In an article in GigaOm today, Frank Moss, director of new media medicine at MIT's Media Lab says that the time is now for innovative technologists to look to health IT for opportunities.
"Now is the time for entrepreneurs to get on this issue. If you’re into technology and biology and social media and nano technology — it’s all coming together to create tremendous opportunities for people to use this data to change their health. It’s a great time for patient-centric healthcare."
I agree, but I say the time is yesterday from a human perspective. We need solutions now!
Technology has touched and changed the life of almost every human on the planet, and in most cases, in positive ways. Access to information is clearly a good thing. But the unique opportunity for health IT is that it can inspire action - and activity. This is not just about spreading knowledge. It's about spreading positive action, spurring physical activity, and affecting real change for real people.
Nowhere is this opportunity more real - and more pressing - than the problem of obesity. I'm not alone in thinking this. In October, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pioneer portfolio issued a challenge to come up with innovative solutions to help people make the right decisions about their health. To help people make changes. Over half of the ideas focused on obesity.
"Our hope was to discover new interventions and insights that have potential to transform health and health care. In particular, we stated an interest in experiments that test innovative solutions to the challenges of obesity and consumer engagement. More than 50 percent of the applications we received focus on problems involving obesity. Nearly one-third involve consumer engagement."
Like this post? Want more just like it?
Absolutely no spam. Just informative, useful content delivered to your inbox no more than once a week. Promise.