Video of Sean Carney for SXSW on designing healthcare to enable patient empowerment

Healthcare systems around the world face a host of challenges. With growing ageing populations, an expanding middle class and rising consumer expectations, healthcare costs are escalating. A divide between rural and urban communities is growing, with people living in rural areas around the world, simply not having access to healthcare they require.

Sean Carney, Chief Design Officer and Business Leader for Philips Healthcare Transformation Services, was invited by South by Southwest (SXSW) for an online version of the Focus15 presentation in the Health & MedTech track, to talk about designing healthcare to enable patient empowerment. He has recorded some thoughts on how Philips is exploring the concept of decentralized healthcare; a world where access to healthcare is provided via innovative mobile access points. Come discover how we’re bringing this concept to life in Japan, Rwanda and the United States. Instead of you going to the hospital, how about the hospital coming to you? 

In his presentation, Sean talks about the four profound trends that are shaping the future of health technology – which have been further amplified during this coronavirus crisis – and the host of challenges health systems around the world face. He also talks about how these trends present us with an enormous opportunity to reimagine what healthcare could look like in 2030.

Watch the full presentation by Sean Carney at SXSW below

Sean talks about how today we are seeing a continuing and concerning trend where cities are building more and more hospitals to meet the demand of their growing population. This may solve the problem for now, but it is expensive and not sustainable for the long term. What if in 2030, hospitals could only consist of crucial elements that require patients to be on site? All other functions will be re-distributed and made entirely mobile in a network of hyper connected autonomous vehicles and devices.

Sean also touches upon how Philips is reimagining and redesigning the future of healthcare globally and how the company is going through a dramatic transformation, where they are tasking themselves to truly reimagine the future of healthcare in this modern, connected and aging world.

Particularly as we find ourselves living through a global pandemic, we’ve realized that the need for a decentralized healthcare system is needed now more than ever. We need a healthcare system that is more personal, more accessible, and more dynamic to address people’s ever changing needs.