Commentary
TECHNOLOGY ROUND OF 32 RESULTS: PATIENTS GET PREFERENCE
The most experienced corner of the bracket opened with a rash of exhilarating upsets, proving that even while the Technology Region appears to be maturing, there’s still a lot of evolution and volatility among the players. As they jockey for technological influence, the overall tournament trend continues to favor those with patients in the foreground.
The overall tournament trend continues to favor those with patients in the foreground.
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Here’s how the four matchups in this region unfolded:
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
Expansion of Self-Care Overthrows Growing GenAI in Care Delivery
In our first overtime game of the tournament, top seed Growing GenAI in Care Delivery ends regulation gameplay in a shocking tie with Expansion of Self-Care (8). For the first time in the tournament, the seeding was seriously questioned, including insinuations that self-care, with its heavy use of devices that implement machine learning and artificial intelligence, is really just a farm team for GenAI.
“There’s an intersection here between people doing self-care and generating the data needed for AI to get better.”
In overtime, the Expansion of Self-Care (8) proved to have more stamina and agility in the context of patients testing, screening for, diagnosing, and treating their own ailments. With a tie-breaking vote from the Moderator, Expansion of Self-Care (8) beat its four-time tournament all-star opponent 3-2.
“Regulation will slow down AI, and consumers are moving fast on self-care.”
Greater Interoperability of Tech and Data Quietly Beats Commoditization of Telehealth
Fans who turned off this game before half-time missed out on some excitement late in the second half. One Committee Member mentioned that new CMS rules will have a big impact on Greater Interoperability of Tech and Data (4) – namely, there are new penalties for blocking the transfer of information, which will result in consumers having much greater access to their own health information. Greater Interoperability of Tech and Data (4) secures an easy 4-0 win over Commoditization of Telehealth (5).
“If this game was aired on C-SPAN, it would get great ratings.”
Real Impact of Price Transparency Edges Out Regulatory Impact on Data Security
Regulatory Impact on Data Security (3) was none too happy to see Real Impact of Price Transparency (6) moved to the Technology Region this year, and even less thrilled to be matched in the first round. They were right to be worried, as the consumer-focused trend with the capacity to make change on the patient level easily dispatched the three-seed in a 3-1 loss, even as Committee Members recognized the enormous power wielded by the crippling threat of data security. It was a tough matchup proving once again that patient-oriented trends truly have the edge in 2024.
“More stakeholders, and a wider variety of them, are interested in price transparency and are exploiting new access to prices.”
Personalized Medicine Steals the Win from Consolidation of Telehealth
In a third first-round upset in this region, the risk-takers of Personalization of Medicine (7) put some serious moves on the stodgier Consolidation of Telehealth (2), who played too conservatively to win this contest. With brand names now entering the field of healthcare personalization, few trends would have stood a chance. Yes, telehealth is consolidating, but no, it’s not making much of a splash. Personalization of Medicine (7), however, stands to empower the consumer – the secret sauce of the 2024 March Healthcare Classic.
“Personalization of medicine is now in the hands of Apple and the world’s largest companies.”
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See the Round of 32 results in the other regions: Healthcare Landscape, Delivery, and Payment