At the conclave of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin at Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square, N.Y., doctors wrote a clear prescription for themselves last week – adapt to new technology and embrace scientific innovation.
While the June 30-July 4 annual convention, attended by an estimated 1,800 Indian-American physicians from across the United States, discussed many academic and professional issues affecting the physicians’ community, the one that seemed to dominate the proceedings of the 34th convention was the impact of the new technological advances on healthcare and why doctors need to be on the right side of technology, and how doing so can lead to a better healthcare delivery in the U.S.
“It’s time to step up to a new era of innovation through a new age of digital healthcare that transcends biological and chemical medicine into the future. As physicians, we must be equipped to tackle the next generation’s unique set of challenges and opportunities in healthcare,” Dr. Seema Jain, the outgoing president of AAPI, said.
The issue of the use of new technology in healthcare was also raised at various panel discussions and keynote addresses with people highlighting its value and relevance in healthcare. Deepak Nath, senior vice president of Abbott Vascular, an American healthcare research and product manufacturing company, said the biggest challenge today is how to utilize technologies. “The biggest challenge before us is how to translate wonderful technologies that we have on the pharmacy side or the device side into a new environment that is much more focused on value than innovation or technology for the sake of technology,” Nath said at one of the two CEO summits.
At times speakers differed in their opinions about the advent of technology and its impact on medicine and healthcare. For instance Naveen Jain, an entrepreneur and the founder and former CEO of InfoSpace, claimed in an address that the healthcare industry has steadfastly not taken innovation, and it does not augur well for the future. “You will see in the next ten years that these stalwarts of the healthcare industry are going to come down,” Jain said, adding that the foundation of the belief to that a physician must be there for diagnosis will change over time.
But not all seemed to agree with him, nor with the view that technology will, over a period of time, replace physicians. Journalist and author Fareed Zakaria, who moderated a session on ‘Healthcare 2020 and Beyond’ wondered how much truth is there is arguments that programs like Watson will do all the diagnosis in future, instead of doctors. Watson is an IBM supercomputer that combines artificial intelligence and sophisticated analytical software that acts as a “question answering” machine.
The answer from panelists, including, Arthur Klein, president of the Mount Sinai Health Network, and Nath, were that while innovations around technology is going to change things, it is not going to replace physicians. “A lot of advances have been made in computations to the area of artificial intelligence, but at the end of the day there is no substitute for a physician’s judgment. No amount of analytics can substitute a doctor’s judgment,” Nath said, admitting, however, that a program like Watson can be a companion and tool to physicians.
Others like Maryland urologist Dr. Naveen Shah, the second president of AAPI and one of its founding members, and Dr. Sudhir Parikh, chair of AAPI’s political action committee and an integral part of its convention committee, agreed with the observation that while machines can help physicians, they certainly cannot substitute a medical doctor.
“The future of medicine and its practice is going to be different because of the advancement and incorporation of technology into medical care and the way that care is given now in clinics and hospitals,” Parkh, a New Jersey allergist and publisher of News India Times, noted during a conversation with this correspondent.
He explained that the care that is given in hospitals today can be given in homes in near future, especially to elderly patients with the help of remote technology. “This would not only be highly beneficial to elderly patients, but would reduce costs of hospitalization and care giving substantially,” Parikh said.
Surgeon General Murthy noted that he loves technology, but also is aware of its limitations. “I am big fan of technology and I believe that technology can help us solve some of our biggest problems, but I think it is important that we recognize the limitations of technology as well,” he added.
Parikh said the conclave also emphasized on empowering the second generation physicians and connecting them with the community and inculcating in them the values of philanthropy.
“Medicine, after all, is not just a business but it is a noble profession, and that is why the young generation should learn early in their career how to give back to the community and the country of their origin,” Parikh, who is a past recipient of India’s civilian honor Padma Shri, said.
An echo of that assertion was heard in the address of India’s Ambassador to the United States Arun Kumar Singh who officially inaugurated the event and praised the many contributions of AAPI. “You have excelled in your fields of medicine, and thus make significant contributions through hard work, commitment and dedication to your profession and the people you are committed to serve,” Singh said.
The new AAPI President Dr. Ajay Lodha, who took over from Dr. Seema Jain, said that he was optimistic that his new team would be able to take the organization to new heights. The convention saw back-to-back seminars and CMEs (continuing medical education) and conferences, including auxiliary/spouse program, India global engagement innovation and entrepreneur seminar. A galaxy of physicians, CEOs of pharmaceutical companies and hospitals, diplomats, politicians and prosecutors attended the convention. Those who addressed the conclave included U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara; Consul General of India in New York, Riva Ganguly Das; Michael Antoniades, president and CEO of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Jersey; Dr. Ram Raju, president and CEO, New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation; Omar Ishrak, chairman and CEO of Medtronic; Dr. Freda C. Lewis-Hall, Chief Medical Officer, Pfizer; New York Congressman, Rep. Lee Zeldin; Dr. Prasad Srinivasan, a medical doctor, and State Representative from Connecticut and spiritual master Sadhguru, founder of Isha Foundation.
“I will make every possible effort to restore AAPI’s image,” Dr. Lodha, who was honored with the prestigious Ellis Island Medals of Honor this year, said after taking over as the new president.
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