Dave deBronkart

What’s the matter with Watson? Famously, IBM Watson failed to improve cancer care, blowing hundreds of millions in the process. I was part of the earliest meeting that found cracks in Watson’s intellectual armor – cracks that turned out five years later to be its “cause of death.” We’ll discuss the fatal flaws that made the Jeopardy genius stumble in oncology and how we should think differently about medicine’s AI-enabled future.

As co-founders of the Society for Participatory Medicine, my doctor and I are international thought leaders on partnering with patients, and I authored of one of 2017’s highest-impact articles in Patient Experience Journal. With humor and insight, we’ll share lessons learned from my many patient experiences and my business career about the value of hearing customer perspectives. We’ll tie them to business outcomes in three domains: customer experience, business and social change, and cultural transformation.

Empowered, Engaged, Equipped, Enabled. My classic topic, delivered hundreds of times in 18 countries.

how engaging with patients can change the future of again. More than half the humans who’ve ever been 65 are alive today, and I’m one …. yet there are only 7,000 board certified geriatricians in the US. This looks like a care disaster, but it’s the next logical step: we have so many elders because medicine kept us from dying! How can patient engagement alter what’s possible?

Let patients tell us what care really means. First keynote on this subject was to Compassionate Care Coalition of California; standing ovation. Video available on request.

This knowledge really is power. I survived kidney cancer and nobody knows why. What’s becoming newly possible?

integrating behavioral and primary care. Since 2012 I’ve been a patient voice in the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ)’s project to merge behavioral and mental health into primary care, the Integration Academy. The project has renewed urgency in the era of surging opioid deaths. Beyond opioids, all behavioral and mental health problems dramatically affect the patient’s role in health and care: Who can perform any job well if they have mood problems or worse? In this extremely current time-sensitive talk I will share the perspectives of the academics, clinicians and financial experts I’ve worked with and specific next steps providers can take.

 Type 2 diabetes is a major concern under accountable care and population health – but I’m living proof that change is possible. I got that diagnosis in my 60s and beat it by successfully changing my behavior, aided by e-health apps. I’ll share the story of how I changed my diet, walked a lot, then ran a mile (for the first time in my life!), became a 5K runner, and wound up with a cover story in a diabetes journal. As always I tell it with humor amid the insights, and and emphasis on the patient’s perspective on a chronic diagnosis.

From New Zealand and Australia to Switzerland, Stockholm and Dubai, I’ve had the privilege of learning from audiences and sponsors in hundreds of events in 18 countries. OpenNotes, patient rights, transparency and cultural trends all vary widely, from the best (New Zealand’s avid adoption of e-health) to countries that openly advertise “Don’t google it – trust a professional!” What can we learn from the different stages of this rolling wave of social change?

the role of empowerment and engagement: The shift to accountable care means providers have more reason than ever to help patients succeed between visits – but how to do it?? As a co-founder of a medical society devoted to patient-clinician partnership, I share from personal experience and evidence how medicine is starting to understand what empowerment and engagement mean in practical clinical terms. Using validated models from empowerment movements outside healthcare, I’ll explain how it really works (how it feels!), and how data, training, and access to coaching can transform what your patients achieve.

How the data patients collect, and apps patients develop, are changing what’s possible in managing their care. Examples: Hugo Campos, Dana Lewis / #OpenAPS, Michael Seres of 11Health

As a member of the BMJ’s Patient Advisory Panel I’m seeing how both the publishing process and peer review are altered when the ultimate stakeholder (the patient) is invited to guide research.

Let patients help! The shift from fee for service to accountable care means there’s plenty of reason to help patients be successful at home, beyond direct contact with providers and services. How to do it??

 I faced Stage IV (metastatic) kidney cancer, with a median survival of just 24 weeks. In less than a year I was cured, due partly to being a highly engaged patient; I went on to see my daughter’s wedding and become a grandfather and international keynote speaker. We have no idea what is possible when human potential is coupled with dedication and hard work.

– a first-hand tale and what we can learn. Ten years before The Innovator’s Dilemma my industry (graphic arts) went through profound disruption when desktop publishing put power in the hands of the consumer. I speak from experience when I tell how Christensen was right (in detail), how it feels to be under that steamroller, and how everyone must – and can – adjust and be flexible as the future evolves.

A generation ago we could choose a career and be set for life, so change can feel threatening. I know: my first industry doesn’t even exist anymore. The longer people live, the more change we see – to me it’s no longer a threat, it’s reason to celebrate and adapt. The good news: there are universal truths, and if you were smart in one era you can be smart in the next.