About 2 months ago I began writing a weekly newsletter where I give my tech-heavy take on developments in the digital health space. I’ve been working in the space for years but quickly realized that I was going to need to provide a framework if I was to meaningfully inform my readers. That’s very important to me since the whole point of this newsletter is to drive engagement with smart people.

Ultimately I ended up with what I’ll call an Economist-style framework. I’ve been a subscriber to the weekly newspaper for over a decade and enjoy their format which, at it’s core, looks like this:

1. “Leaders” The top news stories and/or big ideas (this often overlaps with the subseqent sections)
2. A section each for the major regions (United States, The Americas, Asia, China, Europe, etc.)
3. A section each for location-agnostic categories (International, Business, Finance, Science & Tech, etc.)

The magic is in the latter 2 sections. By focusing on the individual actors as well as more general categories regular readers get both a digest of the weekly news and insight into what might be coming next… which is exactly what I’m trying to do for the digital health space.

Mapping this philosophy onto my newsletter looks like this::

• Infrequent essays (like this one!) that break down ideas or tech I find relevant or interesting
• Weekly updates on activities by the major characters in digital health
• Weekly updates on the big topics shaping digital health

So that’s the idea. Let’s dive in.

The Characters

It all starts with the Patient🧑. That’s you and me and everyone else. We’re the ones that consume healthcare products and services (“care” for short). We are also the ones who ultimately fund it.

Providers⚕️ are the ones who deliver care. These are not only doctors and nurses but also hospital systems, virtual clinics, and any other solution that delivers care.

Pharma & MedTech💊 are the firms who have traditionally built the things Providers⚕️ use to deliver care. Everything from cholesterol meds to Electronic Medical Records (EMR) to artificial knees to stethoscopes.

Payers 💸 write checks to the Providers⚕️. These are organizations like Blue Cross Blue Shield, Depending on the status of the person receiving care the funds backing these checks can come from taxpayers, employers, the Patient🧑, or a combination of the three.

Government⚖️ plays a significant role in virtually every developed country. At a minimum the role includes creation and enforcement of rules regarding safety, efficacy, price, etc. Additionally In many countries the government also takes on the role of a Payer and/or Provider.

Tech Giants🤖 (most notably Google, Apple, and Amazon) have made big moves into healthcare in the past decade and all signs indicate the trend will continue. By virtue of their size, popularity, and data fluency, any move they make in the space has the potential to transform the landscape.

Defining Topics

The promise of digital health is that better tools for the collection, communication, processing, and display of data will result in better outcomes for Patients🧑. With that data-centric view in mind, there are a few ideas

Wearables & Apps ⌚ are, by virtue of their proximity to the patient, important tools both for data collection as well as real-time communication of insights. Whether it’s sensors on the wrist, or an app that helps you with addiction, the evolution of these products will certainly shape the delivery of care.

Lab testing🧪 Is another excellent source of data. Most notable here are the recent advances in genomics, but lab-based diagnostic work of all-sorts developing rapidly and will likely change the both the diagnostic pathway for many diseases.

Privacy & Security🔒 of health data is increasingly on the mind of every character in digital health. The system operates largely on HIPPA (passed in 1996) and there is much discussion on what the future of health data security should look like. Who should have access to what data for what purposes and for how long? These are all questions that are actively getting discussed, with each contingent trying to advance their own interests.

Enabling tech🛠️ is important because it’s the stuff that’s going to be showing up in products in the next few years. Whether it’s academic research or a new IC, it’s important to keep a long view.

That’s it. My framing.

Lastly, if you want to understand what’s going to happen next, I think it’s important to pay attention to what 🚀Startups are doing. At a minimum startup activity shows where smart people (investors and engineers alike) are placing bets with their time and money. For this reason I tag each story in my newsletter that pertains to a startup.