Mike Payne on How Emerging Technology Can Empower Patients

In an increasingly tech-focused world, the use of phones, tablets, and computes, combined with social media sites, have allowed patients to find the emotional and social interactions they need when dealing with their care, said Mike Payne, MBA, MSci, chief healthcare development officer at Omada Health.

Transcript (slightly modified)

What are some of the most prominent changes you’ve seen in diabetes care as a result of an increasingly tech-focused world?

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I think technology is empowering patients, whether they’re pre-diabetic patients or diabetic patients, and it’s not just accessibility. It’s not just classic telehealth. It’s the ability through ubiquitous phones and tablets and computers and censors, as well as, frankly, the comfort of individuals, whether they’re pre-diabetic or diabetic, with having emotional, social interactions online. And in some ways, we as a healthcare communityI hate to say ithave Facebook to thank for that.

That dynamic has been driven by the social media scene and it’s very relevant for seniors. They interact with their grandchildren online and so for us, pre-diabetic and diabetic seniors is a big area of focus because the fallacy, and it is a fallacy, of seniors not being able to interact with their health through technology is a very important myth for us to dispel in the healthcare world.