Trends in Healthcare
Text: Shalet James Photos: Various Sources
Thanks to technology, now you can wear your health on your sleeve, and we mean literally. Wearable devices available in the market today can help you keep check on your daily calories and keep lifestyle diseases at bay. In order to keep a tab on health and fitness, losing weight or even to sleep better, we must optimize our method of tracking health. And that is being made possible with technology and its various gifts to the Health industry. According to recent health report, the estimated numbers of cancer cases in India are two million and every year seven lakh new cases are detected and three lakh die due to cancer in the country. The fast changing lifestyle and environment, climatic changes arraying new diseases, it’s high time that we keep a check on our healthon a regular basis. Today’s rising health issues raises the question: How can we ensure quality, cost-effective and smart health care. Here are some of the major upcoming innovative trends that will make a difference in our Health.
Human Augmentation
Thanks to technological advances for revolutionising the Healthcare system. Advancements are continuously being made in human augmentation. This technology is now moving toward not just replacing lost vision or hearing but enhancing it. The robotics of prosthetics is also advancing. There are still many researchers involved in developing prosthetic legs that include fully functioning ankles and knees that rely on motors along with sensors to mimic human motion.
Price Control and Transparency
As there are a hue and cry on surging drug prices, health authorities will bring transparency measures in drug pricing soon. According to medical researcher’s price control will be soon applied especially for diabetes and cholesterol medicines where more low-cost generic competition is gaining market acceptance.
Telehealth
Telehealth is a boon to the healthcare industry. It allows patients and specialists remote access to each other and provides the ability to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients from a distance. Telehealth Advancement Act 2011 (TAA) in 2012, telemedicine (telehealth) was able to move beyond live video communications. This service not only allows patients’ personal specialists to monitor their health, but it also grants health care professionals the capacity to develop virtual partnerships with urban and specialist healthcare sites.
Wearables
Health monitoring devices or smartphones which help tracking diet and fitness has become a prerequisite for a fitness-savvy person. There are devices that allow users to monitor one’s heart rates, blood pressure, stress and sleeping patterns.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Medical Imaging Informatics
AI-enabled clinical decision support tools are expected to increase in the coming years. Healthcare professionals find the usability of these AI systems as decision support tools and not decision makers. In 2017, AI will play a big role in diagnostic imaging by complementing radiologists with advanced interpretation and imaging informatics supports