KS's Profile

Kaiser is a particularly interesting example of how telemedicine can be applied, since it is both a provider and a payer. Since they are on the hook for outcomes as well as treatments, its interesting to see how this can be applied as one piece of holistic care delivery. I think this is a great way to proactively connect with patients which would drastically help with adherence in a minimally invasive way to the patients. I’ll be curious to see how Kaiser continues this program to determine whether it is both a cost saving approach as well as a way to improve outcomes.

Thanks for the good read Angel! I’m curious to what extent you think automating the warehouses can help improve profitability. It seems to be helping improve the operating costs, but is it enough to turn Amazon profitable? I’d like to see if the cost savings of automating both the warehouses and reducing labor can assist Amazon as it is bleeding cash.

I’m curious to what extent Amazon is willing to sell and share this data in the future. I see the ability to provide additional services to the third-party sellers by providing similar data and potentially even Amazon’s analyses and recommendations for stocking warehouses and preemptively preparing orders to sellers at a fee. I’m also curious how Amazon may sell this data to outside parties for marketing efforts and wonder how users will respond to this. Will they enjoy the customized experience and benefits of quick on-demand delivery and service? Or view it as an invasion of privacy?

I really enjoyed reading your article. RFID is a very interesting application in health care and seems to have been overdue! I think it is critical not to overlook the benefits from the patient perspective. Tracking supplies leads to better patient care by ensuring that the needed devices, medications, and supplies are available rapidly in emergency situations. RFID can also help avoid malpractice by tracking the use of devices and ensuring they are properly sterilized in between uses. Finally, applying this to people (doctors, nurses, and patients) can also ensure that the professionals are easily located and patient data is not mistaken or overlooked during procedures. However the application of this technology to people raises significantly more data concerns, that I’m not sure the industry is ready to deal with quite yet.

The applications of 3D printing in health care have been really exciting to follow. Building on Karen and Chloe’s points, I think this can catch on rapidly even in developing markets. With trends moving toward value based care and the issues raised around providing better care to underserved populations, this is a great way to make an impact. I am curious to see how the 3D printed prosthetics improve feel for patients. There are many documented studies around patients being unwilling to wear their prosthetics due to discomfort and even pain. I’d like to know more about how the quality of materials and customization made possible with 3D printing improves or hurts the patients’ willingness to use. Considering adherence is a huge point of debate, I hope that 3D printing can be a game changer here.

This is a very interesting company that is helping address a much needed problem. I’m excited to see what they are doing. However, I’m very curious how patient confidentiality and acts like HIPAA that restrict access to patient data play a role in this scenario. I’m interested to hear how IBM Watson’s Clinical Trial Matching is getting around these limitations and if there is some way that patients are opting into their data being included in these searches. I also know there have been issues in the past with marketing directly to patients in health care and I’m curious how this works here.