The history of healthcare is long and somewhat horrifying, but disruptive innovation is making headway in improving age-old practices

Some of the previous generations’ medicinal cures and procedures (like trepanation and bloodletting) are downright appalling, but are used for curing a lot of illnesses. But while healthcare has become better and more deserving of its name as humans experimented more, one has to wonder how what we now know as harmful practices became widespread cures. And it is not just old practives. Even modern healthcare has its own problems that vary in severity depending on where you are, what day of the week it is, and what time of the day you require it.

But like most industries, healthcare has been greatly changed by technology. And we’re not just talking about the highly technical machineries you see in hospitals that you can only understand if you have spent at least a decade in medical school (or you’re really, really good at understanding user manuals) or the highly scientific bioengineering that may or may not trigger Jurassic Park; we are talking about simple digitisation.

The exciting thing about the healthcare industry is that even simple digitisation of some aspects of the healthcare process already creates substantial improvement.

One mobile app may help improve the experience of a patient who may have already been doubting the “care” in healthcare. A cloud service may help healthcare professionals manage their workload before they start needing healthcare themselves. The administering of healthcare and the whole experience has been greatly affected by digitisation. Data collected about the healthcare process and patient behaviour can be processed to create more efficient process flows. Analysing capture data allows healthcare professionals to make objective and data-backed decisions in administering treatment.

Think about these:

Apps that allow you not only to book a doctor’s appointment but also to hold online consultations where your health history is stored and easily accessed
Laboratory and radiology results that can be analysed and consulted with experts halfway across the world in real time and at less cost than before
Phone screens that can get accurate blood readings from a small drop of blood (okay, so this one doesn’t exist. But if this happens in 5 years, will anyone really be surprised?)

With the many opportunities that digitisation has opened for the healthcare industry, the question now is how can startups capitalise?

Join Nawal Roy and Yau Teng Yan of Holmusk as they discuss how disruptive innovation make for better healthcare in Echelon Asia Summit 2017. Holmusk is a digital healthcare company that builds innovative, scalable and cost-effective digital behaviour change programs that help nudge people into making sustainable changes for better health.

Nawal and Teng will talk about what’s in store for healthcare data and analytics in a fireside chat held at the Future stage, accessible to all pass-holders.

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Echelon Asia Summit is a tech conference (June 28-29, Singapore) and year-long digital platform attracting international speakers, founders, investors and professionals.

New in 2017 is Echelon Thailand’s digital platform. Get immediate access to exclusive insights, participate in discussions and engage with the speakers and fellow attendees directly on Echelon’s digital platform, the moment you register (accessible from the Ecosystem page). What’s more, the digital platform will be accessible all-year even after the conference, so kickstart your Echelon experience today and embark on a year-long journey of discovery.

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About the speakers

Nawal Roy is the CEO of Holmusk and has deep experience in working across North America, Asia, Middle East, Europe and South Africa in the financial and healthcare sector. He has significant P&L and operations experience, coupled with 10 plus in top-tier consulting with C-suite globally. He has been deeply involved in business development and platform building throughout Asia and North America. Nawal has been actively supporting and mentoring social entrepreneurs in USA, Singapore and India. He is an Advisor and Mentor for Singapore International Foundation’s Young Social Entrepreneur (YSE) program.

Yau Teng Yan is the Chief Medical Officer at Holmusk and is a registered medical doctor in Singapore and a digital health advocate. He believes that technology and data science will transform the delivery of healthcare, to achieve better outcomes, reduced costs and improve the patient experience. Teng’s current area of interest is tackling the public health problem of diabetes in new ways. He previously trained in Diagnostic Radiology while working at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore General Hospital and the National Cancer Centre. He attained his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, and Masters of Medicine (Diagnostic Radiology) from the National University of Singapore. He is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists (London).