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Dermatology is the ‘subject of massive disruption’

July 27, 2019

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Nicholas Webb

NEW YORK — It is no surprise that dermatology is a “subject of massive disruption but what is surprising is it that it is all good,” said health care strategist Nicholas Webb, here at the American Academy of Dermatology Summer Meeting.

Disruption can happen if an area of health care is a “disaster” and then “there is dermatology,” he said. “Dermatology is a $16 billion, growing, insane opportunity, which is a disruptive target.”

(( BF-hello hot copper readers. Is this not the type of investor we want in our business, someone who can see the real value of something in the world's biggest markets, somewhere valuations are higher than in our own backyards? Give this some thought. Especially all that work that went into the skin sample studies to do with allergenic mediators ))

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“You have chosen the best specialty ... from an epidemiological perspective, from a demographic perspective, you are in, and I see it all ... you are in the right place at the right time.”

“In the next 5 to 7 years, we are going to do something we should have done a long time ago,” Webb said. Health care providers will leverage new technologies and the new “DNA of health care to anticipate disease and prevent disease rather than to diagnosis and intervene.”

“Modern medicine was created on this bizarre and dysfunctional structure of having researchers and product developers develop technology based upon their financial benefits of usually long-term benefits,” he said. “We awarded people for gratuitous utilization.”

Of the money spent in health care, 70% to 80% is spent on “self-inflicted chronic disease ... And we are not structured to anticipate and prevent,” Webb said, adding that the silver tsunami is also a factor.

“Where the real magic of innovation will happen is how we leverage wearable technology, and to a certain extent genomics, to be able to understand disease processes earlier so we can significantly reduce cost while reducing pain and suffering in our patients and providing options to those patients that are much larger before they get down the diagnostic pathway.”

There is a big movement in patient experience, according to Webb. Practices that grow, are “bulletproof,” and become brands for both the practice and the physicians and are those that “deliver a range of experiences across a range of patient hate/love personas” and “architect patient journey mapping.”

And this results in happier physicians in terms of work/life balance, happier patients and growing practices, he said.

Other disruptive movements are blockchain technology, “connection architecture” including artificial intelligence and “value,” Webb said, noting a patient’s concept of value is different than a physician’s concept.

Webb discussed “hearables” as the next advancement in wearable technology.

We are heading in the direction of the “internet of the voice and that means wearable technology has to live in the ear.”

“I mean stuff like ‘don’t go into the Krispy Kreme donut shop’ — it can do stuff like that, but more than that: we will be able to have a dialogue.”

“I believe that 5 to 7 years from now if you want affordable health insurance or you want insurance from .gov, you will be required to be monitored. If Progressive insurance can force you to download an app to find out the way you drive by using the gravitometer inside your iPhone and they are willing to give you a 10% to 20% savings for not driving crappy... that is where we are going with health care,” Webb said.

“We will be able to look at 30 to 60 different data sets,” Webb said. “Imagine a dashboard where you would be able to see trend analysis but, more importantly, these multiple sensors ... that can look at skin continuity, pulse oximetry, EEG, EKG, non-invasive blood monitoring is now looking to be a reality.”

In the future, machines will be able to look at data not as a replacement for caregivers but as a tool, he said. – by Joan-Marie Stiglich, ELS