Digital health trends & expectations in 2018

“The digital health industry is on the rise & there’re many amazing trends to get excited about in 2018!”

Trends based on facts, no crystal balls

The first digital pill to be approved by the FDA, coming of the first gene-edited embryos by Chinese researchers, and initiation of a new healthcare division by Microsoft! These are a few revolutionary things the healthcare industries experienced in 2017 which marked the year as full of marvelous achievements but, what’s coming next!

All those part of the healthcare and medical industry have their lives pretty much surrounded and dedicated to the advancing digital solutions. These individuals and industries overall collaborate with governments and policymakers across the world to synthesise all the major modifications thus bringing an optimistic change and revolutionising solutions in their country.

None of the workers and companies associated with healthcare have some magic crystal ball but only the hard-core facts, trends, and evidence that helps in predicting as to what’s coming; to a certain extent that is! Let’s have a look at what’s coming in 2018 and how healthcare industries would be impacted by these trends.

Battling diabetes with technology

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that more or less 422 million people worldwide are diabetic and the count is gradually rising. Healthcare industries thus took it upon themselves to put some serious efforts against Type-2 diabetes through preventative lifestyle choices. Digital health offers amazing solutions and assistance in managing diabetes as well as its prevention.

2018 is deemed the year when digital healthcare would actually come up with realistic evidence of fighting, managing and preventing further development of Type-2 diabetes at least. Take example of NHS England, Diabetes UK and Public Health England that have partnered with leading companies from the tech sector as a means to digitalise the fight against Type-2 diabetes and obesity.

During the pilot run, more than 5,000 people are expected to benefit with a range of health apps, gadgets including doctors in Dubai and many other digital health products. The experiment is likely to continue till 2019 but preliminary results would surely come out before the end of this year.

Wearable trackers & health insurance – The bond just got stronger

In November 2017, United Healthcare and Qualcomm revealed their tech integration with wearable devices produced by Samsung and Garmin. The plan was to allow participants/wearers to earn more or less $1,000 per year only by meeting their daily walking goals. This is perhaps the best start of a beautiful friendship between wearable manufacturers and health insurance companies; as long as both users and companies stick to their promises!

Another estimation suggested that by 2019, more than 245-million of these devices would be sold thereby the accuracy of the lifestyle dataset is likely to improve. More and more companies serving the healthcare industry are following the trend and introducing these health sensors/monitors to their program. As a result, insurance companies are likely to thrive in the digital health world.

The fusion of mixed reality & medical learning

Virtual and augmented reality has a huge potential to restructure and enhance the world of medical science. The coming of more and more health apps, software, and programs available to medical students allow them to explore various healthcare anatomies, anomalies, surgical practices, and various procedures crucial to excel individual’s career in the industry.

The example of Anatomage Table is exceptional which is the world’s first virtual dissection flat surface, a perfect method to teach the composition conveniently and in-depth. Then there’s the special T-Shirt integrated with an app that’s able to peek into the human body just like Hololens giving a 3D image of organs, bones and arteries for close and correct diagnosis and treatment.

These are indeed remarkable innovations that should be incorporated officially in medical curriculums worldwide; least in developing countries where digital healthcare is taking its flight.

Conclusion

With digital healthcare, there’s more than meets the eye and things are stirring up even further with advanced technology and the participation of bigger industries.