By VINCE KURAITIS and SETH JOSEPH
Let’s start with a pop quiz. Take 15 seconds to look at the list below, asking yourself the question “What do all these have in common?”
- address books
- video cameras
- pagers
- wristwatches
- maps
- books
- travel
- games
- flashlights
- home telephones
- cash registers
- MP3 players
- Day timers
- alarm clocks
- answering machines
- The Yellow Pages
- wallets
- keys
- transistor radios
- personal digital assistants
- dashboard navigation systems
- newspapers and magazines
- directory assistance
- travel and insurance agents
- restaurant guides
- pocket calculators
The commonality is that all of these were disrupted by smartphones and their operating system (OS) platforms — Google Android and Apple iOS.
Let’s consider a healthcare comparison. Ask yourself, “What do all these have in common?”
- Primary care
- Urgent care
- Office visits
- Hospitals
- Inpatient
- Outpatient
- ER
- Specialist access
- Behavioral health
- Diagnostics
- Patient portals
- Home health services
- Medication administration\
- Preventive care
- mHealth apps
- EHR functionality/apps, e.g.,
- Scheduling & check in
- Billing
- eRX
- Medication management
- Referral management
- Care planning
- Care coordination
- Social care
- Patient education
- Patient communications
The commonality is that all of these are potentially disruptable by Virtual Care Platforms (VCPs).
In this essay we ask the question “Will virtual care platforms become healthcare’s mega-platforms?” We believe the potential for such a scenario is strong. We describe and assess parallels between the evolution of the duopoly smartphone operating system (OS) market and the emerging virtual care platform market. Our intent is to describe a plausible scenario for the future – not to make a prediction.
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