medical-industrial complex

See the following -

How the American Health Care Business Turned Patients into Consumers

A clash of cultures is rapidly developing among those of us who see the mission of the health care system to be primarily the diagnosis and healing of illness and those who see it primarily as an opportunity to create personal wealth. The concept of health care primarily as a business is uniquely American, and it has gained ascendancy during the last few decades. While there have always been a few greedy doctors, businessmen-wealth-seekers — not doctors — now dominate the medical-industrial complex. 

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Print Me a New Arm, Please - Bionics and 3D Printing add to a Revolution in Medicine

I just realized that I hadn't ever really written about two hot trends in health care: bionics and 3D printing.  I better get to it before they become mainstream, or are superseded by something even newer. Let start with bionics.  According to Merriam-Webster, bionic means "having normal biological capability or performance enhanced by or as if by electronic or electromechancial devices."  Bionics is the science of this...Bionics is estimated to be an $8b market (2014), with a projected 13.2% CAGR that would bring it to $20.5b by 2020.   The artificial kidney market is said to account for some 60% of the market, with livers expected to be the fastest growing segment over the period.

What Health Care Needs Are Some Zombies

Finally, some good health care news: according to Accenture, half of digital health start-ups are going to fail within two years. No, really: that's the good news. Accenture projects that funding for digital start-ups is going to boom over the next few years, reaching $6.5b annually by 2017.  Their analysis categorized four key areas of funding from 2008 - 2013: infrastructure ($2.9b), treatment ($2.6b), engagement ($2.6b), and diagnosis ($2.1b).  They stress that the start-ups that will succeed will do so by combining capabilities across the four areas, such as by use of integrated Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud and Sensor technologies ("SMACS"). This boom shouldn't come as much of a surprise...

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