Blockchain in Healthcare: Competition Winners

Following on from last week's blog post about how Blockchain is being used in healthcare, this week I wanted to focus on some of the vendors who have won competitions with their use cases which in turn, raise the profile of Blockchain in general. Despite the prize money being relatively insignificant, the real prize is exposure to potential partners who could bring these ideas to their established client bases. This blog post will look at two Blockchain startups who have won prizes for their ideas as well as startups to keep on the radar.

MedVault
MedVault very recently won a Blockchain Hackathon competition held in Ireland. MedVault's proof-of-concept centered on the use of Blockchain to store medical records whilst preserving anonymity. This would then leverage the technology of a fellow startup Colu to avoid bloating the Blockchain. As we saw from my last blog post, similar projects are being developed by the likes of Factom and BitHealth. 

In my personal opinion, this is going to be the most widely marketed use case within the healthcare market as data security is a key concern within the industry. Another very important point to note is that this competition was sponsored by Fidelity Investments, Citi and Deloitte. Partnering a consulting giant such as Deloitte with a startup in this field could prove fruitful so this is definitely one to watch.

Tierion
In September, a team led by Tierion CEO Wayne Vaughan, won the Consensus 2015 Makeathon competition. Tierion's team consisted of members from Citi, New York University, Apttus and Coin Cafe. The brief as stated on CoinDesk was to come up with 'an application that envisioned how the Blockchain could be used to produce verifiable, immutable receipts for use during an insurance claims process'. 

During the competition, the team created an app for financial giant USAA (once again providing great exposure.) This app was integrated with Tierion's blockchain receipt technology and Google Sheets so that claims could be both automatically checked against the Bitcoin Blockchain and organized in documents for end-users. 

Although this was created for a financial services client, there are two important aspects I'd like to mention. Firstly, the potential for cross pollination of Blockchain applications from financial serves into the health insurance space is very real. Healthcare payers will undoubtedly keep an eye on how it is being adopted within the financial sector to see if there are elements that can be leveraged. 

Secondly, Tierion recently announced a partnership with Philips Healthcare to look into potential applications of Blockchain technology within the vertical. Tierion will pull from these experiences in the hope of reaching a much wider market through its partner network. Exposure to new markets will enable Tierion to expand quickly whilst benefitting from the reputation of an established player such as Philips.

Although a lot will evidently be focused on the financial sector, expect to see more of these types of sponsored events as startups rally together to raise the profile of Blockchain and progressively move its way into the limelight.

Ones to watch
Although not a financial prize, VentureRadar produced the graphic below recognizing their top 25 Blockchain startups that are disrupting non-financial markets. Tierion (as mentioned above) is featured as well as BlockVerify who was featured in my last blog post. Obviously there is a much wider field in the financial services sector but it's encouraging to see that startups are starting to branch out. It will be interesting to see whether anymore of these venture into healthcare and who they partner with to accelerate their path to market.

Are there any other Blockchain startups that are making their way into the healthcare market? Who do you think will be making waves in the coming months and years? Leave your comments below and please share via Twitter.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Cordwell
Research Analyst, Healthcare Strategy
ResearchNetwork, CSC

1. CoinDesk, Medical Records Project Wins Top Prize at Blockchain Hackathon, 10th Nov 2015, http://www.coindesk.com/medvault-wins-e5000-at-deloitte-sponsored-blockchain-hackathon/
2. CoinDesk, Blockchain Insurance Solution Wins Consensus 2015 Makeathon, 10th Sep 2015, http://www.coindesk.com/blockchain-insurance-consensus-2015-makeathon/
3. VentureRadar, Top 25 non-financial Blockchain startups, http://blog.ventureradar.com/2015/09/08/top-25-non-financial-blockchain-startups/

