Over the long weekend (it was a holiday yesterday in Canada), I was doing a bit of cleaning and I stumbled across an old brochure that I had taken from a company who was building a blockchain based patient engagement solution. This brochure was from about 6 years ago when the hype around blockchain had reached a crescendo.

I won’t name names, but I looked up the URL on the brochure and sure enough, the company no longer exists.

Although crypto continues to be spoken about and still captures attention of people, the same cannot be said about blockchain. It has so far not lived up to the hype that surrounded it a few years ago. I recall distinctly how one entrepreneur was claiming it would revolutionize patient records – and maybe one day the concept of blockchain will be successfully applied to medical records at scale, but for now, it remains an example of over-hype in my mind.

And that’s the topic I would like to discuss with the HCLDR community on the next tweetchat – Tuesday May 23rd at 8:30pm ET (for your local time click here). I’m curious to hear what the community believes is over-hyped in healthcare…and the reverse, what is under-hyped? What technology, process, person, concept or product is getting too much attention or not enough?

For example, is Artificial Intelligence over-hyped in healthcare? I think in some specific cases it is, but in other situations it is not. I believe AI will have a tremendous impact on healthcare operations in the next few years, but will it have a significant impact on patient outcomes? I’m not 100% sure…because for every algorithm that is helping to diagnose diseases, there is another that is designed to “optimize risk profiles of patients” which may mean someone out there suddenly cannot afford coverage because they have been flagged as being in a risky patient population.

I’m also curious to learn what ideas our community has for combatting hype. Do you have specific signs that you look for that indicate to you that something is over-hyped in healthcare? And what should we do when we encounter someone who has bought into the hype too much?

Here are the questions for our discussion:

• Q1 What criteria do you use to determine is something is over-hyped? In other words, what signs do you see that warn you that something might be more hot air than substance?
• Q2 What is over-hyped in healthcare at the moment? Is there a technology, process, concept, product, topic, or even person that is getting too much attention right now?
• Q3…and now the reverse…what is under-hyped in healthcare at the moment? Is there something that isn’t getting enough attention right now?
• Q4 What lessons can we/should we learn from following or buying into something that was over-hyped?

References

Wilson, Mark. “The 7 Most Overhyped trends of 2022”, Fast Company, 27 December 2021, https://www.fastcompany.com/90707314/the-7-most-overhyped-trends-of-2022, accessed 23 May 2023

Milne, Gemma. “Hype isn’t just annoying, it’s harmful to science and innovation”, Wired, 19 October 2020, https://www.wired.co.uk/article/hype-science-innovation, accessed 23 May 2023

Spurgeon, David. “Media hype? It’s not as bad as it seems”, BMJ, 8 May 2004, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC406374/, accessed 23 May 2023

Image Credit

Centennial College – Students being attentive