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 Future of technology-enabled health revolution
Future of technology-enabled health revolution

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An exclusive interview with Dr. Sureshkumar Rajasekar, Vice President, Technology, Optum Global Solutions (India) Private Limited.

 

1. What are the 2023 predictions for tech-enabled virtual care facilities like telehealth?

In a modern, high-performing health system, everyone should have access to high-quality, affordable health care. Today, tech-enabled virtual care facilities are helping us achieve this goal.

Virtual care has been one of the most prevalent trends in health care. The center of gravity for care is moving out of large hospitals and closer to our homes. According to a leading management consultant, during COVID-19 the use of telehealth increased by 38 times.

In the United States, we are connecting in-home care, telehealth, easy-to-use digital tools and at-home diagnostics. We provide more coordinated care management and simpler transitions between care settings, while improving experiences and outcomes at lower costs.

We have expanded in-home offerings with services like urgent care, acute care and hospice-level care. We provide these services to new populations like our Medicaid members.

2. Personalization at scale is making its way into the health care consumer journey. What developments can we expect in this space in developing countries?

The consumerization of health care is here to stay, and personalization in health care is also on the rise. Consumers increasingly want their health solutions to be customized to their needs. It enables them to make better-informed decisions by giving them access to reliable and relevant information supported by appropriate technology.

Numerous studies highlight that personalized care and precision medicine result in superior outcomes, improved patient experience and significant reduction in disease progression for chronic conditions. Patients are also actively seeking new channels of care that are customized to their needs.

This shift from traditional care methods is being enabled by technology. Advancements like point-of-care, health information exchange platforms, pharmacogenomics and remote monitoring solutions are already reducing lag and delivering more value per visit with immediate interventions.

Population health management, especially, will facilitate targeted personalized care in the future. Powered by effective technologies, this can help achieve the goal of identifying and solving health care challenges within the patient population at scale.

3. Retaining and attracting top digital and technology talent will be a priority and a challenge in 2023. Post pandemic, how is the health care industry poised to face this challenge?

There is plenty of room for more innovators in health care, particularly those who are driven by integrity, compassion, inclusion and performance. The health care sector — specifically health technology — is accelerating at a great pace.

The last few years have seen a tremendous amount of activity in emerging areas of focus, such as virtual health care and behavioral health services. Pegged as one of the fastest growing industries across the world, the digital health care market in India is estimated to reach INR 485.43 billion by 2024, according to a report by KPMG India.

This is a huge opportunity for India’s vast technology talent pool, estimated at around 1.6 million. Stakeholders need to inspire those with a passion for solving complex problems to choose a path that enables them to make a real impact on the communities around them.

The health care domain affects each of our lives, so as individual technologists we need to make thoughtful choices that help us distinguish a great career from a good one. It’s an incredible opportunity that we have — to spend our time and talents pursuing an ambitious yet humbling mission to help people lead healthier lives and help make health care better for everyone.

The future of health care sits at the exciting intersection of technology and talent. Personally, my hope is that the new generation of technologists will increasingly choose opportunities such as playing a leading role in anticipating future pandemics or enabling drug discovery with analytics, and thus experience a very direct impact of their work on the lives of people around them.

4. What are the upcoming technologies that make care-at-home services more accessible? How receptive are patients to such innovative models of caregiving, especially post-pandemic?

Post-pandemic, patients are increasingly seeking care-at-home services, and this trend is equally beneficial for the stakeholders. A study conducted by S&P Global Intelligence found that at-home care programs reduced the total cost of care by 32% with shorter hospital stays for patients and a significant 15% decline in complications.*

In addition to reducing the strain on hospital resources and staff, at-home care is also a cost-efficient and convenient way to enhance patient experience.

This development is being made possible by real-time monitoring of patients’ clinical/non-clinical data. New portable medical devices that help track patients’ physiological conditions in non-clinical settings are increasingly making remote care accessible to patients in different corners of the world.

Connected health care solutions that leverage IoT and analytics also have a profound impact on the patient experience in remote care. IoT devices can gather, analyze and communicate data in real-time and reduce the need to store raw data.

They also enable care providers to get vital health care analytics and data-driven insights, which speed up decision-making and are less prone to errors. Additionally, critical condition surveillance systems improve the quality of remote care by monitoring critical data from EHRs and real-time point-of-care devices that detect clinical decomposition.

With the increasing prevalence of patients choosing to receive care at home and improved connectivity from 5G technology, we can expect more advanced technological tools in the future to help us make this transition.

5. What role does technology play in advancing patient communication by making it more personalized and accessible?

Technology will enable passive and active continuous care, which will enable better communication and more access. One example of this is adherence to medication, which is critical for faster recovery and better chronic care management.

Various targeted digital programs for blood pressure monitoring and diabetes have shown significant control and benefits when compared to usual care.

For more such content, please visit - www.optum.in


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