Accenture: Using terminology as a competitive differentiator

I'd like to reference two articles in this blog post if I may. The first was written by Stuart Lauchlan of Diginomica entitled 'Don't mention the outsourcing, but dig deep into digital at Accenture'. In this article, he credits Accenture with entering the 'digital' market early as it is now reaping the rewards of strong, consistent growth. Lauchlan later goes on to recall how Pierre Nanterme, Accenture CEO, chose to abandon traditional terminology such as 'consulting' and 'outsourcing' as he believed they did not represent Accenture's true capabilities. My initial reaction to this is that it was a clever and easy move to make. Although there has been significant changes in the IT world, does Accenture still outsource? Yes. Does Accenture still consult? Yes. Nothing has changed drastically, yet it has re-branded its marketing strategy to align itself with market demand.

The second article I'd like to refer to was written by Varun Sinha entitled 'How Accenture Has Emerged as a Threat to Infosys, Wipro'. Like the former, this was written following Accenture's quarterly earnings announcement and it goes on to describe how Accenture's growth both signaled a growing market for India-led vendors but also increased competition as Accenture continues to grow faster. It is touched upon briefly in this article but what struck me was the notion of whether Accenture's decision to abandon traditional terminology was a way of differentiating itself from traditional, India-led competitors.

Instinctively, when you hear the word 'outsourcing', it leads you to the thought of reducing operations in one country in favor of a lower cost country. This fundamental thought process was originally a competitive differentiator for India-led organizations but with Accenture's repositioning of terminology, it can now bask in the perceived imagery of higher value services at a premium.

Finally, I looked at relative R&D spend statistics among some of the largest IT services vendors to see whether this repositioning was potentially supported by investment. Although it doesn't go into detail of how R&D was spent, Accenture's R&D spend as a percentage of its annual revenue rose from 2.01% (2012) to 2.50% (2013), a rise of over $150m, before settling back down in 2014. Other vendors had either reduced/maintained R&D spend or increased its percentage as part of a lower annual revenue whereas Accenture saw a rise in both. Although not conclusive, this suggests that Accenture could have invested in digital technologies to support its marketing efforts.

I commend Accenture for the foresight to take this step. The question I'd like to leave you with is this: 'Which era will we be entering next?' Maybe 'virtual services' for example? I'd love to hear what you have to think so please leave your comments below and if you've enjoyed reading this post, feel free to share it on social media.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Cordwell
Research Analyst, Healthcare Strategy
ResearchNetwork, CSC

1. Diginomica, Don’t mention the outsourcing, but dig deep into digital at Accenture, http://diginomica.com/2015/06/26/dont-mention-the-outsourcing-but-dig-deep-into-digital-at-accenture/#.Va0P7PlViko, 26th Jun 2015
2. NDTV Profit, How Accenture Has Emerged as a Threat to Infosys, Wipro, http://profit.ndtv.com/news/corporates/article-how-accenture-has-emerged-as-a-threat-to-infosys-wipro-775537, 26th Jun 2015

Analyzing the HP Sales Approach

This month we've been looking at HP within the Healthcare sector. With so much activity going on at the moment including the company split, the acquisition rumors and of course the $11b DHMSM result looming, it's a very eventful time to be focusing on HP and so in this blog post, we are going to be looking at HP and a few of the characteristics of HP's go-to-market sales approach, enjoy!

• Speak to the CIO whilst partners speak to the business: HP, like CSC, is seen very much as a technology player and it is happy to carry on fulfilling that role. Its in-road into a client is usually via the CIO, which is completely understandable. HP also has a strong partner network with vendors who speak more to the LoBs, such as Deloitte and so will rely on them to deepen the client relationship where necessary.
• Solution-in-a-box: HP typically prefers to craft a solution that can be implemented easily, quickly and cleanly. Once this solution is formulated, it can then work on customizing it and pitching it to different vertical industries.
• Leverage eHealth centers in India: As well as increasing headcount in India as part of its restructuring plan, HP is also leveraging its six eHealth centers in India. This has potential benefits both for the local communities as well as strengthening its value propositions around big data and telehealth for example.
• Concentrate on maintaining and growing existing client base: As its core business continues to dwindle, HP is fighting to at least maintain its existing client base and capitalizing on the loyalty its clients have to EDS after its acquisition.
• Capitalize on the regulatory environment: The ICD-10 deadline gives HP the opportunity to really push the value of its RCM and BPO solution portfolio.

