New players, new opportunities, new challenges- the rise of tech companies in health.
Healthcare is defined by technology, its existence, a product of technological achievements like the microscope, the x-ray machine and anaesthesia. Equally, healthcare has long been a focus of private enterprise, seeking to develop new and lucrative healthcare technologies. Pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and biotech labs, enmesh healthcare with the pursuit of company profits.
There is a sense, however, that the immediate future for technology in healthcare promises a different kind of relationship. Tech companies are moving from sideline positions of support (supplying technology, partnering in research) into the centre of healthcare delivery and optimisation.
Google leads this charge, negotiating access to tens of millions of patient records across multiple hospital networks in the United States. These data are all fed into machine learning algorithms — including those of Google-acquired DeepMind — with the vague but optimistic aim of improving patient outcomes. In the process, individual medical records have been transformed into the raw materials of a research project with no specific aim or any ethical oversight.
At the same time, Facebook has promised a ‘metaverse’ — an embodied internet where users can experience physical pursuits (like dancing in a nightclub) in a virtual realm and where their medical, financial, and other personal information will follow them seamlessly from doctor to dance class to accountant. In this future, the virtual transcends physical limitations of distance (with obvious applications to healthcare in remote settings), while also transforming physical experiences into forms that can be read by a computer.
These new players will undoubtedly influence healthcare systems. Whether they will succeed in disrupting the entire landscape remains uncertain. There are some areas, however, which look certain to be contentious:
- What a hospital can do with medical records is tightly regulated, whereas what Google can do with the personal data it collects is almost entirely free from public oversight or control. As data pass from one sphere to the other, which rules will apply, and which should apply?
- In the MedTech sector, start-ups seek to generate value, alternatively complementing or competing with the larger tech companies. Can they be more responsive to specific healthcare needs and drive innovation in a more flexible way?
- What are the opportunities and risks in terms of inclusion, accessibility, and diversity? Can technological development democratise access to healthcare or will it reinforce old biases?
In our second Open Labs session in the Transforming Health Series (12–1.30 pm on 24 August 2021, register here) we will discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by the incursion of tech companies into healthcare.
