Author: Suwan Juntiwasarakij, Ph.D., Senior Editor
Technology is reshaping the relationship between patients, healthcare providers, and the health system. Adoption of advanced technologies built upon networks or platforms that organize transactions and interactions is important for all economies whether they be emerging and developing or developed. Mobile will play a crucial role, as it has become the patient’s constant companion. By connecting patients and healthcare providers, treatments can be improved due to non-stop real-time gathered data. By providing access to such accurate information, healthcare providers are able to take immediate action if necessary. This will prevent conditions from worsening and therefore improve quality of life, especially in the time that the world populations have gradually but unstoppable become aging and more dependent. This article unfolds three drivers, which are dependency of the populations, IoT technology, and artificial intelligence, that contribute the smart, participatory paradigm of healthcare industry.
AGING THAT PULLS
Population aging and a rising middle class push health systems toward participatory health. According UN World Population Aging, by 2050, 1 in 5 people globally will be aged 60+ years. Rapid population aging places increasing demands on health care systems and expenditure. In some regions, around 25% of the population will be aged more than 60 years old by 2030. With economic changes, an aging population, and higher prevalence in chronic diseases, the healthcare sector has seen a dramatic increase in costs. As a result, the industry has had to adapt to these pressures, readjusting its focus to efficiency and quality. Digital technologies provide a solution to this. Not only patients, but also healthcare providers have much to benefit from digital healthcare.
DIGITIZING SUPPORTS WITH THE IoT WEARABLES
The use of IoT in healthcare will open completely new frontiers in diagnosing disease with the use of precision treatment and smart monitoring devices equipped with micro-and nano-sensors. Such wearables and carry-on sensors are also utilized to acquire medical data from individuals. The sensory data are transmitted to the data centers as the inputs of processing and further decision making processes. This, in turn, will make the healthcare sector more efficient. Remote monitoring in particular will lower the risk of emergency hospitalization and reduce the burden on inpatient hospitals, while remote communication between patients and doctors will be made easier. This makes possible smart, participatory healthcare.
(Source: The Rise of Consumer Health Wearables: Promises and Barriers)
The global IoT healthcare market is expected to record considerable growth. It was valued at US$60.4 billion in 2014, and is estimated to reach US$136.8 billion by 2021. In particular wearable tech market is expected to be worth 34 billion in US$2020 by which 411 million smart wearables were sold such as smartwatches and fitness trackers which represent 50% of the sales. Successful implementation of the IoT in remote monitoring of diabetes and asthma patients, couple with high penetration of fitness and wellness devices, has created strong demand for the internet-of-things projects in the healthcare industry. The remote patient monitoring market saw a big jump in the past year with 7.1 million patients in 2016 enrolled in some forms of digital health program featuring connected medical devices, and using patients’ own mobile devices as a core part of their care plan.
The implementation of healthcare systems on IoT is changing the business model in the healthcare industry; patients and provider both stand to benefit from the IoT for multiple reasons such as decreased costs, improved outcomes of treatment, improved disease management, enhanced patient experience, remote monitoring of chronic disease, and improved drug management.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THAT CURES
Digital computing and technological breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and the availability of big data present the promise of reducing such errors, whilst making healthcare more accessible and affordable. Artificial intelligence will not completely replace physicians and care workers, but it can play a key role in reducing the pressure on healthcare systems and be a decision supporting tool for physicians. AI in health represents a collection of multiple technologies enabling machines to sense, comprehend, act and learn, so they can perform administrative and clinical healthcare functions. Unlike legacy technologies that are only algorithms or tools that complement a human, health AI today can truly augment human activity—taking over tasks that range from medical imaging to risk analysis to diagnosing health conditions.
(Source: Tractica’s “Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare Applications” report)
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THAT CURES
Digital computing and technological breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and the availability of big data present the promise of reducing such errors, whilst making healthcare more accessible and affordable. Artificial intelligence will not completely replace physicians and care workers, but it can play a key role in reducing the pressure on healthcare systems and be a decision supporting tool for physicians. AI in health represents a collection of multiple technologies enabling machines to sense, comprehend, act and learn, so they can perform administrative and clinical healthcare functions. Unlike legacy technologies that are only algorithms or tools that complement a human, health AI today can truly augment human activity—taking over tasks that range from medical imaging to risk analysis to diagnosing health conditions.
AI delivers what many healthcare organizations today need, especially as companies whether the financial and operational turbulence of rising labor costs, digital expectations from consumers and
increasing demand for interoperability, among other challenges, by Accenture’s Analysis “Arttificial Intelligence: Heathcare’s New Nervous System.” In addition, the combination of explosion of data and analytics technology altogether is leading to smarter systems; adopting AI can never be stronger. Health AI presents opportunities across a diverse set of therapy areas, including wellness and lifestyle management, diagnostics, wearables and virtual assistants. To fully comprehend the opportunity, healthcare organizations must understand the full taxonomy of AI applications—and the potential value each delivers financially, but also by way of organizational and workflow improvements.
Global software revenue from 21 key healthcare AI use cases will grow from $165 million in 2017 to $5.6 billion annually by 2025. Including the hardware and services sales that will be driven by these software implementations, the firm anticipates that the total revenue opportunity for the healthcare AI market will reach $19.3 billion by 2025, according to Tractica’s report, “Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare Applications.”
TAKE-HOME MESSAGE
Although many champion wearables as data-rich devices that will revolutionize 21st century medicine, it remains highly probable that, like many technological trends, these mass-marketed gadgets will drift into obscurity. This may generate additional confusion and anxiety for both practitioner and patient. More worryingly, the margin of error can be high when patients without medical training attempt to attribute symptoms to a specific stream of data from devices that may themselves be unreliable. Moving forward, practitioners and researchers should try to work together and open a constructive dialogue on how to approach and accommodate these technological advances in a way that ensures wearable technology can become a valuable asset for health care in the 21st century.