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Data to Kill Death

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I’m sitting at the doctor’s office the other day for yet another visit.  The facility is equipped with the latest technology: my check-in is processed via an automated kiosk, and my surgeon flips through medical records via a browser.  He explains that looking at MRIs is faster via “the Cloud” than from a CD: “server processing is more appropriate here”, he says.  When did doctors understand so much about technology?

To be fair, my doctor will need all the technology available if he is to extend my "soccer career": over the past 24 months, I’ve fractured my pelvis, sustained a double sports hernia and broke my left ankle.

Yet, I’ve never felt more positive about our ability to advance medicine via technology. Of course, my hope, beyond taking care of my injuries, is that one day soon, the major diseases that plague humanity will be eradicated.

A lot has already been done to digitalize medical processes: many doctors nowadays use ZocDoc, for instance.  This technology, developed by entrepreneurs Nick Ganju, Cyrus Massoumi and Oliver Kharraz, allows us to book doctor appointments online.  Another entrepreneur I’ve grown to know and enjoy observing, Ryan Howard, has built Practice Fusion to become the largest and fastest growing EMR in the country.

As I’m getting ready to head to the TED Conference next week, I can’t help but think that we are reaching the inflection point, where doctor’s and individuals’ practices have evolved enough that, together, we can have a meaningful impact on our species

Next week, Atul Gawande’s speech will focus on the small changes doctors can make to drastically improve performance.  I’m sure we will also discuss the simple habits patients can add to their daily routine to participate in this evolution: a great one is the “one aspirin a day” practice highlighted in David Agus’s book “The End of Illness” (thanks Robert Scoble for pointed me to it through his Davos World Economic Forum feed).

Indeed, beyond the doctor’s office, we can all do our part to become better humans.  By “better humans,” I mean people who understand how to live longer and better because they tap into tools and methodologies to proactively impact their lives.  The self-tracking movement has already done a lot to raise awareness.  However, until very recently, it was reserved for the geeks and life hackers who enjoyed “rewiring” their lives. Regular people would only be given the chance to understand their life signs if they experienced significant medical stress (heart attacks, surgeries) or if they lived with chronic conditions that required daily measurement (such as diabetes).  I’ve always been bothered by the fact that the rest of us couldn’t harness technology like the pros.  We all need it! (I joked in my Quantified Self Conference keynote last year that we were all infected with the same fatal disease: Death!).

Times have changed and you can now find over 400 manufactured tools professionally designed to help better your life.  If you want to see the example of how someone rationalizes the use of these tools, I highly recommend following Brad Feld, the well-known and successful Managing Director of the Foundry Group.  You can see here his year in review, where he tracks data about where he sleeps, what he reads and how much he runs.

Brad exemplifies the first step most of us need to take: establish a routine to capture life.  However, what’s required from each of us to do this is hard: you must have the right device, enough time and plenty motivation to do so.  And beyond capturing your information, what if you could make it available to your physicians?  I still get a kick out of bringing my doctor a summary of my activities at consultation time, but I think my behavior shouldn’t be the exception. It should be the norm.

Brad’s and my example are indications that the industry is moving towards democratization though: we are using commercially available tools to do things life hackers used to build.  We might be the early adopters of this movement but how do we get the early majority, the late majority and the laggards to emulate?  (if these terms confuse you, make sure you read the work of Geoffrey Moore, one of my heroes and author of “Crossing the Chasm” among others).

In order for the movement to “cross the chasm,” two key tenants need to evolve in my opinion: Technology and Business Models.

Technology Has A Role...

I summarized what I believe was needed in technology during my Quantified Self conference keynote last year with a simple acronym: AHAAS! (the joke is that the industry needs to go through it’s AHAAS moments, see slides here). Let me explain: Technology needs to be Affordable (A) to all, data capture needs to be Holistic (H) e.g. “capture all signs,” and do so in an Approachable (A) and Automatic (A) fashion.  Then, when more complete data is captured, the community needs to be able to share (S) so members can help each other: my aggregated data indicates patterns that can help me but it can also help others with similar characteristics or conditions.

But Business Models Rule

Of the 400+ tools available in the market, one could predict that only a few will be here in 10 years.  The entry of Nike this month (FuelBand), Jawbone (UP) last year will test the market. Miniaturization is bound to accelerate this trend.  See here the work of U of Illinois’ pioneers Todd Coleman and John Rogers. Reebok is working with mc10 to commercialize their "Smart Skin" technology and potentially launch this year.

However, technology is not everything and I’d highly stress that the better business models will win in the end.  If you are looking for confirmation, read Alex Osterwalder’s book: Business Model Generation. The book reminds us all that, it is the combination of strong technology and a differentiated business model that defines winners.  Look underneath Jawbone’s, Nike’s and Reebok’s tech to find the intention to bind the patient, the practitioner and the insurance company (see here for a good review).

Finally, there is an important next step to this evolution: thinking forward. While the majority of the industry is focused on devices and their integration, other are fast-forwarding this data trend.  This is true of Chris Hogg, an entrepreneur who is pursuing his life’s dream by starting 100Plus, a new health prediction service.  

The idea behind his technology is that, when enough data is collected, it can be used to predict conditions.  Precision and participation are core tenants of his solution but his thinking presents two major breakthroughs in my opinion. One, he thinks of his technology as acomplement to modern medicine (some self-trackers believed they can do better than the pros) and it focuses on the next stage of self-tracking: the action behind the data using analytics, pattern learning and correlation.  

Check out his technology here and as you are waiting to get access, fill your brain with knowledge by reading the work of one of his advisors, Sonia Arrison.  To your Health!

Bruno Aziza loves Big Data, Analytics and the Cloud.  You can find out more about him @www.brunoaziza.com and connect directly via www.linkedin.com/in/brunoaziza