We pride ourselves on being experts in MDM and PIM.  But we also pride ourselves in keeping up with new technologies and industry trends.  Today, we’re taking a long view – after all, why look to 2020 when we can leapfrog to 2040 to reveal a potentially different healthcare and patient care reality.

From hospital care to clinical research, drug development and insurance, artificial intelligence applications are revolutionizing how the health sector works.  The use of Virtual Reality, for example – already in use as an interactive and immersive experience, is being used to transport patients to a place beyond the clinical setting with the goal of reducing patient stress and anxiety.

Many more breakthroughs are expected over the next twenty years, according to Deloitte.  According to a report published earlier this year by the analyst firm, the future will be “focused on wellness and managed by companies that assume new roles to drive value in the transformed health ecosystem.”  And traditional sectors that now make up the health care ecosystem will likely look completely different by 2040.

Data & Platforms:

Data Convener

Data-gathering organizations will have an economic model built around aggregating and storing individual, population, institutional, and environmental data. They will also promote interoperability and help ensure privacy/security. Data will be used to drive the future of health.

Science and Insights Engine

Some organisations will likely have an economic model driven by their ability to derive insights and define the algorithms that power the future of health. These organisations will conduct research, develop analytical tools, and generate data insights that go far beyond human capabilities in care delivery.

Data and Platform Infrastructure Builder

This new world of health will need infrastructure and platforms that can serve highly empowered and engaged individuals in real-time. Someone will need to lay the pipes. Data and platform infrastructure builders will develop and manage site-less health infrastructure to link consumers and health stakeholders and set standards for platform components.

 

Care Enablement:

Connectors & Intermediaries

These are the logistics providers that will run the just-in-time supply chain, facilitate device and medication procurement operations, and get the product to the consumer.

Individualised Financier

Unlike the health insurers of today, these organisations will create the financial products that individuals will use to navigate their care. These organisations will offer tailored modular and catastrophic care coverage packages. They will drive reductions in care costs by leveraging advanced risk models, consumer incentives and market power.

Regulators

While we will still have regulators, we probably won’t view them as governmental traffic cops. They will set the standards for how business is transacted. The regulators of the future will influence policy to catalyse the future of health and drive innovation while promoting consumer and public safety.

 

Well-Being and Care Delivery:

Health Product Developer

Health product developers will power the consumer health ecosystem by developing and manufacturing wellness and care products-from applications to drugs and devices. The economic model of these organizations is driven by their ability to enable well-being and care delivery. While there will continue to be organisations that develop products, those products won’t be limited to pharmaceuticals and medical devices. They will also include software, applications and wellness products.

Consumer-Centric Health Community

Along with companies that develop health products, other organizations will provide a structure that supports virtual communities. Consumer-centric health players will provide virtual, personalized wellness and care to consumers; leverage community to encourage behaviour change, and drive consumer and caregiver education.

Specialty Care Operator

Two decades from now, we will still have a disease, which means we will still need speciality care providers and highly specialised facilities where those patients can receive care. Speciality care operators will provide essential speciality care and interventions when in-home wellness and care efforts are insufficient.

Localised Health Hub

While there will be some speciality care, most health care will likely be delivered in localised health hubs. Localised health hubs will serve as centres for education, prevention, and treatment in a retail setting. Additionally, local hubs will connect consumers to virtual, home and auxiliary wellness providers.