A futurist warned hospital and health system executives that they risk being sidestepped by patients in favor of Big Tech if they don't innovate soon, Chief Healthcare Executive reported July 17.
Amy Webb, founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute and business professor at New York City-based New York University, spoke to about 1,200 healthcare leaders July 16 at the American Hospital Association Leadership Summit in Seattle, according to the story. She pointed to the example of smart toilets (which cost up to $10,000 now) that track people's health data and identify whether they have infections.
"My point is this: Consumers are now mining and collecting their own data with technology companies, and they are bypassing you," Ms. Webb said, according to the news outlet. "They are threatening to bypass the healthcare industry.
"Toilets are just one of many, many new diagnostic tools. They are not available to everybody. But again, if you go forward in time, these data are so valuable to the Big Tech companies that the prices are going to come down so that everybody can afford them. So what if your bathroom is the new LabCorp or Quest? And what if Big Tech winds up commoditizing the medical field?"