Pandemic has significantly transformed every industry, but has the most profound impact on healthcare. There are multiple dimensions to the healthcare industry that includes both physical as well as mental health.
As the cities went through phases of lock downs and general paranoia around human interaction, delivering of healthcare services became increasingly challenging. And this chaos spurred technological innovations and interventions to continue servicing the sick.
We spoke to John Bass, CEO of Hashed Health to understand his perspective and vision of the industry
reogma: Has the pandemic had any transformational impact on the digital health industry globally, has it spurred growth in any way or any specific segments (wearables, robotics, on device AI, data interoperability etc)?
Yes, the pandemic was a forcing function for many of the industry trends we were seeing pre-pandemic. Trends such as the move to value-based payments, the shift from clinical to non-clinical settings, the importance of real-world data sources and non-traditional “systems of record,” supply chain resiliency and continuity, healthcare consumerism, new benefits models… these are all on fast-forward now which creates all kinds of opportunities for innovation and digital transformation.
reogma: With cities under lock down, what has been your observation with regards to the growth and effectiveness of virtual care (consultation, treatment, Telehealth etc)?
Virtual care is one area that saw massive adoption during the lock-down. Generally speaking, that is here to stay. We still have some work to do regarding our underlying infrastructure for the business processes that enable and support our vision for virtual care. Examples include credentialing, fintech, care management, and access.
reogma: What specific tech applications in your opinion are making strong inroads into this industry?
There’s lot of excitement around AI, ML and blockchain / distributed ledger technologies. Identity and consent are an important conversations currently. At Hashed, we love new technical models and platforms that enable trust and collaboration across value chains. We think that idea of building trusted, industry-level utilities is the key to solving the big cost-drivers in healthcare.
reogma: What is your differentiator in the market? How are you transforming your business in the new normal post pandemic future?
Our primary differentiator is “radical collaboration.” Our venture studio model focuses purely on creating new businesses that create trust, transparency, and incentive alignment across enterprises and communities who are all trying to solve the same problems.
There are a lot of tailwinds for our model coming out of COVID. It seems that people are realizing that the “every organization for itself” is not adequate for the big opportunities in healthcare and life sciences.
About John
John Bass is a healthcare entrepreneur whose career has focused on using technology to drive collaboration and shared value in healthcare. Currently, John is the founder & CEO of Hashed Health, a leading venture studio that focuses on using blockchain technologies to solve shared problems in supply chain, payments, credentialing, value-based care delivery, and other use cases in healthcare and life sciences.
John is the author of “Blockchain in Healthcare” and is an internationally recognized speaker on the use of technology to promote trust, transparency, incentive alignment and automation. Before starting Hashed, John was CEO at InVivoLink (sold to HCA). John’s experience includes startup empactHealth.com (sold to GHX).
