There are three big Disruptions coming your way, necessary to address ballooning healthcare costs :
- "There's an App for that", including sensors.
- Dr Topol on RockCentre, CBS.
- Telehealth and monitoring the Aged and chronically ill, including liaising with Community Nurses and video check-in services, like (phone) Telecross from the Red Cross.
- CSIRO have a major Telehealth project.
- NBN are running a $5MM trial with them.
- From CEBIT, a tweet from the ABC. Picture, cost, description.
- Dispensing 'tapes' and secure cartridges for in-home personalised dispensing.
- In the 1970's electronics manufacturers moved to automated "pick and place" of parts. Instead of selling loose parts, manufacturers supplied them on tapes, which were loaded into the automatic machines.
- Large automated dispensaries are currently being sold to hospitals and multiple suppliers are selling pre-packed & labelled medications to nursing homes. The problem for both these approaches are that most patients aren't in these locations, especially the elderly who are likely to miss doses or multi-dose, leading to potentially fatal consequences.
- Home dispensing machines will need to read identity bracelets and have one or more biometric detectors (as simple as a microphone or video camera+face recognition) to confirm who is being dosed and to log dispensing.
The reason Pharmacists can take this ground is simple and compelling:
Doctors are too busy, nurses see people and know if they are maintaining their health, but only Pharmacists know in detail the effects of drugs, non-drug treatments and adjuncts and the many subtle warning signals. Plus, people generally like their pharmacist and feel confident in talking to them.Integrating these three Disruptive forces allows additional hihg-value services, like changing dosages in response to new readings.
