The future of medicine: P4

Almost every industry around the world has been going through a dramatic evolution in recent years as leaders find new and creative ways to utilize rapidly improving technology and information systems. It is not surprising that manufacturing plants are becoming increasingly mechanized and that robots — whether those that exist as code on your computer or as physical machines — can do everything from monitor our energy grids to drop bombs a world away. It may be more surprising, however, that they are also working diligently to improve the way that we provide health care.

You may remember Watson, the super computer that easily beat every human it competed against on the popular game show “Jeopardy.” What you may not know is that Watson no longer competes on game shows, but instead, spends 24 hours a day working to find new ways to cure cancer at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute. It may seem improbable, but the information processing capacity that a single computer can manage far supersedes even entire teams of experienced oncologists. As Watson reviews, essentially every piece of research and data related to every kind of cancer, he is able to match individual patients with the optimal treatment plans, thereby saving lives across the country.

That ability to aggregate and process nearly infinite amounts of data is at the core of the newest movement in medicine. P4 Medicine is a system of providing care that works to quantify wellness in a collaborative and functional way that sets itself apart from our current health care paradigm. The four “Ps” stand for Predictive, Preventive, Personalized and Participatory. This is the future of medicine. The days when you would spend five minutes in a small room with your physician who makes decisions, prescribes medication and treatment all in less time than it takes to make a good sandwich, are slowly going by the waste side. What will replace that is a system of providing care that allows physicians to use personalized and actionable information in clinics and hospitals to make the most evidenced-based and cost-effective diagnosis and treatments. Patients will have real-time access to all of their own information and be allowed to — and responsible for — taking an active role in their own treatment and wellness. This is the evolution of systems processing meeting health care and it is the best chance we have to provide the highest level of care to the widest reach of patients for the most cost-effective price.

At Alliance Health, this philosophy of health care is one that resonates with us deeply. We strive to focus on preventative health, personalized treatment, and are always encouraging of patients taking an active role in their own recovery.

Dr. Chris Telesmanic is a Doctor of Physical Therapy at Alliance Health in Fresno. He alternates writing this column with Dr. Maria Fermoile. Both will be happy to answer questions submitted to maria@reedleyphysicaltherapy.com or chris@reedleyphysicaltherapy.com. Learn more about movement, fitness and health in this space each week, on our Facebook page, by going to www.alliancehealthfresno.com, or calling 478-5833.

This article first appeared in the Hanford Sentinel, Movement is Medicine column, written by Alliance Health.