In June, Mary Meeker’s annual report on internet trends was released. This is a highly-anticipated event each year. Unlike previous years, the healthcare sector received special emphasis. What did this year’s report find?

According to Meeker, healthcare is at a “digital inflection point.” She bases her assertion on the following:

• The increasing amount of health data being generated by wearables and connected health trackers, as well as health data from other sources—e.g., diagnostic test results, genetic testing results, etc.
• The increased use of health apps leading to new compilations of “digitally native health-related data sets.”  This also includes hospital-generated data from EHRs.

Meeker sees this data accumulation in a cyclical manner that she calls the “virtuous cycle of innovation.”

Meeker predicts that this cycle is leading to a speeding up of the accumulation of medical knowledge through faster clinical trials and publications. It may even be possible to replace traditional longitudinal clinical trials with mathematical models and simulations based on newly-acquired data. Another prediction related to faster innovation is that consumer enthusiasm and technology adoption will lead to a greater demand for more rapid developments and improvements in healthcare delivery.