The quiet transformations affecting health and life sciences

Innovation, disruption, and change lead CIOs’ minds as we explore the future of healthcare and life sciences.

The “Advancing and Enhancing Patient Care” panel was insightful and spanned topics such as innovations with care management, health-based investments, and connecting medical research to life-saving innovations. The panel discussion was lively, and as a result, much was covered. There was also a lot that I didn’t have time to cover within our limited timeframe. I want to introduce new insights; I didn’t have time to share them today fully.

The earlier pioneers in life sciences

New technology is reaching far beyond the bill and paperwork. Artificial intelligence and advanced analytics investments will enable the more intelligent use of multi-sourced data. This newly created data can help fuel clinical trials and accelerate research and development initiatives in the labs. Innovation is driving change in how we interact with patients.

  1. Remote patient monitor
  2. Start drug delivery systems
  3. Biometric trackers
  4. Ingestible sensors
  5. Medication adherence
  6. Diseases management apps

We’re hopeful that the 21st Century Cures Act will accelerate interoperability and patient access. This is a decisive step towards making the theory of continuum of care a reality. The recent MyHealthEData initiative promises to enable better access to patient’s medical information to promote better decision making. The Medicare Blue Button 2.0 initiative has solid traction and over 1,100 organizations already involved spanning 3,000 developers dedicated to making a change in patients’ access. This is compounded with the Patient Access API, which required health insurance exchanges to allow patient access to data through third parties, which went into effect on January 1, 2021.

There still are significant obstacles to providing seamless care, akin to a one-click amazon buy button. We’re not there yet. How will access to video CT scans be provided? To what device will patients download their MRI images? Who’s supporting this bandwidth? In the haste to introduce new technology, software companies forget about their customer: healthcare forgets about the patient experience. We can do better. Connectivity is the answer.

Italy has already figured this out. In Italy’s Lombardy Region (near Milan), the Agency for Innovation and Procurement (ARIA) has created a digital information hub integrating into a single platform more than ten years of health data for 10 million people living in the region. This sets an excellent foundation for virtualized care.

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Peter is a technology executive with over 20 years of experience, dedicated to driving innovation, digital transformation, leadership, and data in business. He helps organizations connect strategy to execution to maximize company performance. He has been recognized for Digital Innovation by CIO 100, MIT Sloan, Computerworld, and the Project Management Institute. As Managing Director at OROCA Innovations, Peter leads the CXO advisory services practice, driving digital strategies. Peter was honored as an MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Award Finalist in 2015 and is a regular contributor to CIO.com on innovation. Peter has led businesses through complex changes, including the adoption of data-first approaches for portfolio management, lean six sigma for operational excellence, departmental transformations, process improvements, maximizing team performance, designing new IT operating models, digitizing platforms, leading large-scale mission-critical technology deployments, product management, agile methodologies, and building high-performance teams. As Chief Information Officer, Peter was responsible for Connecticut’s Health Insurance Exchange’s (HIX) industry-leading digital platform transforming consumerism and retail-oriented services for the health insurance industry. Peter championed the Connecticut marketplace digital implementation with a transformational cloud-based SaaS platform and mobile application recognized as a 2014 PMI Project of the Year Award finalist, CIO 100, and awards for best digital services, API, and platform. He also received a lifetime achievement award for leadership and digital transformation, honored as a 2016 Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader. Peter is the author of Learning Intelligence: Expand Thinking. Absorb Alternative. Unlock Possibilities (2017), which Marshall Goldsmith, author of the New York Times No. 1 bestseller Triggers, calls "a must-read for any leader wanting to compete in the innovation-powered landscape of today." Peter also authored The Power of Blockchain for Healthcare: How Blockchain Will Ignite The Future of Healthcare (2017), the first book to explore the vast opportunities for blockchain to transform the patient experience. Peter has a B.S. in C.I.S from Bentley University and an MBA from Quinnipiac University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. He earned his PMP® in 2001 and is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Masters in Business Relationship Management (MBRM) and Certified Scrum Master. As a Commercial Rated Aviation Pilot and Master Scuba Diver, Peter understands first hand, how to anticipate change and lead boldly.