Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Do It Yourself Medicine : The Cure for US healthcare
Healthcare costs are spiraling on its way up, and perhaps the only way to stop it, is the plain old DIY method. However medicine has remained within an exclusive circle of practitioners, requiring many years of learning and training.
But, who knows my body best, its just me. But I have no idea what my symptoms mean. Most of the time I wouldn't even know what to look for. So How can I be my own doctor?
the key is developing sophisticated and simple to use tools. If we look back into the history of American innovation, its the tools that changed the way of life. When the cost of commodities/services increase, people come up with smart tools to do the job cheap. Just walking into HomeDepot, Sears, Fry's we can understand this. Most Americans can fix their homes, cars, computers, furniture etc. Why not their health?
Health Tools.
When the tools become sophisticated , cheap and easy to use, we would be fixing our own body too. Only visiting a doctor when we cant do it at home. But its not easy.
Imagine a software that diagnoses a person and print him a prescription. When he touches and looks into the computer it can just simply diagnose the person and even interactively ask him questions about his problem, sometimes even let him do whatever he wants to do and diagnose. possibilities are endless. Its cheap and probably more reliable than a human.
well, I am just dreaming. Only time can answer.
Healthcare costs are spiraling on its way up, and perhaps the only way to stop it, is the plain old DIY method. However medicine has remained within an exclusive circle of practitioners, requiring many years of learning and training.
But, who knows my body best, its just me. But I have no idea what my symptoms mean. Most of the time I wouldn't even know what to look for. So How can I be my own doctor?
the key is developing sophisticated and simple to use tools. If we look back into the history of American innovation, its the tools that changed the way of life. When the cost of commodities/services increase, people come up with smart tools to do the job cheap. Just walking into HomeDepot, Sears, Fry's we can understand this. Most Americans can fix their homes, cars, computers, furniture etc. Why not their health?
Health Tools.
When the tools become sophisticated , cheap and easy to use, we would be fixing our own body too. Only visiting a doctor when we cant do it at home. But its not easy.
Imagine a software that diagnoses a person and print him a prescription. When he touches and looks into the computer it can just simply diagnose the person and even interactively ask him questions about his problem, sometimes even let him do whatever he wants to do and diagnose. possibilities are endless. Its cheap and probably more reliable than a human.
well, I am just dreaming. Only time can answer.
