It’s time to shift to proactive, not reactive, healthcare
Babylon’s CEO has called for healthcare systems to merge best-in-class healthcare with best-in-class technology to improve patient outcomes in a post-Covid world
Speaking at CNBC's Healthy Returns Summit, a one-day event that brought together healthcare investors, CEOs and technologists, and explored innovations in the healthcare sphere that could drive positive change, Babylon CEO Dr Ali Parsa co-presented a panel alongside Managing Partner at Cypress Pass Ventures Molly Joseph entitled ‘Reimagining Healthcare: Putting Prevention Over Cure’. Dr Parsa focused on the crucial role that technology can play in moving the focus from simply treating the sick to keeping people healthy – an integral shift to improving the healthcare system, he said, as it could increase access to quality care, and decrease downstream costs long-term for both patients and providers.
“The Covid pandemic isn't the only pandemic that we have on our hands. We are also in a major crisis for mental health and chronic conditions and up until now, we've waited for those crises to hit individuals and then we spend a ton of money and effort scrambling to fix big issues when it's almost too late,” said Dr Parsa, touching upon issues also recently covered by MAXIS Global Benefits for the International Hospitals & Healthcare Review.
He continued: “We are big believers in value-based care, aligning the incentives of the payer, provider and patient. We need to change our lens and, instead of dealing with crises, we need to make sure that people stay healthy. That can be done with technology. Technology is a tool that allows us to look at someone ahead of time, collect data, and try to prevent the situation before it happens."
Industry collaboration is key to bringing about change
Both Dr Parsa and Joseph made a call to action for the widespread adoption of a new ‘care approach’ that merges high-quality healthcare and technology. Hospitals & Healthcare notes that these could include remote patient monitoring solutions, telemedicine and other virtual health solutions.
“There is an opportunity to bring together best-in-class technology and best-in-class healthcare models in a way that we haven't,” said Joseph. “Both industries have been developing separately, and it's about bringing those together.”