We live in exciting times, in which technological acceleration drive profound changes in all walks of life. Health and Healthcare have not been seriously disrupted by these changes to date, but it is suggested that this steady state is very likely to change, soon. This promise, or threat, depends on one’s point of view, is most relevant to discuss in Israel in light of its designation as one of the world’s health-tech key innovation hubs. The conference theme – “Health and Healthcare in the Age of Innovation” – provides a platform for exchanging ideas and innovative approaches, and for exploring the dynamic evolution of health policy and healthcare practices worldwide, acknowledging the complexities and uncertainties in this field in this exciting era.

Data-driven care – realizing the promise

Christian Lovis (Switzerland) & Kira Radinsky (IL)

It this era of Artificial Intelligence, how shall we harness the potential of advanced analytics and healthcare big data, to improve care effectiveness and support innovation?

Uber’ization of healthcare – dream or nightmare?

Daniel Kraft (USA) & Rafael Beyar (IL)

Tele-care is becoming a mainstay of healthcare practice. As such, new models of care provision become available and popular, including just-in-time meeting with a health practitioner anywhere and anytime, as well as semi-automatic care models driven by algorithms. Will these new care paradigms provide inferior care to the masses or allow for improved, personalized and timely new paradigm of care.

Innovation in health economics, and the economics of healthcare innovation

Peter Neumann (Germany) & Dan Greenberg (IL)

How does the age of innovation impact health economics? Can we utilize advanced analytic methodologies to change the way health economics is practiced, and do we have the proper economics tools to assess the potential and actual impact of innovative tools and practices?

New challenges and threats in the age of innovation

Harold Wolf (USA) & Avi Israeli (IL)

New ethical challenges emerge in this era of use of AI in healthcare – how shall we make the algorithms transparent and fare? How shall we tackle the challenges of equity as costly innovative tools become available first only for the affluent tech-literate few? How do we balance privacy with the societal beneficial impact of health data utilization? How shall we tackle cyber and hacking risks?

Global leaders in this domain will be addressing the conference in plenary and parallel sessions. The parallel sessions will include presentations, workshops, panels and round tables, designed to provide fertile grounds for the emergence of new insights, ideas and understandings.

Hoping to see you in September, and wishing us all a successful and inspiring conference, and a lovely time in Jerusalem.

Prof. Ran Balicer (Israel) and Prof. Zak Kohane (USA)