Dear friends,
This week I am relaunching this newsletter in a different format.
If you don’t like the new format or don’t remember why you are here, you can unsubscribe in one click at the bottom of the newsletter.
Otherwise, welcome to all the new subscribers and to all the existing subscribers - thanks for sticking around!
Let’s get to it. 🚀
Going to the doctor here in the UK has not changed a great deal in the last 30 years.
In fact, I can almost guarantee your local doctor’s office will look something like this.
The NHS, whilst wonderful in many ways, is not great when it comes to technology.
For example I recently learned that the NHS is the worlds largest purchaser of fax machines.
I think we can probably do better than that.
The basic healthcare model here is that you wait for something to go wrong, and then you call your GP (General Practitioner) to prescribe you painkillers or refer you to a specialist.
Forward Health are building a new model for visiting the doctor which revolves more around trying to help you not get sick in the first place.
Arriving into a Forward Health office is a little different.
Your visit to this doctor office will likely involve blood screens, genetic tests and something called a ‘biometric body scan’, which is the white glowing machine you can see in the picture above.
It creates a ‘thermal map’ of the body to give you your real time temperature. It also checks how your blood flows, apparently. Whilst watching the video explainer, this part gave me a bit of Theranos vibes. I am sure I am being unfair with that comparison, but they could do a better job explaining what it does.
Anyway, after these tests you go into the actual doctors office where your doctor will help you figure out a personalised plans and ways to help you stay healthy. Oh and the blood test results will be ready in 10 minutes as they process them on site.
The point of all this is that you arrive at the doctors office and your doctor can have a bunch of helpful medical information about you right at their fingertips. This in theory can help them make more informed decisions about what you as an individual need. They can they can then get you set up personalised plans to manage chronic conditions or stay healthy.
This clearly is the future of primary care we want to head towards. When you visit the doctor they should have as much relevant information as possible, and should try to help you stay health as well as get better when you are sick.
Taking this a step further, I am really excited for the time when we are able to get personalised medicines that are calibrated to our individual body type and genetic disposition. It’s clear that a 100mg pill will not have the same effect on someone that weights 60 kg as someone that weights 120kg.
Anyway, the Forward Health model of a doctors office is clearly a step in the right direction. Focussed on prevention and using the latest technology to ensure doctors have as much relevant information as possible to help you. It’s just unfortunate that it is only available in the US at the moment. Future Health, if you are reading this, you have at least one potential customer in the UK.
Let me know what you thought of this week’s newsletter by hitting reply or with the feedback links below.
Thanks for reading
Jamie
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