I’ve been thinking a bit lately about preventative health. We focus a lot in this podcast on therapeutics, some of which I’m personally grateful for. We should keep developing new ones to help people live longer and healthier. But that seems a never-ending game. I don’t see curing all diseases as realistic, nor the only strategy when many diseases can be avoided by changes in behavior.
Paying for prevention seems a tricky business. How do you pay for something that doesn’t happen? And who would pay it? I’m not paying to fix my roof until the old one leaks (every November). Insurance companies can give discounts for safe driving or not smoking, but other examples are more difficult. Will someone watch what I eat? Will a discount next year stop me from driving to 7-11 when the urge for a box of Oreos hits?
In the context of digital, there are wearables that can send data by the truckload to our physicians. But those are essentially diagnostics that are looking backward on an already-defined problem. (If you have examples that show otherwise, please share them in the comments. I’m here to learn.)
In this episode, I talked to Ramin Rafiei, Founder and CEO of Unleash where he is advocating prevention as a service, “augmenting science, digital biomarkers, advanced behavioral economic theory and cutting-edge AI with brands in order to scale preventive health.”
I recommend the full episode for the details but here is a brief summary:
It has been known for a while that your zip code is your health code. Where you live is a good predictor of your health. Beyond that, now your digital footprint is your health code. Your smartphone is a directory of your behavior but also a tool that can be used to influence your behavior toward better health.
Digital health so far has been designed around existing healthcare infrastructure that is not focused on the consumer. Healthier people are better off financially and have more purchasing power. And the brands you love have more influence than your doctor.
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The model Ramin and Unleash are proposing is not transactional (discounts etc.) He proposes a shift to the aspirational. How do we make a pair of Nikes more effective in helping with weight loss, blood pressure etc with accompanying behavior change? The shift is to inspire better day-to-day decisions that are better for your health. The approach isn’t limited to consumer brands. The same approach can work in conjunction with therapeutics as well.
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Prevention as a Service