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6 Ways Technology Can Help Tackle Future Pandemics
6 Ways Technology Can Help Tackle Future Pandemics

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Technology can help us anticipate and curb future outbreaks.

COVID-19 brought with it a set of unique challenges that have been well-documented. At the right time, it might be beneficial for us to look back and determine the things that we did right as well as the things that we need to improve to deal with the next pandemic.

Realistically, technology may not be able to prevent a pandemic from occurring in the future, but it can help us be better prepared by anticipating outbreaks and preventing disease spread. It can help us gain crucial time that the health care system may need to prepare and respond.

Technology has the power to reach everyone, en masse or individually, no matter how remote people may be. This will give us the added advantage of being able to make a material difference quicky and effectively. Here are 6 examples of how digital health solutions can make this happen.

 

1. Extend patient reach and access

COVID-19 gave the health industry a swift push into digital and in-home care channels. A study by McKinsey showed overall telehealth utilization is 38 times higher than it was in the pre-pandemic era. Telehealth technologies can help by reinventing virtual and hybrid (virtual/in-person) care models, with many advantages.

These technologies can reduce the pressure on hospital capacity, reduce virus transmission, provide care to more patients than is possible with in-person care and bring the skills of infectious disease specialists to people living in distant locations.

In the last year or so, consumers have also readily embraced these channels. In some cases, patients now seem to prefer digital channels over the in-person solutions.

2. Enhance quality of care

From web and app-based symptom checkers and triage tools to automated self-scheduling to more efficient data exchange, digital health technologies can create a seamless experience and cut down on consumer frustration.

For informed and tech-savvy consumers, digital health solutions can enable many capabilities. These include researching conditions, searching and comparing providers and exploring prices for the care they need. They can even select the clinician and site they want to visit, book appointments and sign up for important reminders.

This can drastically help reduce the stress on an overburdened health care system and deliver connected experiences that enable the right care in the right setting at the right time, every time.

3. Help predict and prepare for health emergencies

The pandemic also spotlighted the fact that precise and actionable data across care settings is the new currency of the health ecosystem. With health care organizations urgently looking for real time population health data to accurately predict the next wave of infections, it became more than evident that we need to remove health information silos and have an open exchange with stakeholders across the ecosystem.

By addressing interoperability of data across systems, technology can help ensure a more seamless exchange of health information. This helps create rapid prototypes, make quick discoveries and better respond to public health emergencies.

Also, by utilizing AI based prediction models, internet-based surveillance technology and remote sensing technology it is now possible to study the current burden of disease at a given time and then predict when and where the next outbreak of an infectious disease may occur. Accordingly, scarce health resources can be allocated and optimally utilized.

4. Shifts focus from sickness to wellness

With the rise of wearable technologies and remote monitoring, we are now in an era where we can deeply engage patients in their own health and wellbeing.

By regularly monitoring an individual’s actions, technology can help guide their decisions in a way that preserves and empowers their choices. For example, a wearable device could alert its wearer that he has been sitting for an extended period and that it might be a good time to go for a walk, or that it’s time to start getting ready for bed to get a full night’s rest.

Furthermore, identification of high-risk patients based on the patterns observed using artificial intelligence (AI), individual health record data, environmental variables, and social determinants of health, can proactively enhance preventive measures, thereby reducing overall costs.

5. Enhance behavioral health

Behavioral health conditions were drastically amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic due to traumatic stress, unemployment and social isolation. Digital health solutions can help increase access to behavioral health services by connecting behavioral health experts with patients at a time and in the setting of their choice.

Using sophisticated analytics, doctors can guide individuals into care and along the path to recovery, including identifying those at risk, connecting them to customized care plans and monitoring their progress.

By using tools such as online knowledge repositories that host content on cognitive behavioral therapy, technology can help engage and support individuals in their own care plans.

6. Reduce drug discovery time and overall cost of care

The process of developing new treatment and medicine is slow and painfully expensive. It can take decades — and cost billions of dollars — to bring one new drug to market. During the COVID-19 crisis we saw 36 vaccines entered in clinical trials in a record time frame.

This was made possible due to an unprecedented global will and collaboration and use of new age technology solutions. Mankind still faces several intricate diseases such as cancer and chronic diseases which pose a great risk to our communities at large.

The recent advances in genomics have created new opportunities for drug makers to reduce time and expense in the drug development process. Similarly, digital health solutions can be used to steer members towards more affordable generics, thereby reducing the overall cost of care.

Conclusion

The pandemic has brought into sharp focus the great need for digital solutions in health care. To keep pace with the needs of consumers, health care organizations must invest in upskilling or reskilling their workforce in new age technologies.

It is only by empowering and inspiring technologists to build innovative digital health solutions that we will be able to help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone.

This article, authored by Ritesh Talapatra, Managing Director, Optum Global Solutions (India) Pvt. Ltd, was published in Financial Express.

Learn more - https://www.optum.in/


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