Introduction
Photon Legal presents to you the insightful Day 4 of “The Future of Health Tech”. The fourth webinar put together certain common insights regarding tech into healthcare, with one of the most diverse and experienced panel of speakers: Ms. Anoushka Gungadin (Director at Allevi8) entrepreneurial leader and Board of Director with more than 20 years of experience; Dr. Vidhi Bhanushali (Co-Founder and Chief Dental Surgeon at DentalDost) is a medical practitioner with an obsession to deliver dentistry to all in a smart way set her on a 3 year entrepreneurship journey; Mr. Kevin Pereau (CEO & Founder at TranscendIT Health, California). Mr. Prayank Khandelwal, Founding Partner of Photon Legal, hosted the webinar.
Amalgamation of Technology into Healthcare
Mr. Kevin talked about how data in healthcare industry has evolved over a period of 10 years and after Affordable Care Act approval for data collecting & creating tools, investments flooded into creating data that validates better outcome and help us transition value-based care models in the US. He also shared that maintaining electronic health records was mandated and therefore, in the US there are State health Insurance exchanges maintained to store all the data to share it further. A plan for healthcare which seemed impossible is now working and creating value. The users of the innovation provide the validation data to the innovators and in the end it’s the innovator’s job to ensure value creation through their innovation.
Furthermore
Oral health is the gateway to your overall health. Dr Vidhi pointed out an interesting fact that the number of people who own a smartphone is greater than the number of people who own a tooth brush. Clearly depicting the lack of awareness and motivation towards maintaining oral health. Her concern about the poor statistics of people getting oral healthcare combined with her belief in technology to create value and impactful changes marked an entrepreneurial journey.
She discussed the importance of oral hygiene and dentistry as oral diseases are preventable but not reversible. In order to create awareness about the same and bring technology into the domain, Dr Vidhi started DentalDost. It enables the patients to scan their oral cavity using a smartphone camera and get a preliminary diagnosis. They provide an individual medical practitioner to the patient based on the diagnosis and the same doctor monitors the entire treatment of that patient, motivates the patient to stick to the dental care routine.
Ms. Anoushka explained about her app (Allevi8) wherein they provide for monthly self-assessment to track certain parameters like level of anxiety, stress, well-being and weekly live sessions guiding about sleep, pain management, stress along with practice sessions. The app attempts to motivate people by setting goals to be achieved by them and they make sure these goals are personalized to fit into their life. The app is extremely accessible, removing geographical boundaries. In addition to an app, they also provide one-on-one mentoring programs of over three months focused on changing habits.
Challenges in merging Technology and Healthcare
She also talked about the challenges of amalgamating tech and healthcare such as resistance considering more than 100 years taken by doctors to adopt simple technology such as thermometers & ECG machines and the fear in medical professionals of getting replaced by technology. Being an entrepreneur of brining tech into healthcare sector, Dr Vidhi received numerous criticisms because the popular opinion in the medical fraternity is that technology could replace doctors. However, Covid 19 pandemic showed the importance of technology especially in dentistry because dentists work closely with the oral area of a patient and expose themselves to a greater risk.
Ms. Anoushka also talks about challenges faced with people or patients who are not tech savvy and they find it difficult to operate the app and get the right treatment according to their ailment. However, it is the innovator’s responsibility to make sure every kind of patient is involved in the process and gets benefit out of the innovation.
However, seamless takeover of automation cannot take place in healthcare sector, as a real doctor is required. Mr. Kevin agreeing to the same point discussed that good technologies or tools will be an extension to the doctors or make them more efficient. He also used the example of “Telehealth” app that failed because it was aimed at replacing doctors.
Working closely with Patient’s behavior & lifestyle
Ms. Anoushka while sharing her experience talked about how she has always been curious about people, their behavior & leadership Her experience with different kinds of people has made her understand that motivating factor in employees change according to the environment therefore, the employers have to particularly take care of hygiene owing to the Covid 19 pandemic. This pushed her to include mindfulness and motivation as tools to motivate employees.
Mr. Kevin, while talking about behavioral changes in doctors after introducing technology in healthcare, pointed out that being able to monitor a thousand patients at the same time, following up with their lifestyle changes helps the clinician get a holistic view of the patient’s profile and thus, administer better. The medical practitioners get a more participative and educated patient, which aids them treat better.
Dr. Vidhi shares that eradicating oral cancer has been the motivating factor for her to create value despite all the odds, majorly because India is the country with highest number of oral cancer patients.
While sharing these appealable insights regarding health tech, the panel also shared that consulting an Intellectual Property Attorney to understand intricacies involved in protecting an innovation is equally important. The panel aspires to grow and create value with a strong vision into health tech.
You do not want to miss their journey towards creating value, please enjoy the recording of the fourth & final day of the E-Summit
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Authors – Tanmay Bhanushali and Tulsi Mansingka
