Personalized Medicine has Empowered Patient with Better Health Outcomes

Personalized Medicine and participatory care are fostering new ties between doctors and their patients. Mountains of digital data, sometimes generated by people, are altering the nature of individualised healthcare. Frank Cutitta, CEO of HealthTech Decisions Lab, moderated a discussion with Jan Oldenburg, principal at Participatory Health Consulting, Moritz Hartmann, global head of Roche Information Solutions for Roche Diagnostics, and Michael Millenson, president of Health Quality Advisors, on how digital tools, online information sources, and health data are allowing for new care approaches.

Hartmann said, “The next step is to have patient empowering tools that ensure there is the same data available to them and they are given the opportunity to participate in the decision making in an educated way, like with MySugar. These tools can provide them with better information to help them make their own decisions.”

One of the benefits of participatory Medicine, according to Oldenburg, is that patients and doctors may work together to figure out not only what data-driven insights mean, but also what should be done to collaborate on the best therapy for the person. Every diabetic has a different lifestyle, set of values, and set of aspirations. We can use insight-based decision making when we start thinking about what their goals are, what fits into their values, and what’s going on with their health in the context of that lifestyle.

Medical evidence, personal genomes, and patient preferences and values, according to Millenson, will lead the healthcare system’s direction, which can also be influenced by data that patients have access to from reputable sources. While there is an initial reaction among physicians of, “Wait, I’m the one with the medical degree,” Oldenburg stated that there is a growing acceptance of living in a society where everyone has access to medical knowledge and patients can find a wealth of peer-reviewed and reputable material.