We need to create a space in healthcare for innovation – where we reward and incentivise practitioners for doing things differently, a leading US healthcare visionary told delegates at The Digital Health Show in Sydney yesterday (1 April 2016).
Dr Alan Green, the founder of drgreene.com and chief medical officer of Scanadu, said he was pleased to hear the Australian Government’s announcement this week to change the payment arrangements for doctors managing patients with chronic disease.
“We need to pay doctors for every person they keep well, rather than for every time someone visits them,” he said.
“We also need more innovative and efficient ways for individuals to monitor and actively participate in their own health and, as a consequence, deliver greater power and control back to patients,” he said.
Dr Greene said individuals’ need for power and control could be traced back to comic books and superheroes.
He said the rise in popularity of superheroes coincided with times of great social upheaval, such as World War II (when Captain America rose to prominence), and during the Cold War (when X Men and Spiderman rose to acclaim).
He believed the popularity of superheros and their superpowers reflected individuals’ need for power and control. In particular, the power to protect ourselves, and others around us.
Technology, he said, was the means of unlocking and delivering this end goal, as was reflected in comic book history.
Greene Lantern says: “In brightest day and blackest night no evil will escape my sight.” This mantra is modernised by Greene, who predicts “We are coming close to saying no illness will escape my sight” thanks to significant developments in healthcare technology.
“Our superhero obsession is not just about powers,” he said, “but about being able to make a difference in the world and regain autonomy over our own health and wellbeing.”
This article was blogged live onsite at The Digital Health Show by Francesca Lilly and Jenny Donnithorne from Mint Health.
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