WTF Summit Recap: Taking Charge of Your Health

Currently, healthcare is reactive. Economic rewards are not always matched with the best outcomes for patients. Artificial intelligence is opening new possibilities for change.

During The Information’s WTF Summit, Kaya Yurieff sat down with two healthcare visionaries to discuss what patients want and new, proactive ways of staying healthy:

• Alina Ioani, vice president of business development and strategic partnerships, Prenuvo 
• Sarah Russell, managing director, bellwether, X, The Moonshot Factory  

Becoming Proactive About Health

The current model, where 97% of the $5 trillion spent on healthcare goes to sick care, is becoming less and less sustainable, especially considering the aging population of the U.S., Ioani noted. The system is ripe for change, and people increasingly want to take charge of their health.

Russell pointed to trends that emerged after Covid-19 that changed people’s expectations and acceptance of new ways of healthcare delivery. For instance, telemedicine has become a popular and accepted way to interact with healthcare providers, due to its accessibility and convenience. Prioritizing convenience has led people to take charge of their healthcare “to get what I want, when I want it and when I need it,” said Ioani.

How AI Is Going to Help Women’s Health

Women’s health doesn’t fit neatly into traditional healthcare models. In part because clinical studies are often done on men, women’s symptoms, which are different from men’s, are more likely to be dismissed as anxiety or depression, said Ioani.

The economic aspect of healthcare does not favor women either. The reimbursement models are based on devices or procedures and other high-value things that medicine can put a price tag on. Meanwhile, women often deal with chronic disease or pain, or issues related to pregnancy or menopause, or taking care of aging parents. What women need may be good advice or hormone therapy, not a high-priced treatment. As such, women’s health has not been the focus of venture capitalists, who until a few years ago were looking for more traditional reimbursement models.

Ioani sees this gap in women’s healthcare as an exciting opportunity for new AI-driven solutions. She believes AI will help bring women together with caregivers they need, and influencers and creators will enable that connection.

Preventive Screening to Save Lives

Prenuvo’s vision is to encourage people to do preventative screening before any symptoms appear. The company offers a 45-minute-long, noninvasive MRI exam that can detect over 500 different conditions at a very early stage. Around five days later the patient receives a patient-friendly readout of the results.

Receiving health news is always ridden with anxiety. That’s why Prenuvo has medical professionals who can discuss the results with the patient. Both Ioani and Russell stressed the importance of emotional support from a human provider as part of the process.

With 15 clinics in operation and 12 more to open in the next year, including the first international clinic in London, Prenuvo scans currently run between $1,000 and $2,500. The company is trying to bring down the cost to make its tests available to as many people as possible. It has also launched a 100,000-participant clinical trial to gather evidence to prove to the insurance system that its tests not only can save lives but are cost-effective as well.