Once again, many thanks for taking the time to read this blog post. If you enjoyed it and would like to see more then please share this on social media.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Cordwell
Research Analyst, Healthcare Strategy
ResearchNetwork, CSC

Bridging the Payer-Provider trust gap

Through my research into the Healthcare Payer market, it is apparent that there is a significant trust issue between Payers and Providers. In a market where we're seeing an ever increasing percentage of convergence between the two parties, this mistrust serves as an unwelcome roadblock to innovation and unfortunately the patients are likely to be the ones who suffer.

As we've seen in the recently published PayerView report by Athenahealth and ReviveHealth, although overall benefit reliability is improving, there is still a lot of work to do in regards to streamlining workflows, making processes more efficient and ultimately bridging the trust gap.

In this blog, I'm going to lay out a few recommendations for both Payers and Providers on how to build trust with the other party based on what I've come across during my research. Many of these points apply to both entities but for the purposes of this blog post, we'll look at them separately:

Payers

• Remain agile: As can be seen in the PayerView rankings, the top two performers are small, commercial players. Although there's a general assumption that smaller organisations are more agile, regardless of the size, Payers must be able to quickly react to market shifts including regulatory changes.
• Integrate and coordinate your data: Easier said than done but integrating and coordinating your data will have many benefits as it will streamline workflows, simplify claims processing and make transactions more accurate and efficient. Also, once your data is aggregated, this then enables you to analyze it for future improvements.
• Communicate: Communication is vital with both patients and Providers. Technologies such as portals, patient accessible EHRs, mobile access and secure messaging will engage patients while clinical information sharing, timely pre-authorizations and a reduction of unnecessary procedures will bridge the gap with Providers.

Providers

• Learn from Payers: Payers are well versed in areas such as patient engagement despite Providers having more direct contact. With the rise of technologies like telehealth, remote monitoring, mobile access etc, Providers should look at what Payers are doing to retain and engage patients and if appropriate, learn from them.
• Invest in HIT: Payers are more likely to contract with Providers who deploy software and systems supporting clinical integration and Population Health Management. The associated analytical efforts based on these would help Payers in calculating more accurate insurance premiums as well as having many patient health benefits.
• Discuss financial risk bearing: As the market embraces a value-based reimbursement model, one of the primary reasons Payers do not trust Providers is the unwillingness to accept financial risk. Once again, this is not an easy fix but clear and transparent communication on mutual goals will certainly help this process.

Once again, many thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I hope you found it useful and welcome any feedback you may have. If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it on social media with your friends and colleagues.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Cordwell
Research Analyst, Healthcare Strategy
ResearchNetwork, CSC

1. Athenahealth, PayerView 2015, http://www.athenahealth.com/network-data-insights/payerview
2. Managed Healthcare Executive, Best practices for payers and providers to cooperate in the era of convergence, http://managedhealthcareexecutive.modernmedicine.com/managed-healthcare-executive/news/best-practices-payers-and-providers-cooperate-era-convergence, 23 Dec 2014
3. HealthcareIT News, Engaging patients: 5 things providers can learn from payers, http://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/engaging-patients-5-things-providers-can-learn-payers, 8 Sep 2014
4. FTI Consulting, Gap Separates Payers and Physicians on Value-Based Arrangements, According to a New Study Released by FTI Consulting, http://www.fticonsulting.co.uk/global2/press-releases/united-states/gap-separates-payers-and-physicians-by-fti-consulting.aspx, 30 Jul 2014

Best of the Best: Analyzing the leaders in Healthcare

Welcome everybody to another Health Care Bear blog post! This month, I've been looking at industry award winners in healthcare in an effort to find the best use cases of technology and identify patterns between them that could be emulated for other healthcare systems.

