Is digital health all talk and no action? One Forbes contributor fed up with one wearable technology invention after another, thinks so.
In an article published today, John Nosta writes, "I'm growing tired of another accelerometer grabbing the meter of digital health ... beyond the sleek device, you can hear the cacophony of voices rises in advocacy at yet another digital health summit."
So what's the problem? Nosta thinks we're stuck in a "rut of repetition," and that this year has not been just the year of digital health, but perhaps also the year of "digital duplicity."
What the digital health sector needs are visionaries who can "punctuate" the market, Nosta writes, and he thinks the following entities have the power to do so:
- Pharmaceutical companies: They have the ability to incorporate digital health into the mainstream with clinical trials, sales and medical education.
- Venture capitalists: VC funders should consider tracking the path of revolution rather than evolution.
- Academia: Public/private partnerships can build smart digital health companies that sprung from academic settings.
- Citizen scientists: With access to technology and information, the punctuation to digital health may be forged by someone unexpected.
- Government: Government partnering with digital health to drive innovation while still protecting privacy is a fine, line, but Nosta says it must be walked on.
In August, Forbes contributor Dan Munro wrote that there are five ways to classify health technologies; he emphasized that telehealth, and simple technology like thermometers, can't be thrown into the "digital health" category.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Clinic this week named its top 10 medical innovations of 2014; health IT had a solid presence on the list with usable, scalable products and ideas.
To learn more:
- read Nosta's Forbes article
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