HU MEENA — Now Streaming: The digitization of U.S. health care

Today’s society will be remembered as the first wave of instant access culture. Need proof? There are ghosts of companies wandering the corporate graveyard, howling at the moon because they couldn’t keep up with our thirst for immediacy. “I went to Blockbuster” is now a primitive expression, akin to “Hand me the phonebook,” or “Me, Tarzan. You, Jane.” Disruptive services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, online banking, and Uber, are all examples of industries adjusting to our expectation of instant access, and they’re thriving for the sake of their business. Anyone who has taken a $20 Uber ride over a $65 taxi cab from the airport knows that this ultimately benefits the consumer.

So, what happens when healthcare, one of our most important and complex industries, dips its toe into the modern era of instant access? It’s called telemedicine. It’s taken them a while to dive in, but the health-care industry is slowly beginning to modernize. And this recalibrating to our instant access standard will not just add convenience and save money. It will save lives.

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