David Ellis

Health care institutions are riding a tsunami of change, but that's no reason to be caught by surprise.

Machines are taking over jobs not only of laborers, but of teachers and even parents. What does this mean for the future of health care institutions?

David Bouwman, M.D. retired on May 31, having served 38 years in the department of surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine. David Ellis made marginal contributions toward Bouwman's advancement of the technology and pedagogy of surgical simulation, which, as regular readers of this column will know, are central to medicine and surgery of the future.

Computers are getting faster, and they're getting faster more quickly.

A conservative provider mindset may be the biggest drag on "postmodern" medicine — personalized, regenerative, bionic and digital.

Accelerating medical discovery hinders health literacy and patient safety, especially in the developing world. We believe that the situation is temporary and that increasingly smart technology eventually will obviate the need for human functional literacy in health care.

Acceleration renders innovation unmanageable to the human brain, but not to artificial intelligence. Fairly soon, hospitals must and will devolve more and more authority, including even clinical authority, to machines, and should be prepared for some of the potential downsides.

When a medical supply company starts marketing its products to surgeons, surgeons start wanting those products despite a lack of evidence that they improve outcomes. Over time, some new devices prove their worth; others are discarded, and money is wasted. Surgeons need help determining which devices likely will make a difference.

What are the forces shaping the future of primary care, and what is that shape? These are among the key questions posed in a just-released study by the Institute for Alternative Futures.

Is medical tourism a serious threat and, if so, how might U.S. hospitals combat it?

Futurist David Ellis suggests that personalized medicine may offer better odds for patients than traditional medicine.

The authors share their thoughts on whether the clinical trial will become obsolete.

Advances in genomic medicine have put us on the road to brand new forms of treatment.

Machine intelligence is replacing human intelligence, but that's no reason for despair.

An artificial intelligence system, Dr. Watson will soon see anyone, anywhere, at any time, and deliver better quality diagnoses at lower cost than any other doctor.

In the future, hospitals will be reduced to handling only critical care and trauma, and fewer physicians will be needed.

A "mediasphere" dominated by tweets and soundbites indicates a growing need for analytics and analysis.

A "mediasphere" dominated by tweets and soundbites indicates a growing need for analytics and analysis.