Context, Connection, and Continuity
At Brook, we see change and progress at every turn - with our partners and the people we serve every day. And as part of our relationships, we are always learning. Over the next number of months, we will periodically share our insights (what we are thinking and learning) through a series we are calling "Context, Connection, and Continuity: A Brook view on the Consumerization of Health Care." We hope you enjoy the read.
The way people and companies engage with each other is vastly different from 20, 10, even five years ago. The business models of Uber, Netflix, and Amazon have upended our view of how to purchase transportation, movies, and just about anything that can be shipped to your home.
These new models have not changed our desire for what we want. The likes of Amazon and Uber have forever disrupted our expectations for how we receive what we want.
And that how is about speed, efficiency, and precision.
These changing expectations around books or supermarkets or hailing a cab will also impact how we want our healthcare.
As researchers at McKinsey recently noted, today’s consumers expect better digital engagement:
“A growing number of consumers think that healthcare organizations should offer them digital tools at par with those offered by companies in other industries. By learning from the top tech companies, healthcare organizations will be better positioned to design digital tools that consumers want and use—and to understand how those tools should be used to ensure that engagement occurs when consumers want and need it.”
At Brook, we believe digital health technology is critical to helping people manage their health care because it meets people where they are.
A personal health service through digital technology is not an all-compassing alternative to the traditional care provider model. But the speed it offers can be highly impactful when powered by an understanding of context, connection, and continuity.
What do I mean by this?
Context – Right time, right place, right information
Connection – Seamlessly integrated with other personal health care actions
Continuity – Without stops and starts
Our language for this approach is Augmented Intelligence. In essence, it’s the matching of the newest in technology and machine learning with the soul and authenticity of medical professionals to help keep people accountable for their care.
Augmented Intelligence allows a person with a chronic condition like diabetes to interact with technology on a consistent basis, where the software is tracking data and, in the form of a chatbot, makes routine recommendations. The patient can pivot to a human medical expert when needed, and the software continues to learn by tracking the advice given by the coach to the patient.
Managing your health care is about the day to day, the little things. This requires consistent and repeatable actions that can become habit. It’s about incremental adjustments. And it’s about the changing expectations of what is timely.
Amazon, Netflix, and Uber – and new companies that we do not yet know about – will continue to reinforce our expectations around speed and efficiency. While drawing on the power of context, connection, and continuity, it’s now up to health care professionals and innovators to keep pace.
Please send any and all feedback to me at oren@brook.health
Best,
Oren Nissim
CEO of Brook
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