Earlier this year, Apple announced the release of its new Health Records, an app where patients can store all their medical data. The move is the next logical step for Apple, which has paired up with 39 health systems in the US. Each has adopted the tech company’s Health Records system for patients to securely access – and get instant updates on – their medical information.
It coincided with the announcement of a joint healthcare venture by JP Morgan Chase, Berkshire Hathaway and Amazon, which plan to form an independent healthcare service for their own employees amid frustration with the existing system.
Traditional and new players in the healthcare space whom I spoke to on a visit to Silicon Valley last week are anxiously scrutinising the moves of big tech. With global spending on health estimated to rise from $7.83 trillion in 2013 to $18.28 trillion in 2040, according to a study published in the Lancet, not investing in healthcare would be a major strategic error.
Unsurprisingly, investments in artificial intelligence applied to healthcare are growing exponentially, with Google being one of the more active companies on that front.
But there is a paradox at the core of the AI revolution that we are witnessing in healthcare. At one end of the healthcare spectrum, amazing achievements such as precision medicine give the ability to treat cancers that people were dying from not so long ago. That is truly amazing.
But at the other end of the spectrum, the way caregivers handle patient behaviour can sometimes be as intuitive as performing brain surgery with a butcher's knife.
Take non-compliance and non-adherence to treatment for example, a major behavioral issue in healthcare. According to the Annals of Internal Medicine in the US, it claims up to 100,000 lives each year and costs the US healthcare system close to $300 billion annually.
There are many reasons why patients do not comply with treatments, from denial of their medical condition to those on a low income not being able to afford the cost of treatment. Inconvenience is also a major hurdle as some treatments are not easy to take and can have side effects that lead to frustration and exasperation. Add on top of this misinformation and trust issues and we have a recipe for behavioural disaster.
As I was researching, I visited the website of a health system that, after explaining why people would not comply with treatments, provided the following advice: “Talk to your doctor if you find it difficult to adhere to treatment”. But how do they think a physician who did not manage to convince a patient to comply in the first place is the person who will best know how to change that behaviour?
This is not the fault of doctors. They were simply not trained in consumer psychology.
For too long, medical practice has been based on the assumption that informing patients was enough to convince them to comply with a medical treatment – wrongly so.
Knowing that a treatment improves your health should be sufficient for patients to comply in theory but providing people with the most accurate information does not necessarily change their behaviour.
Doctors should look at their own example: if that were the case, none of them would be smoking, given how well-informed they are of the dangers of tobacco consumption. What is more, in many countries the ratio of smokers among doctors can be higher than in the general population.
The medical world needs to understand two things urgently. First, the people who know most about our behaviour, how to change it and engage us are not working in medical facilities.
They are employed by the consumer and entertainment industries. The data speaks for itself. Amazon, Wal-Mart, Netflix, as well as movie and game producers, have a much better track record at influencing us and creating new habits than our doctors. Unsurprisingly, they leverage AI to improve their performances.
Second, the patient is above all a consumer. It is the same person buying a canned drink in the morning who is going to the hospital in the afternoon. Hence, it is vital for the medical world to stop looking down on consumer behaviour experts and to start learning from them.
The irony is that the retail and entertainment industries have been early adopters of consumer neuroscience and neuromarketing, using neurotechnologies originally developed to serve medical practitioners to better understand and incentivise us.
Meanwhile, the healthcare industry has totally disregarded the insights from neuroscience on consumer behaviour.
According to a health report published by McKinsey and Company research firm, nearly 70 per cent of total healthcare costs in the US are linked to consumer behaviour.
Medical schools are right to revisit their curriculum in light of the artificial intelligence revolution. But they should also very quickly add behavioural economics, consumer psychology and neuroscience as mandatory classes for every would-be caregiver.
Health systems that already have behavioural nudge units, consumer neuroscientists and chief behavioural officers among their executives have a key competitive advantage. They understood before their competitors that as revolutionary as a new AI-based medical treatment might be, if patients did not comply with what was prescribed to them, that treatment would be useless.
Professor Olivier Oullier is the president of Emotiv, a neuroscientist and a DJ. He served as global head of strategy in health and healthcare and is a member of the executive committee of the World Economic Forum
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Need to know
When: October 17 until November 10
Cost: Entry is free but some events require prior registration
Where: Various locations including National Theatre (Abu Dhabi), Abu Dhabi Cultural Center, Zayed University Promenade, Beach Rotana (Abu Dhabi), Vox Cinemas at Yas Mall, Sharjah Youth Center
What: The Korea Festival will feature art exhibitions, a B-boy dance show, a mini K-pop concert, traditional dance and music performances, food tastings, a beauty seminar, and more.
For more information: www.koreafestivaluae.com
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Company profile
Company name: Dharma
Date started: 2018
Founders: Charaf El Mansouri, Nisma Benani, Leah Howe
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: TravelTech
Funding stage: Pre-series A
Investors: Convivialite Ventures, BY Partners, Shorooq Partners, L& Ventures, Flat6Labs
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Liverpool's all-time goalscorers
Ian Rush 346
Roger Hunt 285
Mohamed Salah 250
Gordon Hodgson 241
Billy Liddell 228
In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein
By Fiona Sampson
Profile
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Turning%20waste%20into%20fuel
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What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
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