MANKATO — The merge of technology and health care can help predict and prevent chronic diseases, said a keynote speaker at Minnesota State University’s health summit Wednesday, but safeguards must be in place to protect personal data.
Dr. Liz Kwo’s speech covered health care’s digital shift and the upsides and risks associated with it. Kwo serves as chief commercial officer at Everly Health, a digital health company working on virtual diagnostics, and is a faculty lecturer at Harvard Medical School.
An upside to technology in clinical care is its ability to create more personalized care for patients, Kwo said.
“The most important thing about any of these personalized medicine types of products is it should be useful to you,” she said. “It should give you insight. It should change your behavior. It should change management.”
Kwo used her heightened risk of breast cancer as an example. Because she knows she’s high risk, she seeks more frequent preventive screenings.
“It actually changes management for me,” she said. “For others it may not, but for me it does. So I think when you have risk analysis like that, that’s very useful.”
With more reliance on technology comes the need for more safeguards. Companies need to invest in protections against data breaches, Kwo said.
There also needs to be scrutiny on the use of artificial intelligence by health care companies for claims denials. Kwo described AI as a “black box” better used for approvals of prior authorizations than denials.
In advice aimed at future health care workers, Kwo encouraged skill stacking. Find people who challenge you, seek out mentors, foster a successful environment and engage with people who inspire you, she told attendees.
With technology, the next generations of health care workers should be thinking about how it can be used to meet patient demands. Patients want efficient, personalized care, and digital technology can be a tool for delivering it.
The summit, an annual event presented by MSU’s College of Allied Health and Nursing, had a technology theme this year. Speakers and break-outs focused on the integration of technology while maintaining person-centered health care.
Roy Kammer, interim associate dean of the College of Allied Health and Nursing, said he appreciated Kwo’s message to future health care workers about being ready to use technology to serve patients.
“We’ve got to be thoughtful about how we build that into our professional development, our training, because technology isn’t going anywhere,” he said. “The big challenge is we’ve got to have that human-centered piece, and I love that Dr. Kwo emphasized that.”
Dr. Senan Ebrahim, founder and CEO of prenatal care technology company Delfina, gave the afternoon keynote at the summit. Other presentations included rounds on the use of virtual reality in social work education, tech and simulation training on contraceptives and using e-bikes for physical activity.