The future of medicine is now

This article was first published on 2 January 2013.

A couple of observations on this article:

• The first is the title “The future is now” which, in my view, is a fundamental truth that applies to a very wide range of technologies and a wide range of industries for which those things that seem like science fiction are in fact a reality (or near reality) today.  It reinforces the need for strategists to genuinely break free from their mental models about what is and isn’t possible and what challenges might or might not be real over the next three to five years.
• The second is that many of the technologies and techniques described in this article are reflective of a predicted shift over the next 20 to medicine and health care that is  more “predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory”.  These shifts will severely challenge the orthodoxies, assumptions, business models etc. of the health care industry as it currently stands and create new sources of both vulnerability and opportunity for industry incumbents and challengers alike.