I've always been fascinated by how technology can improve healthcare, and over the years at my keynote talks, audiences have asked me for my view of what's next.Finally, I managed to grab two leading figures on this subject: Dr Simon Wallace, Chief Clinical Information Officer at Nuance Communications, and Umang Patel, Chief Clinical Information Officer at Microsoft to help explain this important topic.

Simon is a GP & public health doctor providing consultancy services to healthcare organisations. He has 20 years of commercial experience modernising & improving the delivery of healthcare. 

Previously he was at Hutchison 3G, AXA,  GSK & Worldcare UK.

Umang has worked across commercial and public sectors in healthcare both from payor and provider perspectives and was an early employee at Babylon Health, commercial leader at Aviva, and a NHS Leadership Academy Fellow and practising clinician at Frimley Health.On the back of the news that Microsoft has agreed to acquire Nuance Communications for $19.7 billion and the transaction is now approved and complete, I spoke to Simon and Umang about how significant this alliance is for the future of digital health.

They are both passionate clinicians and have a deep understanding of how healthcare will be improved with the use of the latest technologies.I managed to ask many of my "What's the future of healthcare" questions I've wanted to ask for a while, and also confirmed some of my futurist predictions.In this wide-ranging chat, we covered:

• The Nuance & Microsoft Alliance
• Nuance & conversational AI
• Future health plans from Microsoft
• Can technology restore the NHS to full health?
• Open data vs patient privacy
• The power of AI in transforming healthcare
• What we've learned from the pandemic about driving innovation
• The success of the NHS app
• Importing fitness data into health systems
• The untapped power of speech & AI in healthcare
• What does the Healthcare Professional of the future look like?
• What does the Hospital of the future look like?
• The promise of a "digital pill"
• Using voice to establish patient wellbeing
• Simon's & Umang's proudest projects
• 3 Actionable things to better understand the benefits of digital health solutions

Resources mentioned on the showUnited Nation The Case for Integrating IrelandBetter Off Dead: Jack ReacherKaren Jacobsen - "Aussie Karen" Siri voiceMore on our guestsSimon on LinkedinUmang on Linkedin

Your Host: Actionable Futurist® & Chief Futurist Andrew GrillFor more on Andrew - what he speaks about and recent talks, please visit ActionableFuturist.com Andrew's Social ChannelsAndrew on LinkedIn@AndrewGrill on Twitter @Andrew.Grill on InstagramKeynote speeches hereAndrew's upcoming book