"Eric Topol MD, a cardiologist, points to an explosion in technology-- including portable
handheld ultrasounds and cell phone apps that can display vital signs,
sequence genomes, and acquire ultrasound images -- as a key element in
reducing cost.
Topol knows first-hand about technology's ability to deliver quick and inexpensive medical care. When a
fellow airline passenger in October 2011 began suffering from chest pain,
Topol plugged in a small electrocardiogram to his smartphone, quickly
diagnosed the pain as the beginning of a heart attack, and recommended
the plane made an emergency landing -- effectively saving the man's
life.
The looming problem of health care is a daunting one. (...) [o]ver the long run,
Medicare is 75 trillion dollars in debt
and a significant factor in the government's long term budget
problem.
Topol, however, is optimistic about the future.
'If we can be
receptive to rebooting of health care,' he says, 'we can innovate out of
this mess.'" (Source: "
The Cost of Health").
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Why it matters: Much of what doctors do could be automated. |
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Eye app: A smartphone displays a measurement of the refractive error of a person’s eyes. |
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Dr. Eric Topol believes that new technology, like this portable ultrasound device, may be key in lowering health care costs.
Credit GE Reports / Flickr Creative Commons
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"I must include a shout out for patient engagement. Nowhere else in the industry will you find such a large and untapped resource that is ready, willing – but perhaps not yet able to participate in the change. As I have stated many times: when a doctor and patient are in a room, there is nobody, I repeat nobody, more interested in successful outcomes than the patient. Give them the tools and make them part of the solution." Nick Van Terheyden, MD:
Voice of the Doctor
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"We must never therefore let ourselves fall into the way of thinking 'ignorabimus, we shall never know'". Eduard Buchner, lecture for this Nobel Prize in Chemistry (the 7th Nobel Prize)
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