'Engaged patient' key to future, Topol says

The blockbuster drug of the 21st century? That would be “the engaged patient,” according to healthcare IT futurist Dr. Eric Topol.

Topol, a cardiologist and director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute and chief academic officer at Scripps Health, was the keynote speaker Tuesday at the HIMSS convention in New Orleans.

“We're in the midst of the third industrial revolution, but it hasn't hit medicine—yet,” Topol said. “But it will.”

Already, he said, there are a plethora of growing social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, but devoted solely to healthcare. Mobile applications, as well, are already having an impact, with people monitoring their vital signs, blood glucose levels, performing self-diagnostic eye exams using applications and attachments to smartphones and other mobile devices.

“Why would you want to do finger sticks if you can go ahead and get your glucose every minute” off a device that can monitor an individual's blood glucose level through their skin, he asked.

A number of high-profile professional and amateur athletes—including basketball superstar LeBron James and members of the U.S. Olympic women's bicycling team—are using sleep monitor applications with smartphones.

“Why would you go to a hospital sleep lab (at $3,000 a night) when you can hook yourself up and do it for free?” he said.

Topol said he and his colleagues at Scripps are launching a trial with 200 patients with hypertension, diabetes and atrial fibrillation, randomly assigned to smartphone apps. The goal is to see if the devices make a difference in outcomes and costs, he said.

But why stop there? With the advent of new nano- technology, the devices of the future will likely be much smaller than a cellphone.

“We have sensors in our car, why don't we have sensors in our body?” Topol said. “Which is more important, our car, or our body?”

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