Significant advances are being made in healthcare by tech companies that want us to live longer, healthier lives: Google’s Deepmind unit can predict eye disease before symptoms manifest while its Calico longevity division has discovered that the secret to a long life has little to do with our genes.
The tech industry believes it has the power to transform traditional medicine by applying data, analytics and algorithms to DNA analysis and nanotechnology that manipulates atoms and molecules. Google engineer and futurist Ray Kurzweil even predicts that the geometric advances of technology mean that the combination of biotech, nanotech and robotics place immortality within our grasp.
Alphabet is hosting a conference for executives from its healthcare units this week, teasing the life-changing improvements to healthcare already in sight and revealing plans for some of the company's big healthcare bets.
The Alphabet Healthcare Workshop will take place at its Sunnyvale campus in California and employees from units including Verily, AI research unit Google Brain and Nest home products are understood to be attending. Presentations from AI chief Jeff Dean and other senior figures are on the agenda.
Prevention, Medical Interpretation and Genetic Deciphering Dominate DevelopmentsThe principal objective of Alphabet's Verily unit is early disease diagnosis and initial prevention, as well as harnessing disease breakouts, ideally before they occur at all. This is done by applying the personalised approach to medicine that aims to uncover what makes individuals sick.
Calico was launched in 2013 by Google founder Larry Page in a venture to extend human longevity. Its latest research project uses data from genealogy site Ancestry to analyze why we live as long as we do, finding that longevity has little to do with genetics. How long we live is more dependent on lifestyle and environmental factors such as diet, exercise and even how happy we are.
Deep learning business Google DeepMind uses neural networks that mimic the workings of the brain’s neurons to analyze medical imaging scans more quickly and accurately than humans do. Working with the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, they announced this week that they have developed the skills to identify eye disease like age-related macular degeneration before it sets in.
Conference Heralds New Era Of Tech-HealthThe workshop comes as all major tech companies start to unveil ambitious plans for healthcare development. IBM Watson assists radiologists in scan analysis, and last year Microsoft launched a healthcare division proposing AI-driven medical advances. The Apple Watch is being used to monitor heart activity, and the Alivecor Kardiaband app is capable of carrying out EKGs to measure heart rhythm. Last January, Apple announced plans to bring health records to iPhones.
Technology has disrupted industries from music to media, banking, insurance and transport, so it's no surprise that healthcare is undergoing a revolution through digital transformation, with dramatic implications for pensions, health and life insurance if tech entrepreneurs find ways of extending human lives by decades, or even centuries.
Insurers must reinvent their business models and their positioning once they can access data from wearables and medical equipment to reward lifestyle changes by policyholders. US insurance startup Oscar offers a reward when users hit their daily goal for steps recorded by a tracker.
Amazon has joined with Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan to create a new non-profit health organization that promises to use technology to lower healthcare insurance costs. Proposals include digital integration and AI to share information between hospitals and clinics, previously shown to reduce costs significantly.
Technology places the medical care of patients in their own hands. The "consumerization" of healthcare is well underway with DNA analysis services like 23andMe that offer genetic testing for medical and ancestry uses. Genetic information has been shown to influence lifestyle choices like avoiding sunbathing if results show a genetic predisposition to skin cancer, or diet restrictions for diabetic tendencies. Some research shows that we take greater responsibility for our own healthcare when using data from wearables and fitness trackers.
Improvements in healthcare are unfolding fast and insurers must create strategies to thrive in a world of better health and increased longevity. Disrupting medicine will surely mean a transformation for the insurance industry.