Healthcare Tomorrow

One Knee Forward for Mankind0

We have all seen the adds for prescription drugs and we all know the impact they have had on utilization. Once the pharmaceutical companies started direct to consumer advertisements, utilization of the advertised drugs shot up. It seems the medical device industry was paying attention. This weekend I saw an ad on TV for Zimmer’s “Gender Solutions” knee implants - and get this - they are “shaped to fit a woman’s anatomy”.

Presuming that this will become a trend, the impact of this commercial will be far and wide.

From a hospital strategy perspective, I would revisit my orthopedic volumes after seeing this commercial for sure. I think there is no doubt that commercials like these will translate into higher demand for surgeries. But what about medical necessity, you might ask? There shouldn’t be more knee replacements unless baby boomers start playing more one on one, right?

Not necessarily. Along with direct to consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals, we have seen another trend: the medicalization of problems that went untreated in the past (there may be a better word than “medicalization”, but I think it does the trick). Now I am not a doctor, but there seems to be a new class of drugs available to treat, for lack of a better descriptor, free-floating symptoms. A drug like Zelnorm, for instance, is advertised to treat “bloating” and “irritable bowel syndrome.” I saw another advertisement for a drug to treat “restless leg syndrome.” We aren’t talking cancer here, but we are creating medical solutions for quality of life issues (again for lack of a better term).

And of course the king of all advertised pharmaceuticals, sexual performance enhancing drugs, leads me to my next point. The arrival of artificial knees designed specifically for women ushers in the era of science and medicine improving the human machine. Today we can get knees that are more comfortable, tomorrow we will have knees that “last forever” or improve our performance on the football field. Combine the trends of consumer driven healthcare with advances in medical devices and even genetics and we could be looking at a healthcare industry that is radically different from the one we have today. Of course there are many ethical considerations here (don’t worry ethicists are standing by to take your calls as they have been anticipating this for a few years now), but have we considered the impact on the healthcare delivery system? Will these advances only be available to those that can afford it? Will our focus on prevention and healing shift to a focus on improvement and replacement? Will your blown out knee become your bionic knee?

Who knew a knee could have such an impact?

Posted: Healthcare and Technology

The iPhone and Healthcare?0

Even though my post on Robots and Healthcare was a bit of a freebie, the main point was still valid.  When new technologies are developed, it is tempting to dream about their applications in healthcare.  But I was suprised to see the good people at UK’s Wireless Healthcare start thinking about applications for Apple’s iPhone, not a week after the much anticipated gadget was announced at MacWorld.  It may be a while until we see doctors viewing x-ray results while listening to iTunes, but somebody has to dream it before it becomes a reality.

Posted: Healthcare and Technology

Robots and Healthcare1

Google alerts is a pretty good way to stay on top of news.  You can specify search terms and have Google send you an email with the latest internet and news clippings.  One of the search terms I have Google send me news on is “Robots” (I want to be prepared for the uprising).  As robots become more and more advanced and pervasive, it is only natural that healthcare applications come into play.  And indeed, I have just found a pretty out-there robot/healthcare application.

The company is called Cyberdyne Systems (that is strike 1 on the marketing plan - anybody seen Terminator?!?) and the product is an artificial powered exoskeleton, known as HAL (not kidding and that is strike 2 on the marketing plan).

Once I got past the marketing challenges, I began to see how this technology could be used for patients that have lost the use of their limbs or need assistance standing or walking.  Talk about durable medical equipment.  These things could kick a walker’s butt…or at least stomp on it and reduce it to a pile of twisted metal. 

Can you imagine seeing grandma with a set of robo-legs?  It is funny, but pretty cool when you think about it.

Apparently, HAL uses electrodes to pick up signals from the nervous system to control the unit.  If they threw on the gyro from Segway, these things could concievably enable a paralyzed person to stand and move about.

While the production version is not out on the market yet - and we will have to see if Medicare will cover it - I will continue to keep my eye on robot news.  You never know what they will think of next.  

Posted: Healthcare and Technology, On a Lighter Note