HTC Vibe The company is carving out a unique role in the healthcare sector by developing virtual reality headsets and investing in medical augmented reality (XR) technologies and companies.
Dan O’Brien, president of the Americas for HTC Vive, MobiHealthNews Discuss HTC Vive’s place in the healthcare space and what investors should prioritize when funding it Medical XR ventures and emerging technologies.
MobiHealth News: How is HTC Vive being used in the healthcare sector?
Dan O’Brien: If you look at our brand, we have a blue triangle that represents technology, innovation and humanity. This is our brand promise, this is what we really do, this is the solution that we’ve been working on since day 1. Healthcare is one of the areas where we felt we could make a difference, whether it’s training or simulation, 3D visualization or actual treatments.
We quickly started working with teams of physicians and clinicians who had ideas. One of the early ideas was The surgical theater was a 3D visualization of MRI scans and cancer clusters, where you could see the surgeon preparing for the operation in 3D. This was in 2016, so we’ve been in the healthcare field for quite some time.
Over the years, we have also worked on large-scale deployments with companies such as: Penumbra. We also have partners like PeriopSim, Cinemax, XRHealth, VRpatients, some of which we’ve invested in as a company, and some of which we’ve just partnered with to jointly sell our solutions to the market.
But we’re still active in all of these areas. Training simulation is one of the biggest vertical use cases where we can make a big difference. We can speed up training a lot. An hour of training can be done in 15 minutes.
This has been very effective. And the other thing that we’re seeing as a very good data point is the reduction in errors. We’ve seen a more than nine-fold reduction in errors by surgeons, and that’s because they’re practicing over and over again. Now we’re starting to build out simulations of patient interactions as well, which is very good.
personal information: Mehta has struggled to establish itself in the healthcare sector Due to suspected HIPAA violationsWhy is HTC Vive so confident that its move into healthcare won’t negatively impact the company?
O’Brien: We can see that the company has data privacy issues and has adopted a business model that utilizes that data. We do not collect large amounts of data, nor do we have a data mining business model.
In financial services, federal government, energy and other sensitive and high security sectors, we are the default device. Because we don’t mine your data. We protect your data. We encrypt your data. We encrypt communications between headsets.
We’re also ISO certified specifically for handling medical patient data. Once the information is processed in the headset, it’s sent back to the ISO or hospital network that’s using the product. We’re certified to be able to transmit that data. We don’t touch it or take it away, but we pass it securely to where it should be stored so that nobody else can actually touch it.
As a company, we’ve invested in how we work with patients and how we work with data. Healthcare is a natural area where we can make a big difference. We’re working with the VA, working with a very large network of hospitals, on advanced ways to bring more solutions to market. So this is an area where we want to focus.
personal information: HTC Vive has invested in a variety of XR companies. What should investors consider when deciding whether to fund a medical XR company?
O’Brien: When you look at some companies, they might have the data and the metrics, but the effectiveness is like, “Well, people enjoy it,” and that’s great. People who play Beat Saber enjoy lightsabers.
From an investor standpoint, you really need to see what the impact is. Is it going to have a big impact? We know there are companies out there working on specific applications of PTSD recovery and midbrain blood flow, where the headset is the delivery system for recovery or treatment.
But you need to be specific and say, “Here are the companies with clinical data. They’ve shown the actual effectiveness of their solutions. Here is a clear TAM.” [total addressable market]Here are 9 million veterans for whom we can build solutions.
In general, we need to see the actual data that these companies are working with because some of them are just working on “mental health” to feel good. I think that term is very overused. But really, do their teams understand when a person is having a mental health crisis? What is that crisis? When cognitive function is declining versus when they are actually having a crisis.
Looking at the space station and the accomplishments of the commander so far, [Andreas] Mogensen and The study he did with the European Space Agency was measuring data while he was wearing the headset while he was riding a stationary bike. It was a very simple measurement, but we were measuring the effect of reducing stress and improving your overall cognitive state so you can handle all the tasks of the day. Because if you want to be in a stressful environment, you should live in space. Space is a stressful environment.
So I look at all of these scenarios and try to be intentional about understanding the companies that really want to make a difference.
