you can try our eHealth: Combining Psychology, Technology, and Health course by the University of Twente.

Internet of Things
In our open step, The Internet of Things and the future, experts define IoT as any “set of sensors and actuators embedded in physical objects that are linked through wired or wireless networks”. In recent years, there have been plenty of innovations in the healthcare industry that fall under the Internet of Things, and they allow patients to take control of their own health.

This is important because often, people experiencing health difficulties feel a total lack of control, and this can have negative consequences on mental health. Some examples of IoT applications in healthcare include wearable technologies like sleep monitors and glucose trackers.

You can learn how IoT can give agency to ageing people and help them deal with medical issues in our Internet of Things for Active Aging course by Taipei Medical University.

Future of genomics
Genetics is a fast-moving and innovative field in medicine, with so many possibilities. While it may be one of the more controversial medical fields, it has exciting applications, including early detection of diseases, synthetic DNA production, and faster, cheaper DNA testing.

To discover more about innovations in genetics and genomics, you can try our MedTech: Exploring the Human Genome course by the University of Leeds or The Genomics Era: the Future of Genetics in Medicine course by the St George’s University of London.

Regenerative medicine
Regenerative medicine is what you might imagine – medical treatment that seeks to replace damaged tissue or organs. Clearly, progress in this area is invaluable, and there’s no knowing how far regenerative medicine will be able to go in the future.

Some examples of current innovations in this field include tissue engineering, cellular therapies and artificial organs. To learn more, our MedTech: Orthopaedic Implants and Regenerative Medicine course by the University of Leeds will teach you how stem cells are used for tissue engineering, among other things.

Orthopaedic implants
The final healthcare technology we’ll be discussing is orthopaedic implants, which are manufactured devices that replace damaged bones, joints or cartilage. The market for orthopaedic implants is growing at a fast rate, with more products being released than ever before.

Now, patient-specific, customisable orthopaedic implants made with revolutionary 3D technology are becoming more common, so it’s an exciting area to keep tabs on. Again, our MedTech: Orthopaedic Implants and Regenerative Medicine course will teach you more about this topic.

What will the future of healthcare look like?
Now that we’ve evaluated the global health situation and explored some of the innovations that exist, it’s safe to say that the future of healthcare holds plenty more scientific breakthroughs and opportunities for digital innovation.

A recent McKinsey Global Institute report suggested that by 2040, global disease could fall by 40%, and 70% of this would be made possible by preventative measures. Some of the technologies we’ve discussed today could help form part of this preventative care, so it’s worth learning more in order to secure a brighter future for us all.

Our medical technology courses are the perfect place to discover all of the health innovations driving change today. Whether you’re a medical professional or just interested in the future of society, you’ll learn something that inspires you.

If you have followed the news on digital technology and health in recent months, you will have read of a blockbuster fraud trial centred on a dubious blood-testing device, a controversial partnership between a telehealth company and a data analytics company, a social media company promising action to curb the spread of vaccine misinformation, and another addressing its role in the deteriorating mental health of young women. For proponents and critics alike, these stories encapsulate the health impact of many digital technologies, and the uncertain and often unsubstantiated position of digital technologies for health. The Lancet and Financial Times Commission on governing health futures 2030: growing up in a digital world, brings together diverse, independent experts to ask if this narrative can still be turned around? Can digital technologies deliver health benefits for all?

Digital technologies could improve health in many ways. For example, electronic health records can support clinical trials and provide large-scale observational data. These approaches have underpinned several high-profile research findings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sequencing and genomics have been used to understand SARS-CoV-2 transmission and evolution. There is vast promise in digital technology, but the Commission argues that, overall, digital transformations will not deliver health benefits for all without fundamental and revolutionary realignment.

Globally, digital transformations are well underway and have had both direct and indirect health consequences. Direct effects can occur through, for example, the promotion of health information or propagating misinformation. Indirect ones can happen via effects on other determinants of health, including social, economic, commercial, and environmental factors, such as influencing people's exposure to marketing or political messaging. Children and adolescents growing up in this digital world experience the extremes of digital access. Young people who spend large parts of their lives online may be protected or vulnerable to online harm. But many individuals remain digitally excluded, affecting their access to education and health information. Digital access, and the quality of that access, must be recognised as a key determinant of health. The Commission calls for connectivity to be recognised as a public good and human right.

Describing the accumulation of data and power by dominant actors, many of which are commercial, the Commissioners criticise business models based on the extraction of personal data, and those that benefit from the viral spread of misinformation. To redirect digital technologies to advance universal health coverage, the Commission invokes the guiding principles of democracy, equity, solidarity, inclusion, and human rights. Governments must protect individuals from emerging threats to their health, including bias, discrimination, and online harm to children. The Commission also calls for accountability and transparency in digital transformations, and for the governance of misinformation in health care—basic principles, but ones that have been overridden in a quest for freedom of expression and by the fear that innovation could be sidelined. Public participation and codesign of digital technologies, particularly including young people and those from affected communities, are fundamental.

The Commission also advocates for data solidarity, a radical new approach to health data in which both personal and collective interests and responsibilities are balanced. Rather than data being regarded as something to be owned or hoarded, it emphasises the social and relational nature of health data. Countries should develop data trusts that unlock potential health benefits in public data, while also safeguarding it.
Digital transformations cannot be reversed. But they must be rethought and changed. At its heart, this Commission is both an exposition of the health harms of digital technologies as they function now, and an optimistic vision of the potential alternatives. Calling for investigation and expansion of digital health technologies is not misplaced techno-optimism, but a serious opportunity to drive much needed change. Without new approaches, the world will not achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

However, no amount of technical innovation or research will bring equitable health benefits from digital technologies without a fundamental redistribution of power and agency, achievable only through appropriate governance. There is a desperate need to reclaim digital technologies for the good of societies. Our future health depends on it.

The benefits of modern technology have now touched almost all aspects of our life. However, healthcare is one area that has probably gained the most from technological innovations we have experienced in the last few decades. Be it reducing nursing home abuse or the development of new treatment methodologies, technology continues to make our healthcare sector more efficient. Technological developments accomplished in recent years have saved millions of lives and improved the quality of human life.

Let us take a look at some of the most noteworthy improvements in healthcare caused by the latest technological innovations.

Digitalization of Health Records:

The replacement of paper-based records by Electronic Health Records (EHRs) has been a massive game-changer in the healthcare industry. This development has not only made it possible for the patients to access their medical records effortlessly but also ensured that critical errors are caught promptly.

Amongst many benefits brought to healthcare by electronic health records, here are few important ones.

• Improved Patient Care: EHRs are capable of sending automatic alerts to physicians about potential issues. This is proven to be a critical benefit for the treatment of unresponsive patients.
• Better Public Health: EHRs also help the process of advancing medical knowledge and developing treatment methodologies for health problems by proving important information to clinical researchers.
• Simplified Workflow: Out of all types of allied health workers in the US, medical coders and billers probably have the most stressful job. The introduction of EHRs has undoubtedly made lives much easier for these key healthcare professionals.
• Lower Healthcare Cost: A study conducted recently by the University of Michigan suggests that the expense incurred on outpatient care can be brought down significantly by shifting to electronic health records from paper.