According to a report from the Deloitte Center of Health Solutions: "The healthcare industry is on the cusp of a major transformation that will affect all parties. All players can either lead this transformation as innovative and well-connected subjects, or they can try to resist this inevitable change."
Until just a few years ago it was too bold to think in the near future of:
"Virtual Assistants" that remember to take medication;
Remotely monitored bio-sensors that are able to detect changes in indicators and release medication as needed;
Watches that detect falls;
Refrigerators connected to applications that can determine healthy and appropriate diets for each individual;
Smart homes that detect changes in a person's temperature or different parameters to know if he or she is suffering from a disease;
Artificial intelligence to improve social, mental and physical activity to promote wellness and reduce health care costs for the elderly;
Treatments consisting of arithmetic, writing and reading exercises to reduce or delay the onset of senile dementia.
Vaccinations for diabetes, cancer or kidney and heart disease, so we will see them as we now see polio.
Furthermore, these changes will extend to the entire community, and be available at healthy stops in a shopping mall or on the street.
Adulthood will not be defined by disease and functional limitations, but rather there will be an extension of age where people thrive, be vital, work, stay connected, and live with the communities in which they choose to live.
Pillars for a new future.
Artificial intelligence and disease prevention will be two of the great pillars of this remarkable shift in global health, especially for older adults. There will always be emerging diseases, and in this case mental and behavioral health, suicides, social isolation will be some of the main known issues to be addressed.
Companies will need to take critical steps to transition this process and to stay competitive, such as adopting emerging technology, asking what people really need (and not just what they think they need), creating strategic partnerships with other entrepreneurs as data warehousers and analyzers, and others who are able to provide timely patient feedback based on the information in the always-on biosensors. For example, these biosensors will detect patients with untreated chronic diseases in need of emergency care with high probability. These new partners will exist outside the traditional healthcare infrastructure and will extend the new system into the workplace, homes and the community.
It is expected that the healthcare system of the future will have shifted its focus from identifying risk factors and genetic susceptibility to prevention and offering cures rather than treatment and maintenance. It is also expected that intervention and treatment will be more precise, less complex and invasive, and more affordable.
Challenges ahead.
As we have already mentioned, if cures are discovered for existing diseases, or more precise treatments for heart disease, cancer, diabetes and others are adopted, different challenges will surely emerge requiring other solutions and services.
It is already foreseen that focus will shift sharply to mental and behavioral health, depression, suicides, and social isolation, which will be presented as "the new epidemics". In addition, the methodological position of treatment will be holistic: through a systemic approach, considering the individual as an integrated and global "whole".
This trend of placing focus on mental health conditions has already prompted a global response, with the birth of a new industry, government policies and regulations in different countries.
Various examples are readily available throughout the world:
In the United Kingdom: The Ministry of Loneliness was created;
In the United States: A Special Senate Committee on Aging and Health Hearings on Isolation and Loneliness;
In Argentina: The Directorate for the Elderly and the National Mental Health Directorate.
In Mexico: Psychiatric Care Services under the Ministry of Health;
In Brazil: Contingency plans emerged during the pandemic and set a precedent for further development of health policies and protection of the elderly and their mental health;
Ibero-American Cooperation Program on the situation of the elderly, among others.
The New Global Vision: Medical Devices, Transformation, and the New Paradigm.
Reading the progress to be made, at some point it may be assumed that the medical devices market will eventually decline. But on the contrary, it will not only increase, but will create a new market with the following attributes:
More actors and more specialized, less invasive procedures and elements;
More accessible costs;
Technologies of absolute innovation such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, nanotechnology, data management, bio-sensors and endless possibilities.
The result of this technology and innovation will be an opening of an absolutely new and vast market affecting the entire global population.
If this shift is successful, it could fundamentally transform the way in which people age. The core narrative of how we think about our life, school, work, and retirement will permanently be a thing of the past.
We as a global society will have a new paradigm created for the benefit of all... are you ready for this future?
Resources:
Deloitte Insights. The future of aging.
WHO. World Health Organization. World report on aging and health.
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/186463/9789240694811_eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
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