MICROSOFT HEALTH
Microsoft is best known for its key role in the computing revolution . Less well known is the role Microsoft plays today in the health industry , but a similar revolution is underway and once again the company is at the center . Responsible for helping customers and partners navigate that change is Dr . Simon Kos , chief medical officer . What is a doctor doing working for a technology company ? “ No , I don ’ t provide medical services to employees !” Kos quips .
Whilst practicing critical care medicine in Australia , he saw firsthand just how fragmented information in healthcare was , and recognised the risk that posed to patient care . An interest in technology became a career as Kos explored first Electronic Medical Record ( EMR ) systems , then later a much broader portfolio as he ran the health division for Microsoft Australia . His current role might be different in scope and scale , but the industry challenges remain . “ Digital transformation is underway all around us , and will dramatically change how we deliver and receive health services .”
A time of change Health today is at an inflection point . On the one hand , standard operating procedures and a risk averse culture foster predictable , high quality care . On the other however , healthcare costs are unsustainable and new models of care are required , largely to address the increased burden of chronic disease in our modern society . This paradox – an industry resistant to change that fundamentally needs to reinvent itself – is playing out across the
74 November 2017