Health AI are buzzwords thrown around like confetti at a tay-tay concert. Sure it gets attention, but at the end of the day, you have some explaining to do.
Here is the deal. If you are a smoker, drinker, or vice addict of any kind, then you don't need AI to tell you that the end is either near or soon to be.
Meaning that you probably don't give a shit about AI as a consumer. In fact, you probably don't even know what that fully means and that is 100% ok because neither does anyone else.
What probably does sound more interesting to you is this. Did that last month abstinence actually have an impact and if so, how much? Did that last Chipotle burrito binge in February cause things to get weird (besides bowel movements)?
Guessing, this is more interesting than - Health AI 😴
On the flip, as consumers of at-home healthtech, we get carried away in teddy bear metrics. Steps, calories, sleep, mood, pulse and so on - but what does that really tell us about the happenings on the inside?
You can take a photo of a phone but it sure doesn't mean it's ringing.
Maybe this seems like a crazy concept; but the next generation of patients (sorry baby boomers, you're on your way out) are going to be tech savvy, self-trusting, in control people that will care about health AI but not like you think.
If you were a doctor of today - the self-aware patient is scary.
"What's that Doc? Yeah well, Ada symptom checker says your 60% correct and that antibiotic, yeah, according to my pharmacogenetics report, it isn't going to cut the mustard."
-Patient Of Tomorrow
I am not advocating it nor am I not. It just is and it's going to be for the foreseeable future. Self-discipline, self-motivation, self-tracking - why not? When it cost up to $10,000 a night in the hospital - can you blame them?
What's worse, being a know it all or dead?
The guy that didn't go get treatment because his deductible was too high.
So, let's just quit with the hyperfocus on consumer AI. Focus on what is going to actually improve the patients' outcome and perspective right now, so that they may change behaviours and lead a longer healthier life.
Knowing that you drank 12 beers last week and that it's affecting your liver is pretty obvious 🙄 .
Knowing that you took 10,000 steps between March and July and that reduce your LDL cholesterol (bad stuff) by 2% every 1,000 steps - that is worth talking about.
Which Test Is Best?