A Vision for Twenty‐First Century Healthcare

Abstract

OverviewThe convergence of system medicine, big data, and patient‐activated social networks is leading to a medicine that is predictive, preventive, personalized, and participatory (P4). P4 medicine has two central thrusts—optimizing wellness and demystifying disease. To bring P4 medicine into the healthcare system, we initiated a longitudinal pilot study generating individual data clouds for 108 well people. The integration of the individual data clouds identified “actionable possibilities” that allow individuals to optimize wellness or avoid disease. We believe that this approach will transform healthcare by decreasing costs, increasing quality, and promoting innovation in a new healthcare sector—scientific wellness.