5 Health-Tech Stories Explore Medicine's Great Frontiers

If there was a theme among our top stories from the past week, it was, without question, disruption. Sure, the word has been watered down and often incorrectly used, but that doesn’t negate its potential effects in healthcare. And as our most-read stories suggest, the coming shake-up of the industry is gripping healthcare leaders in ways not previously seen.

From autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostic systems and genetic data to wearables, tech played a huge role in shaping our recent coverage. But we didn’t just describe what’s happening; we also tapped five respected key opinion leaders to discuss the rising tide of disruption in healthcare, along with its implications, limitations and context.

>> PODCAST: Can Outside Disruption Save Healthcare?

Every week, we round up the best-performing Healthcare Analytics News™ stories and present them to you in this handy, easy-to-cruise-and-use roundup. It’s like a silver platter of the most important news, insights and use cases from the frontiers of health tech. But if you think our audience overlooked an important article or want to add your thoughts, reach out to us on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

1. Can Outside Disruption Save Healthcare?

It’s a burning question with many half-answers. As such, we assembled five of health tech’s leading KOLs — Kevin Campbell, M.D., Geeta Nayyar, M.D., John Nosta, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, M.A. and Colin Hung — to try to come to a definitive takeaway. In the first installment of a 13-part video series, they grapple with a foundational question: Which area of medicine is ripe for disruption?

2. Wearables Spotlight Health Challenges Facing Medical Residents

Medical interns have always experienced hardships in their residencies, but researchers have mostly flailed when trying to examine these problems. But in this study, investigators turned to Fitbit devices to measure health challenges such as decreased sleep, mood and physical activity. It was the first study to use objective, real-time data, and it could help medical schools and health systems design schedules that better enable strong mental health among clinicians.

3. The Numbers Behind the First FDA-Approved Autonomous AI Diagnostic System

IDx made headlines earlier this year when its IDx-DR system became the first autonomous AI diagnostic technology to earn clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Last week, we got the chance to peer into the data behind that approval, learning that the technology surpassed preset benchmarks in terms of sensitivity, specificity and imageability rate. But what does it mean for health systems and clinicians?

4. Questions Surround 23andMe’s Decision to Cut Off Developers from Its API

A reported column from yours truly, this piece details the growing tension between 23andMe and the third-party developers who no longer have access to its application programming interface — and raw genetic data. There’s quite a bit of speculation surrounding the decision, and some believe the clampdown on access stems from 23andMe’s new relationship with a pharma giant, while others say it’s all about protecting privacy. Regardless, things are changing in the field, and it’s up to every individual to understand the strings attached to direct-to-consumer genetic testing.

5. Can Outside Disruptors Increase Patient Engagement?

The second part of our 13-part Peer Exchange video series, this clip looks at how cutting-edge technology is changing the ways in which patients and clinicians and healthcare organizations interact. “It is about connecting the patient and the doctor and making it easy to get your data. That’s it,” Nayyar said of budding patient engagement tech.

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