Healthcare For 8 Billion: Collaboration And Innovation Are Critical
With the global population hitting another milestone, cross-industry partnerships and technology solutions will be vital to allow people to thrive
This article covers:
- How biotech remains a ‘standout sector’ for its ability to innovate and adapt
- Examples of how technology is enabling a shift to a preventative healthcare model
- How collaborating with trusted expert partners accelerates innovation and growth
Growth is one of the Art of Smart’s four pillars for smarter decision-making. However, managing this particular type of expansion requires two of the other four pillars: boldness and innovation. Better healthcare solutions are needed to enable all these people to survive and thrive.
The criticality of medical innovation was evident in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Remarkably, several vaccines—made possible thanks to cross-industry collaborations—were produced and rolled out in around a year. As a result, almost 20 million COVID-19 deaths were prevented worldwide in the first 12 months alone of the vaccination program, according to Imperial College London. A traditionally competitive mindset was transformed for the greater good, and knowledge was shared without worrying about being compromised.
Biotech innovation achieved through smart partnerships and investment in research and development has been a recurring subject in the Art of Smart’s content. When the campaign began in 2019, biotech was considered a “standout sector,” with praise for its drive to adapt continuously.
Considering the timing of the article—six months before the first coronavirus lockdowns—there was an eerie prescience about this comment: “Thankfully, market dynamics are attractive, given the world’s growing and aging population, but what investors are really backing is [the] innovation that will lead to important advances and solve problems.”
As in other industries, tremendous advances have been made in the last three years in healthcare. Now, despite the looming economic crisis, greater investment and cross-industry collaboration are a matter of life for the swelling global population. Therefore, it is vital to continue the spirit of cooperation and innovation during the pandemic for the sake of humanity.
Customer-centric approach
To accelerate vaccine development and production, governments subsidized research projects. They—rather than private companies—took on the risk of failure. It was a win-win situation. In the US, for example, Operation Warp Speed “saved hundreds of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars,” says Alex Tabarrok, an economist at George Mason University.
Similarly, BIMA, a digital provider of health and insurance solutions to eight emerging countries in Asia and Africa, partnered with health ministries, including Digital Initiative Pakistan, to launch remote telemedicine services. The uptake was incredible, showing patients’ willingness to embrace digitalization.
“After the first use of telemedicine, the percentage of people selecting it as their preferred channel of communicating with us went from 5.8 percent to 58 percent,” says Alice Pan, Global Chief Medical Officer at BIMA. “They realized how convenient telemedicine is for most non-complicated situations, and the pandemic spurred the shift to digital solutions. It shows that boldness, innovation, and trying something for the first time can shatter preconceptions.”
With confidence boosted by the reaction to telemedicine, BIMA has introduced home testing kits and home monitoring where patients with chronic conditions can take and log measurements without leaving their abode. Again, technological innovation and partnership—in this case, with patients—make a move to a prevention-rather-than-cure model possible.
“For every healthcare provider, whether focused on digital or physical health, the customer experience and a better outcome have to be front and center of every step of the journey,” says Pan. Moreover, she adds that this approach is valid for other organizations outside the healthcare industry.
Data was used very effectively for the vaccine development and also in treatment and recovery trials. Key data, including scientific papers, were made available. I wish that wider sharing and linking of data could continue.
Sir Nigel Shadbolt
Co-Founder and Executive Chair
Open Data Institute
Digital future of healthcare
There is a growing list of examples showing glimpses of the future of healthcare. In Canada, digital health software firm WELL Health has launched a conversational AI tool to improve customer experience with personalized messaging. “ChatAssist AI automates thousands of conversations between patients and providers and gracefully hands off to staff when human intervention is required,” explains CEO and Founder Guillaume de Zwirek. “Patient satisfaction improves with a faster response time from providers, and staff are freed up to focus on high-touch interactions that their jobs demand.”
Elsewhere, AdvanSentinel, a recent joint venture in Japan, aims to help society through better public health risk assessment, including monitoring sewage for signs of viruses. And Highmark Health—the second-largest integrated healthcare delivery network in the United States—worked with IBM to provide its data scientists with an efficient way to collaborate, govern access to data sources, and deploy models that use medical insurance data to help care managers predict high-risk diseases.
Technology is also transforming the industry in more administrative ways. Dinesh Nirmal, General Manager, IBM Automation, Data and AI, talks about the “tremendous opportunity to automate healthcare because it is a document-heavy domain.”
Offering advice relevant to business leaders in all industries, he stresses the value of working with a trusted partner who can deploy and manage AI programs expertly and handle sensitive data. “You need that specialized knowledge to transform healthcare,” Nirmal says. “IBM works with many healthcare providers and insurance companies, because healthcare and insurance go hand in hand.”
Finally, BIMA’s Pan emphasizes the importance of public and private sectors opening up data to serve patients better and speed up innovation. “I hope to see a more collaborative, joined-up approach, using the right technologies so that data can be shareable,” she says. “That way, we can deliver healthcare quickly and at scale.”
Ultimately, with a global population exceeding eight billion, all business leaders would be wise to adjust their mindsets to be more cooperative, creative, and collaborative.
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The pandemic spurred the shift to digital solutions. It shows that boldness, innovation, and trying something for the first time can shatter preconceptions. Healthcare is moving from reactive sickness care to a more holistic, personalized wellness service. I hope to see a more collaborative, joined-up approach, using the right technologies so that data can be shareable. That way, we can deliver healthcare quickly and at scale.
Alice Pan
Global Chief Medical Officer
BIMA
Key takeaway questions
- As a leader, how has your mindset evolved—if at all—as we continue to recover from the pandemic?
- How could your organization be more collaborative and share data for the greater good?
- Where would a collaborative approach be most valuable to your organization? Would it be around a product or service, to improve customer experience, or somewhere more operational?
- Should you partner more with domain experts to take advantage of nascent technologies and accelerate innovation?
- Regarding identifying partners, do you need to rethink who the organization should collaborate with to speed up progress while not compromising security?
