The global healthcare system is experiencing immense changes: the traditional image of the doctor practicing “the art of medicine” is transferring to a new “science of evidence-based medicine” delivered by a digitally connected ecosystem, and to a great extent powered by large corporations.
Global healthcare cost $7.4tn in 2012, taking 10.1% of global GDP — and costs are growing faster than inflation. Since more people will have access, and an aging population needs more care, the demand will continue to grow. Nowadays, care is more data-driven, and with the automation of processes inefficiencies are extracted and outcomes enhanced. The two big technology opportunities supporting these changes are big data and mobile.
Big Data – The use of big data to create evidence-based medicine is fueled by the digitalization of clinical and administrative health records, as well as new technologies to integrate and analyze this information. Hospitals, doctors and administrators over time will more fluidly share and use information. This data allows for a quantitative analysis of care paths and their efficacy in ways never imagined.
Using a data-driven approach with predictive analytics, the number of sick managed by care professionals is tuned to an institution’s capacity. The lower risk portion of the population uses digital tools, while the most risky are taken care of by licensed professionals. These changes cannot be made operational without digital capabilities driving automation. The companies that enable the technology to create these groups of patients and supply the workflows to manage populations will prevail in the marketplace.
Mobility — and the cloud-connected mobile app, is changing how consumers conduct their lives. Mobility is infusing wellness and health — as of December 2013, there were more than 40,000 mobile applications servicing the mobile health industry. It is easy to see a future where using the phone as a hub for connected monitoring and manage one’s health.
Doctors already are prescribing apps. A continuum of consumer-driven health apps will merge with prescribed apps that become part of a provider or payer’s formulary. Consumer companies such as Google, Apple, Samsung and Microsoft are jumping into this game and want to become important hubs of personal health information connecting consumer tools such as Fitbit with electronic medical record and personal health record repositories.
Telehealth — the delivery of remote care using a computer and or phone — has become a very important part of the mobility revolution. The trick to tele-health is to make the virtual community and tools operate as if they were at the bedside. New physician-led global care delivery companies such as vRad are emerging that virtualize care with higher quality and lower cost, one specialty at a time. In the future most of us will routinely use these companies that supply virtual medical care.
Overall, the healthcare industry’s model is shifting to one of large corporations, investing significant capital to develop care solutions. These companies will dominate the care delivery landscape. Healthcare quality jobs can soon be acquired through the changes in technology. Want to find the right person to lead the changes of the healthcare technology? Contact De Vore Recruiting at 877-411-4358.