For the purposes of my research, I have analyzed three of the HIMSS Davies Enterprise Award winners based on their use of IT (primarily EHR implementations.) These are (in no particular order: Children's Health System of Texas (Children's), Texas Health Resources (THR) and the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics (UIHC.) To make it a little easier, I am focusing on US based healthcare systems as healthcare structures vary greatly from country to country. These are a few of the key notes from my research:

1. UIHC absolutely dominated against the other two chosen hospitals by achieving not only the most ROI ($103.6m (159%)) of the three but also invested the least to achieve this ($65.30m), which is incredible.
2. Even if UIHC hadn't received Government incentives, it still would have achieved 104% ROI, mainly due to the financial benefits of integrating monitoring devices which reaped $37.16m (36% of total ROI.)
3. Both Children's and THR have a common IS Vendor Selection Strategy in that they are looking to migrate towards a single vendor approach. UIHC however is looking to migrate toward best of suite/cluter throughout its organization. What is interesting is that this approach is also taken by the top 3 most profitable healthcare systems of America*.
4. The same pattern arises as UIHC is the only hospital not stated as having a Health Information Exchange (HIE) / Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) initiative either planned or in use.
5. The number of IT vendors these hospitals deal with is staggering with 70 listed between the three chosen for this research. Considering two of them are looking to reduce the number of vendors, this could lead to significant vendor landscape consolidation.

That's it for now folks! Many thanks for staying tuned and as always, I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments below and if you liked this post, please spread the word via social media and finally check out my earlier blog posts. Ciao for now!

* Top 3 most profitable healthcare systems of America selected through the ownership of the top 20 most profitable hospitals of America.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Cordwell
Research Analyst, Healthcare Strategy
ResearchNetwork, CSC

1. HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award Recipients, http://www.himss.org/resourcelibrary/TopicList.aspx?MetaDataID=2803

Healthcare IT Predictions: 2015 and Beyond

Welcome one and all! Thank you for keeping up to date with my blog, it is very much appreciated and I hope you're finding it an interesting read. Today we're going to be talking about predictions in Healthcare IT both in the near term and further into the future.

There's a lot of content out there discussing potential trends and predictions going forward and so I took the time to review a variety of sources and have decided to cover just three trends I believe are the most widely acknowledged and have the potential to have the greatest impact on the Healthcare vertical. As always, I'd love to hear your feedback on the trends I've covered in this blog as well as others you feel are important so leave your comments below.

1) Data-driven digital strategies
Data is at the heart of everything these days. It arrives in droves in various forms from numerous sources and with varying levels of security protecting it, making it a minefield for organizations to manage. A fully encompassing and actionable strategy is essential throughout the data life cycle from storing the data to analyzing it. Not only does Big Data claim to reduce costs of healthcare (by more than $300bn just for the US alone according to McKinsey) [1] but also to improve quality of care by making better decisions based on more accurate data. I personally see data as the foundation for analytics to build upon. Sure, proper data management can streamline operations, cut costs and improve reporting quality but there is a market appetite for analyzing this data to improve decision making and predict what's down the line. Before clients can do so, the data needs to be accurate, secure and managed properly. Analytics based on inaccurate data is not only a waste of time and resources but is also dangerous in a healthcare setting. By no means is this a simple task though. 

IDC is putting heavy emphasis on digital strategies claiming that by 2016, operational inefficiency will become critical at 25% of hospitals, driving them to budget for a data-driven digital strategy [2]. With an increasing focus on performance quality (including measuring and reporting quality), it is vital that the data is accurate, accessible and actionable [3].

Not only will healthcare organizations require the IT know-how to manage this data but they will also need to ensure that all stakeholders such as the lines of business, clinicians, IT vendors and C-level executives are all educated and on the same page as to what roles they will play in this strategy going forward.

