I was a speaker at this very exciting conference. The industry is changing rapidly in the last 3 years.
New industry players are creating a new revolution that is transforming healthcare by empowering the patient and their family with new product and services.

"We are on the cusp of fundamental changes in healthcare that go beyond the government's healthcare reform efforts. As the Internet has revolutionized the dissemination of information, the Information Age still hovers outside of hospital corridors. But it is poised to make a big entrance, as a slew of networked implanted devices, wearable monitors, and a digestible chip enter the marketplace in the coming year, and beyond. Moreover, companies like Google and Microsoft are democratizing the medical information stream, creating a generation of patients who are looking at medical care in a completely different way. A paradigm shift is underway, which will have many consequences for the delivery of healthcare."

Panel One: The Technology Continuum-Games to High End Medical Diagnostics: is the Patient Pay Piece Crucial?

Moderator: Dana Mead, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers

Panelist: Don Jones, JD, MBA Vice President, Business Development, Health & Life Sciences, Qualcomm

Panelist: Gadi Amit, Principal Designer and Founder, NewDealDesign

Panelist: Brian Fitzgerald, Deputy Division Director, Division of Electrical and Software Engineering, US Food and Drug Administration

Panelist: Anne DeGheest, Founder, Medstars

Panelist: Ashish Soni, Director of ITP, USC Viterbi School of Engineering

Dana Mead led business experts, designers, engineers, and policy makers in a discussion about the market for mobile and wireless enabled health devices in addition to models for paying for these new technologies. Don Jones provided insight on how telecommunication companies are targeting weaknesses within the healthcare system as Gadi Amit showcased NewDealDesign's FitBit, a new calorie tracker designed to creatively engage the consumer. Anne DeGheest introduced some promising new start-ups in the wireless sensor market while Ashish Soni tackled the gaming aspects of new medical applications that utilize these sensors. With questions surrounding a slew of new medical applications being developed for consumer use on the iPhone, Blackberry, and other smartphone devices, Brian Fitzgerald assured attendees that these phones will never be regulated as medical devices, removing a large obstacle to the proliferation of these technologies.