Asia Pacific Biotech News: Cognizant’s Senior Vice President and Global Delivery Head of Healthcare Says Consumer Technologies can Encourage Behavioral Changes in Healthcare

“Consumer technologies such as wearables have the capacity to encourage behavioral changes in healthcare,” writes Sundar Subramanian. “The global wearable medical devices market is estimated to be worth US$5.8 billion by 2019, almost triple than that in 2012, with Asia Pacific projected to be the fastest growing mHealth market during 2015-2020.” Excerpts:

“How individuals interact with the healthcare system is radically changing the face of the healthcare industry. The proliferation of technology advances and consumer gadgets, such as wearable activity monitors including Fitbit and Jawbone, at-home medical devices such as glucose and blood pressure monitors, and mobile transmission of all types of consumer and business data are motivating people to embrace healthier behaviors in their diet and exercise, and promoting better sleeping habits.

It would be insufficient, however, to focus solely on consumers’ self-directed interactions with these powerful and smart devices. The bigger and more important story is told by the vast volumes of data that healthcare consumers are generating with their wearables, devices, smartphones, apps, Web searches and more—personal and persistent collections of digital data that surround people, organizations and devices, what we call “Code Halos”.

So far, much of the market is overlooking the essential processes of analyzing a patient’s Code Halo to uncover hidden insights and meaning, and then acting on those findings with real-time, individualized responses. Yet, these data-fueled interactions are instrumental for the healthcare industry to achieve its goals, as these engagements will encourage individuals to adopt and maintain more effective health practices, be it to sustain their health and engage in preventive care or to better manage a chronic condition.

More than ever, individuals are empowered to manage their own healthcare. These “activated” patients have the tools to collect data on vital signs, genetics, health history, fitness levels, activity levels, body-mass index, sleep patterns and more. All of the data generated by “Bring Your Own healthcare Devices” (BYOhD) is becoming part of an individual’s Code Halo. These activated consumers offer a glimpse of the healthcare industry’s future: smart mobile tools, greater individual accountability for health management, reduced medical spending, and more importantly, better health.

While self-monitoring is an improvement over passivity, it doesn’t sustain behavioral changes single-handedly. The missing piece is real-time, high-touch interactions, such as personalized coaching, which is exactly what the industry needs to offer as a complement to the high-tech data collection model. These interactions drive meaningful engagement that sustains patient behavioral changes, increases quality of care, and improves the customer experience while lowering costs.

The right platform will combine motivation, ability and triggers—three interlocking pieces that will ensure that patients sustain new, different and better behaviors. Healthcare institutions must engage patients beyond the doctor’s office to achieve the improvements necessary to support emerging pay for performance or value-based care models.

By digitally transforming how consumers interact with the healthcare system with the engagement framework similar to the one detailed above, healthcare providers can truly transform and help individuals better manage and monitor their health, leading to higher levels of engagement, better outcomes and lower costs, while representing an opportunity for healthcare players to step forward and match individuals’ efforts to manage and be accountable for their health.”

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