2) No excuses for lack of interoperability
Philippe Houssiau, Vice President of Healthcare in the UK for CSC sees that there is no excuse for a lack of interoperability with systems in place across the care continuum and a drive from policy makers [4]. Although we have the technology to solve the interoperability issue, it's by no means a simple task.

The UK's Better Care fund claims that it will save £253m from reduced emergency admissions during 2015-2016. This seems to be widely considered as an unrealistic target, which is made only worse by an expected NHS funding gap of £65bn by 2030. UK healthcare organizations are therefore in the unenviable position of trying to improve the quality of care whilst also having to dramatically cut costs [5] [6].

Regardless of the monetary figure, the operational benefits of making systems interoperable are undeniable. The lack of uptake, the negative feedback and the functional issues of EHRs have primarily been due to lack of interoperability. Not only does this take up valuable time of healthcare practitioners but also encourages the use of quicker workarounds, which subject the organization to unforeseen cyber security threats.

3) Agile, flexible and scalable IT infrastructures
As well as the increasing amount of data, there is also increasing adoption of devices and applications in the healthcare vertical. IDC expects around 70% of healthcare organizations to invest in consumer-facing mobile apps, wearables, remote health monitoring and virtual care by 2018 [1]. As mentioned previously, not only is the amount of data increasing but also the variety of sources too.

Patients are increasingly interacting with healthcare providers virtually and also via mobile devices and applications. What's interesting to note here is that the recent alliance between Apple and IBM is very well placed to take full advantage of this trend as they cover both the consumer side with Apple devices and applications and the enterprise side building on IBM's experience and footprint in the market. But anyway, I digress...

Organizations must prepare themselves for the influx of data by investing in agile, flexible and scalable IT infrastructures to cope with this increase. Naturally, this plays right into the hands of cloud and SaaS providers who are able to scale up and down based on demand. However, the healthcare industry has notoriously been very cautious when adopting the cloud as some CIOs believe that adopting the cloud signifies giving up control and thereby opening the doors to security issues. Although many organizations are still wary of the cloud, which can be seen by the uptake of private cloud in comparison to public, gradually they are starting to become more confident in using it.

I could go on and on but I'll leave it there for now. I'd love to hear what you're seeing in the market, whether you agree or disagree with the trends/predictions mentioned above or any other comments you may have so feel free to comment below.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Cordwell
Research Analyst, Healthcare Strategy
ResearchNetwork, CSC

1. Tech Republic, Big data will enhance healthcare, but to whose benefit?, Nov 24, 2014, http://www.techrepublic.com/article/big-data-will-enhance-healthcare-but-to-whose-benefit/
2. IDC, FutureScape: Worldwide Healthcare 2015 Predictions, Nov 12, 2014
3. CSC, Why Healthcare Reform Hinges on Data, http://www.csc.com/health_services/publications/91654/116373-why_healthcare_reform_hinges_on_data
4. Ehealth Insider, 15 predictions for 2015, Jan 2, 2015
5. Public Finance, Health Foundation analysis predicts £65bn NHS funding gap, Jan 23, 2015
6. LGC Plus, Unrealistic better care fund targets must be revised, says NHS England, Jan 5, 2015

Healthcare Data Security Strategies; Proactive or Reactive?

It should come as no shock to anyone reading this that security in the Healthcare industry is a huge issue. With the introduction of flashy new tech comes the burden of making sure that it is not compromised. This is by no means an isolated issue as security is paramount in a variety of other verticals but the sensitive and personal nature of the data held by Healthcare organizations means that breaches receive a lot of media attention. The question is whether it is more effective to guard against incoming attacks or proactively analyze data to prevent future breaches from being as effective.

Before I start, it's important to note that the main cause of Healthcare data breaches occur due to lost or stolen devices (68%) rather than hacking [1]. This issue will progressively worsen due to organizations embracing the mobility trend and so it is much easier (although by no means easy to start with) to protect the data held on these devices rather than the devices themselves. With this being said, a blog post about locking up your devices and keeping a firm eye on them would be pretty short and dull so I'd like to concentrate on hacking and malicious attacks.

