Transforming Healthcare: How Will Technology Change Lives
The global healthcare market is developing rapidly. There is a transition from the era of blockbusters to more complex and targeted solutions: biomarkers, genomics, proteomics, gene editing, CAR-T-cell therapy. Virtual technologies and the Internet of Things are digitalizing healthcare. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are accelerating the discovery of new molecules and solutions and providing access to future technologies.
The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the strength of the healthcare system in all countries of the world, including the United States, while at the same time it is a catalyst for significant changes in healthcare. However, against the backdrop of new challenges, it is necessary to remember about patients with cancer and chronic diseases, who, as during a pandemic, Pharmaceutical companies are also undergoing a significant transformation: from the development and production of drugs, they are moving to create a holistic ecosystem around the patient, from the treatment of diseases to an integrated approach, which, in addition to treatment, includes prevention and early diagnosis, patient support throughout the medical history, and monitoring after an illness.
In the field of Internet technologies in health care, there are a number of promising areas, including the creation of an Internet resource on the current state of development of digital medicine, the use of artificial intelligence methods in health care, telemedicine, etc. The main goal is to identify the most promising directions for the development of Internet technologies.
The most promising areas of using Internet technologies in healthcare are:
- Internet navigation of citizens in the healthcare system
- Disease prevention and healthy lifestyle development
- Clinical Telemedicine
- Intelligent systems
- Medical information systems – collection, sorting, and processing of information, electronic document management;
- Mobile technologies for express diagnostics and monitoring of physiological functions;
Assessment and quality control of medical care - Remote education
- Support for scientific clinical decisions
- Distance selling of medicines and medical products
Mobile Health is a set of solutions for patients and doctors using mobile technologies to provide medical services, whether it is tracking patient data, performing diagnostics, or raising patient awareness about a disease.
The Mobile Health system usually consists of a smartphone application and a wearable device and allows you to take care of your health at a low cost. The main task of these devices is to independently monitor the user’s well-being, which is especially valuable for patients suffering from chronic diseases when timely monitoring of the body’s indicators helps to gain time and take the necessary measures to prevent further development of the disease.
One of the most promising and fastest-growing segments of healthcare in the world is telemedicine. Telemedicine is the most striking example of digital healthcare and literally serves as a lifeline for millions of people who, for one reason or another (living in hard-to-reach regions, physical disabilities opportunities, being in a risk group during the period of self-isolation) do not have access to face-to-face consultations in medical institutions. For patients who do not have such restrictions, telemedicine services are also very important – they can significantly save time.