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Marcel Thom is CEO of Accenture.
Mr. Thom, companies like Nike and JP Morgan already have branches in the Metaverse. Will there soon be Swica or Helsana digital counters?
Mark Thomas: If the metaverse grows further, there will also be a Swica or Helsana branch. Interesting questions arise for health insurers. For example, how do you handle drug prescriptions or reimbursements? Of course, these companies must also assume their role as health partners in the metaverse. Until then, a lot needs to happen in the Metaverse, for now these are just the first leaps.
What benefits do health insurers or healthcare companies see in the metaverse?
What you can already do now are psychiatric treatments such as so-called aversion therapies. However, the metaverse also opens other channels to interact with doctors. For example, after operations, they can use their virtual reality glasses to assess the progress of the patient’s healing process. The Balgrist hospital in Zurich also uses this principle: experts from all over the world can use VR glasses to support operations. Training scenarios can also be easily replicated in the metaverse. The body parts of the deceased are then no longer necessary, for example when treating complex fractures. Another very important area is that of digital twins. Your own avatar is fed with personal health data to simulate the effects of medications.
The doctor and the patient can then be in two different places. Personal trust is very important, especially when it comes to medical treatment. Isn’t excess technology a deterrent?
That’s how people want to be in contact with their doctor. But there are exceptions. On the one hand, the Covid pandemic has shown us that people are ready to be examined digitally, especially if they have minor complaints. The second exception concerns serious cases. After surgery or chemotherapy, the immune system is very weak. Every hospital visit is extremely risky. It may be advantageous to conduct the debriefing digitally. In these cases, you already know the doctor personally. If the expert who can save their life is abroad, people are also happy if a “foreigner” can help digitally.
Virtual reality glasses are still quite unwieldy devices. What steps towards usability remain to be taken?
For the Metaverse experience to be truly compelling, the glasses need to evolve. Current VR glasses are too heavy to wear all day. However, the technology will develop rapidly.
Data protection is also an important issue in the healthcare sector. Isn’t the loss of control increasing with increasing digitization?
Of course, when you collect more and more data, there is a risk. There are ways to better protect data, but this is often not done. Cyberattacks can only be slowed down, but not completely prevented. In the area of digitization, however, things are always over-dramatized. Patient data on paper at the doctor can also be lost or fall into the wrong hands. Don’t demonize technology.
Metaverse is a very broad term that refers to platforms from different companies. Should the Swiss healthcare industry develop its own solutions or is it better to work with the big players?
There will be different interconnected platforms. A Swiss solution that stops at national borders makes no sense. Instead, there will be Swiss websites accessible from all over the world.
How does the Swiss healthcare sector compare to other countries when it comes to digitization?
Switzerland is certainly not the leader here and is not too dominant compared to its German-speaking neighbors. Switzerland, with its small population and great prosperity, might actually be in the lead. There are good start-ups, but the money is not flowing into digitization to the same extent in this country as, for example, in America, India, China or England. The fax machines of Swiss hospitals, which were again used during the Corona period, were not a good proof of identity.
Would you like more government incentives to remedy Switzerland’s delay in the field of digitization?
I don’t think that the State should act alone, but that the Confederation should in particular encourage research. The state must financially support innovations and new systems, set clear rules and create interfaces.
Large companies, in particular, often struggle to cope with change and digitization. Are Swiss healthcare companies ready to invest time and money in new technologies?
The money is definitely there. Healthcare costs in Switzerland are constantly rising, so there is motivation for change. Many pharmaceutical companies also operate internationally and face foreign competition. But is the pressure so great that the Swiss healthcare industry needs to change immediately? We still rely on our prosperity and our hitherto very good medical system. Unfortunately, due to the excellent existing infrastructure, new technologies are only considered as an additional means.
At the moment, Metaverse and Co. are just an additional channel. In how many years will they be standard?
Telemedicine exploded during the Corona crisis. But that was a special case. It will be some time before the metaverse becomes the standard for medical exams, as the technology just isn’t advanced enough yet. It will be faster for simple and individual clinical pictures, but the operations will probably continue to be done physically for the moment (laughs).