Why so much medical technoskepticism ?

Medicine has transitioned from high touch to high tech to low trust. The explosion of post COVID technology "innovations" is leaving a wake of skepticism from the healing class.

As noted, Covid-19 let virtual medicine out of the bottle. Now it’s time to tame it. If we don’t, there is a danger that it will stealthily become a mainstay of our medical care. Deploying it too widely or too quickly risks poorer care, inequities and even more outrageous charges in a system already infamous for big bills.

The techno-optimists think technology is the solution. Technosckeptics think it is the problem.

Medical technoscepticism is driven by:

1. Unresolved conflicts between the ethics of medicine and the ethics of business
2. False promises and marketing hype
3. Resistance to change
4. Faulty thinking leading to technology adoption errors
5. The halo from BIG TECH shenanigans and the resulting distrust
6. Social media misinformation and infodemics
7. Not addressing the needs of end user healthcare professionals and what they value
8. Rules, legislation and administrative mandates and that interfere with dissemination and implementation and the resulting unintended consequences
9. Inequitable access and lack of clinical validation to solutions
10. Inadequate professional and patient education and training about present and future medical technologies and their value
11. Fear about artificial intelligence and its effect on society
12. Security, privacy and confidentiality concerns
13. Bad news AI

High cost, low value digital health technologies are not alone. Is robotic surgery really better?

The pandemic spurred a huge increase in the use of virtual health care. But its place in the post-pandemic world is up in the air. To help policymakers, payers, providers assess the  various ways in which virtual care programs could have a positive impact for patients, clinicians, payers, and society going forward, the American Medical Association and Manatt Health developed a framework. It can be used by care providers to develop and evaluate new digitally-enabled-care models, by payers to inform coverage and payment decisions, and by policymakers to establish regulations.

Much like confronting COVID vaccine skepticism, addressing technoskepticism will require a multipronged approach. We are not fighting the battle alone. Maybe you should just take your worthless vitamins and supplements and forget about all that technology.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Substack and Editor of Digital Health Entrepreneurship