Content by The Buzz Business
13
technology
Personalizing prevention is the best cure
I
n the future, we not only have
to find better ways to share the
planet among more of us, but we
also have to deal with the fact that
most of us will be on it longer. The
older we get, the more likely we
will develop a condition—related
to environment, genetics, lifestyle
or simply age—that needs care.
The cost to society for healthcare
will inevitably increase.
In developed countries, healthcare bills are already in the double digits of GDP and are rising as
populations and life expectancies
Connecting
physicians to
patients
do. Today’s approach—waiting
until people are sick before treating them—is costly and strains
systems at the seams. When people fall ill and need care immediately, communication between
professionals can suffer while they
try to ensure the patient does not.
The way forward, according to
Dutch multinational Royal Philips,
is to make healthcare more personal and preventative to improve out- Philip’s medical imaging and navigation technology create minimally invasive procedures
comes, optimize lifetime health and develop new diagnostic, therapeu- caregivers and patients, as part of
reduce costs. The company is now tic and data-integrated solutions its mission to improve the lives
focusing on health technology to that will provide benefits for both of three billion people by 2025.
ambulance to help us determine the
cause and send advanced data to the
hospital so they are ready to receive
the patient in the right ward without
wasting time in the emergency room.
We are partners challenging each
other to redesign the way healthcare
is delivered.
in the last yard between patient
and doctor. You can do big-data
analysis, but how do you make
it actionable? You need to touch
fter working around the
an individual patient and help
world for Royal Philips from
an individual doctor, because
1986 to 2004, before leaving to
otherwise all insights are theoretical. We have diagnostic
head up a spin-off company
systems, informatics to inteand his own consultancy firm,
Frans van Houten returned
Where is change happening now? grate data, and clinical support.
to become CEO in 2011. Frans van Houten, CEO, Royal Philips
The division doing connected care When patients are discharged,
During hi