The Digital Health Update by Paul Sonnier
March 25, 2017 — #266
|
|
While the draconian Obamacare replacement bill put forth by President Trump and Republicans failed in spectacular fashion (apparently Americans want healthcare as a right), a separate bill that would allow employers to require genetic testing of employees is still in the legislative pipeline. In a NYT op-ed, Dr. Louise Aronson writes that the "Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act" could result in "state-sanctioned health discrimination" of "genetic mutants" like her, including people who are overweight, diabetic, have high blood pressure, or poor exercise habits. As for an alternative or expansion of Obamacare that would drive down the $3.2T in U.S. healthcare spending (2015) and provide care to all Americans, economist Dean Baker has a few suggestions, including open source drugs (savings of $200-360B/yr), immigrant doctors (savings of $100B/yr), and a public option (savings of $20-29B/yr). While corporate welfare and protectionist trade policies that create inertia in these structural features of healthcare are unlikely to shift anytime soon, digital health's external disruption can continue to chip away at the stranglehold exerted by the healthcare establishment on cost reduction efforts. One such solution is Nomad Health, which was just featured in the WSJ. Company founder Dr. Alexi Nazem says the company's “goal is to be the Airbnb of health care”, thereby offering doctors a business-to-business path into the gig economy.
|
|
"Digital health is the convergence of the digital and genomic revolutions with health, healthcare, living, and society." — Paul Sonnier
|
Note:
You are receiving this message because you are a connection of mine, a subscriber, and/or one of nearly
55,000 members of my Digital Health LinkedIn group who have opted to receive my weekly announcements. I'm currently experiencing a LinkedIn technical issue with sending announcements, so to share my insights and noteworthy news I am using Constant Contact's newsletter tool.
|
The leading digital healthcare conference in London, UK, & Europe. May 23-24
|
|
The unraveling of Theranos, the lab-on-a-chip blood testing startup that didn’t deliver on its technology promises, continues. The WSJ’s John Carreyrou, who, along with Christopher Weaver, has been the main investigative reporter on this story from day one, reports that the company is shielding itself from lawsuits by board members via offering them shares in the company taken from the personal stake of founder Elizabeth Holmes. Rupert Murdoch and famous lawyer David Boies have already taken the deal on their way out. Even Jim ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis, who Trump picked as U.S. Secretary of State, exited the board of directors back in January. Walgreens, a former partner has sued the company, as has the state of Arizona, which alleges that the company defrauded consumers. The unfortunate story of Theranos casts an undeserved cloud over the many other digital health lab-on-a-chip microfluidics technologies and companies. Here’s a partial list of nearly 300.
|
|
KEYNOTE SPEAKING & SERVICES
|
|
|
|
If you are a digital health company, event organizer, or provider of other relevant solutions or services you can advertise in my announcements, on my website, and Twitter. Doing so puts you in front of thousands of targeted global prospects each week. I also provide strategic consulting and keynote speaking services. Contact me for my media kit, standard plans, and pricing.
|
|
|
Join over 50,000 members in the Digital Health group on LinkedIn.
|
|
Copyright © 2017 Paul Sonnier
|
|
TO THE DIGITAL HEALTH UPDATE!
|
|
|
You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of every email
|
|
|
|
|
|
|