Healthcare organizations will continue to invest in defensive measures against cyber crime but it is becoming increasingly important to invest in the analysis of these threats and the prediction of future potential breaches. This will run in parallel to the evolving technologies enabling hackers to maliciously gain access to the organizations data.

With the ever growing popularity of Big Data & Analytics, it is crucial that attacks are not treated as independent events and instead the data and information should be collected until there is a significant mass to analyze previous attacks and prepare for what's to come. This intelligence will then (hopefully) enable the user to identify when the organization is under attack a lot quicker and then respond more efficiently.

I'd like to conclude this blog post by highlighting that although security measures are evolving as are hacking techniques, the biggest variable factor is the user - whether it be due to insufficient training, snooping or a blatant disregard for protocol. There is a vicious cycle whereby as security measures become more sophisticated, they may become less user friendly, prompting users to find easier workarounds which then make the system vulnerable. In my personal opinion, organizations should invest further into training and user friendly interfaces whilst maintaining secure access to data in the background.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Cordwell
Research Analyst, Healthcare Strategy
ResearchNetwork, CSC

1. HIT Consultant, 68% of Healthcare Data Breaches Due to Device Loss or Theft, Not Hacking, 11/04/2014: http://hitconsultant.net/2014/11/04/healthcare-data-breaches-device-theft-loss/

Google Glass in Healthcare: Rad or Fad?

There seems to be a lot of hype around Google Glass at the moment and its potential impact in the healthcare sector. It is expected that shipments of the product will increase from half a million units in 2012 to 6.6 million in 2016 [1]. 

As I analyse commentary on this revolutionary product, I get the overwhelming feeling that this is viewed as a step towards innovation rather than innovation itself although this is expected as it's still early days in the product development life cycle and apps are still in production. Regardless of concerns, the numbers seem to be pointing towards widespread adoption and if successful this is an exciting shift towards "The Hospital of the Future".

Philips Healthcare and Accenture have already seen the potential and have collaborated to explore the possibilities in Healthcare [2] as it's clear that Google Glass won't be hitting the catwalk anytime soon and so targeting enterprises is a much more appropriate option.

The Huffington Post recently published a slide deck on 15 ways Google Glass will transform the healthcare industry [3]. I wanted to evaluate each of the points in terms of my views on whether I think they are accurate and practical so without further ado, let's get the ball rolling...

Virtual Dictation
Rating: 5/10
If the aim is to simply record a conversation then yes this would work but audio files are only useful for litigation purposes. The real value comes from transcribing the conversation and if Siri is anything to go by then we are still a way off perfecting this. Once the kinks are perfected however then yes it will be useful.

Telemedicine
Rating: 7/10
So here's the scenario; you're carrying out minor surgery and need the guidance of an expert. You stream what you're viewing to the expert who is on a tablet while the both of you are talking to each other. This has the potential to be very impactful providing variables such as Internet connection don't get in the way. However, in a similar vain to virtual dictation, video conferencing still has a lot of issues. Very rarely have I attended a Google Hangout that hasn't had at least one minor hiccup and when this technology is in a pressurized situation such as a surgery then minor hiccups could risk lives. 

Resident Training
Rating: 10/10
In a safe environment, Google Glass would be a perfect way to show trainees not only what a practitioner sees on a daily basis but also a better visualization of techniques and visa versa, the teacher will be better able to critique.

Augmented Reality
Rating: 5/10
I can only express my personal opinion here as a non-practitioner but if vital signs are constantly in the corner of my eye, this could possibly distract me and also obscure peripheral vision.

EMS Communications
Rating: 8/10
Streaming images from the field back to the ER will prepare the awaiting doctors and nurses for what to expect. For one way video conferencing, it works well but my only concern is Internet connectivity out in the field, which may make it more of a distraction and hindrance.

