“I live with a disease and my phone is as much a part of it as my meds”



Om Malik I live with a disease and my phone is as much a part of it as my meds

In this Gigaom article, Om Malik argues against hyperbolic claims that 2013 was a lost year for technology by pointing to his reliance as a Patient on mHealth.

It amazes me that so few executives in the $300 Billion pa Pharma and $200 Billion pa Medical Device industries realise (or are doing anything about the fact) that their products will have converged to mobile before this decade is over especially when it’s so obvious that for many Patients (like Om) the prescribed medications and the mobile experience have already blurred…

4 thoughts on ““I live with a disease and my phone is as much a part of it as my meds”

  1. Everything in life that is in some way touched by digital technology is on an exponential curve – 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, … looks like nothing is happing only 30 steps further we have reached in billion and some CEOs in the healthcare domain will wake up (after they are out of business).

    Time to wake up now – h/t Vivek Wadhwa for sharing on Twitter, https://twitter.com/wadhwa/status/416638767378604033

  2. If an app is able to change your pill taking habits, it is under the regulation of the Medical Devices, = FDA level regulations are valid for them. Your app has to be proofed at the same level as a blood sugar/pressure meter. Not easy to reach this kind of maturity level, i maybe very risky.

    1. Hi Dezso,

      Interesting point. I’ve found that many of the best apps for diabetics have been developed by experts who have much greater awareness of the opportunity than anyone working at the regulators eg. the Endocrinologist founder at WellDoc, the Patient who developed DiabetesPal who understood the lived experience of being a diabetic, etc.

      I wonder why you think the FDA doesn’t regulate all the websites and books written by quacks that mislead Patients into spending their money unwisely and all too often going against the good evidence based advice that they receive from their Diabetes Nurse/Endocrinologist?

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