The Future of Health Care

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13 September 2018. People who lament that the world is going in the wrong direction often overlook something crucially important: that health care is phenomenally advanced, and that advances in the sciences have made it possible to live longer and better than ever before. This is not an unimportant detail: the improvements in the health care sector over the past hundred years — which have been astronomical — have allowed the human population to grow from two billion to seven billion. Isn’t that incredible? And there’s more good news: the health care industry hasn’t finished yet. Indeed, the coming years will see things continue to progress. We take a look at some of the ways how below.

Integrating A.I. and robots

The robots are coming. For much of society, this might be a warning, as it means that somewhere in the region of 40% of jobs might be lost. But in the health care sector? The development of AI systems and robots are going to improve services, diagnoses, surgeries, errors, and more. They’re not going to replace doctors, since the “human contact” factor accounts for a big part of the overall health care experience, but instead will work in conjunction with the nurses and doctors, who will, in turn, be able to do a better job.

More efficient systems

The digital age has made everything more streamlined, but the thing that many people forget is that the “tech revolution” is still in its infancy. Soon, all spheres of business and health care will be sprinkled with digital efficiency, in turn making the services quicker, more reliable, and better for patients. There are companies who offer a doctor dispensing program, by which doctors are able to prescribe and dispense medication at the same time, saving the patient a trip for the pharmacy, and allowing them to begin treatment straight away. As things continue to progress, we’ll see more services being developed that makes life a little easy for sickly patients.

More diverse settings

The hospital will always be the hub for a community’s health care needs, but the fact is that many patients are unable to get to the hospital safely or at least without great difficulty. As the standard of mobile equipment improves, we’ll be able to see diagnosis and treatment taking place in more diverse settings, such as the home. This will be a tremendous service to the people who need on-going care but who can’t or don’t want to spend time in a hospital.

Better follow-up service

Follow-up services after treatment can be just as important as the treatment itself, but it’s just a fact that the system is slightly ineffective, if only because there’s a bigger gap between the patient and the provider. As technology is further integrated into health care, we’ll see patients able to conduct some of their follow up online, using a secure interface. If it’s determined that no-follow up is needed, then it’ll save the patient a trip to the hospital, the hospital an appointment, and the economy many save hours in lost working days.

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