Surgical Training
Rating: 10/10
Google Glass seems to be made for training purposes whereby everything the surgeon sees can be streamed to a large monitor as they talk through their actions. As long as these are standard procedures then I don't see any issues with this.

Improved Rounds
Rating: 3/10
The theory here is that medical records can be brought up whilst attending to patients on rounds. Although theoretically this sounds beneficial, it is compromising the human aspect of doctor-patient interactions. Personally, if I'm dealing with a doctor, I want them to be EITHER talking to me OR looking at my records, not both at the same time. Multi-tasking in this environment will fail to improve the end user experience.

Improving The Patient Experience
Rating: 1/10
The article seems to lose focus at this point. It seems to circle back to the telemedicine point, which I've already covered. Therefore, I'm going to rate this on its title; Improving The Patient Experience. I'd like you to picture something in your mind for a moment; imagine you're on a date with someone and you're chatting about your hobbies, your family, your travels etc. Now picture the same scene where your date is wearing Google Glass and already knows everything about you as they're reading up about you at the table therefore negating the requirement for your input. Does it sound awkward to you? It certainly does to me.

Procedure Analysis
Rating: 10/10
This goes back to training, which I've already commented on.

Patient Communications
Rating: 1/10
The article tries to convince the reader that Google Glass will improve alerts for patients. So instead of a pager buzzing to signal that the nurse is required at a patient's bed, Google Glass will flash up in the nurse's vision? Are nurses not busy enough?! Not only does this compromise whatever the nurse is currently working on but I imagine that a lot of nurses won't have the time to have a conversation remotely between visiting other patients and the mounds of paperwork they have on their desks.

Improved Visibility
Rating: 10/10
This (once again) goes back to training for future on-demand videos from different angles. Not much more to be said.

Telemedicine for Acute Patients
Rating: 8/10
This is a similar point to 'EMS Communications' in that Google Glass can help diagnose stroke sufferers quickly and organize the setting to properly receive the patient at the hospital. As previously stated, one way video conferencing will work well with Google Glass providing the Internet connection is reliable.

Patient Care Instruction
Rating: 10/10
Recording instructions that doctors have given so that the patient can re-visit it if unclear works well. It's a more sophisticated way of putting a Dictaphone on the table, making two copies and giving one to the patient. In this case, providing both the doctor and patient talk clearly, it will greatly reduce inaccurate instructions.

Faster Access to Information
Rating: 5/10
Yes, bringing up a patient record will more than likely be faster than accessing it on a tablet or mobile device but once again, I do not buy into the sales pitch that it gives the doctor more time with the patient. If I hold up a tablet to cover half of my face, that does not constitute still spending time with the patient. Once again, multi-tasking in this environment will not put the patient at ease.

Compliance
Rating: 9/10
As previously mentioned, audio recordings will enable a full record of what has been said in the event of a litigation case. Then it's just a case of storing them all and making them secure!

In a Jerry Springer-esque way, I'd like to leave you with my final thoughts. Theoretically, yes Google Glass has a lot of very useful applications and features that will speed up interactions and better inform practitioners. However it runs the risk of compromising the human aspect that a lot of patients require to feel confident about the future of their health. I hope that doctors and nurses will attach a glasses strap onto their Google Glass devices so that when the time comes where a personal one on one interaction is needed, they can put them down and focus.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Cordwell

Research Analyst, Healthcare Strategy

ResearchNetwork, CSC

1. InformationWeek Healthcare, Google Glass Gains Momentum In Healthcare June 18, 2014: http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/mobile-and-wireless/google-glass-gains-momentum-in-healthcare/d/d-id/1278648
2. Philips, Experience the future of wearable technology - Philips Healthcare: http://www.healthcare.philips.com/main/about/future-of-healthcare/index-video.wpd
3. Huffington Post, How Google Glass Will Transform Healthcare, October 17, 2014: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vala-afshar/how-google-glass-will-tra_b_6003100.html