Concepts like mHealth, digital health and telehealth are expanding the healthcare conversation these days – so much so that Rob McCray, co-founder and CEO of the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance, doesn't think the term "healthcare" is appropriate any more.
"It is health that's the goal, not just healthcare," says McCray, who will oversee the WLSA's 8th Annual Convergence Summit next week at the Omni Hotel in San Diego with that concept in mind.
The summit brings together thought leaders from around the world to discuss the ever-growing intersection of wireless technologies and healthcare – actually, make that health. As McCray points out, more and more health and wellness interests are joining the market, turning what was once a provider-centric landscape into one that's increasingly becoming consumer-centric.
Couple that with the move toward a patient-centered healthcare system, and you have the makings for a much broader landscape, and two full days of topics for the WLSA. Aside from presentations from host companies and a number of up-and-coming digital health concerns, the list of participants includes Joseph Kvedar, MD, director of Partners Healthcare's Center for Connected Health; Harry Greenspun, MD, senior advisor for healthcare transformation and technology at the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions; Dean Kamen, founder and CEO of the DEKA Research & Development Corporation; Yulun Wang, PhD, chairman and CEO of InTouch Health and a vice president of the American Telemedicine Association; Bakul Patel, senior policy advisor for the FDA; and James Fowler, PhD, a professor of medical genetics and political science at the University of California, San Diego.
They, and others, are helping to "change the dialogue," says McCray, who sees healthcare facing the same innovative disruption from outside forces that has helped the banking industry and the automotive industry in past years.
"We need the actual participation of people and organizations that have nothing to do with healthcare," he says.
That, in fact, has long been a staple of WLSA Convergence Summits, which last year brought in the son of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry to help launch an X PRIZE competition to create new health sensor technologies, which would then be paired with another X PRIZE competition seeking to create a medical tricorder similar to the one used in the television and movie series.
Another trend seen in this year's summit? A growing interest in global issues. Along with profiles of European companies like TicTrac and Cambridge Temperature Concepts, the summit will feature a panel session on the connected health market in China, featuring three investors from that country and moderated by Peter Cowhey, dean of UCSD's School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. Another session takes a look at wireless health in Africa and features Ralph Simon, CEO of Mobilium International.
Wireless health, says McCray, represents "the biggest addressable market that the world has ever seen." And those interested in that market, he adds, would do best to remember it's a world of health – not just healthcare – opportunities.
"I'm nervously optimistic that we can do something different," he says.
The WLSA's 8th Annual Convergence Summit will take place May 28-30 at the Omni Hotel in San Diego.
