How HealthTech Will Make Us Better
You are nothing without your health. This common saying is something many people don’t think about until their health (or the health of someone close to them) takes a turn for the worse.
Dealing with medical problems is taxing and draining and can make dealing with every other aspect of your life near impossible.
It’s easy to see why Sustainable Development Goal #3 is “Good health and well-being.”
But what can we do to improve our health?
Technology is improving a lot of areas and the health field is currently undergoing its technological revolution. This year, 2019, is going to see the real rise of HealthTech and the advantages that come with the burgeoning field.
In fact you probably are already reaping the advantages without knowing it. Headspace and the Fitbit offerings are two major examples of HealthTech apps that are already popular and are dramatically improving the lives of people across the globe.
What are the other new advantages HealthTech apps are bringing in? They are increasing access to fitness training through systems like Esquared, FIIT, RiseToday and TruBe; improving health through trackers like Sleep++ and MyFitnessPal; and bringing health into the modern social media world via apps like Fitocracy and inKin.
These apps are bringing fitness and health to our fingertips. I’m feeling healthier already.
What if you need a doctor?
In today’s busy and scattered world it isn’t always easy (or possible) to get to a doctor. Technology, luckily and thankfully, is bringing back the house call through virtual care.
This is a growing field and it’s expected that by 2025 the global telemedicine market will be worth more than $113 billion.
Shocking? Not really when you look at the benefits.
Virtual care is setting up a new type of waiting room and doctor’s office, allowing people greater access to the medical system by bringing it anywhere that technology can reach.
NowClinic serves as an example of how this system will work. Patients can access medical services via the app, giving them access to medical advice and help anywhere they have mobile/wifi access.
In Canada (the aptly named) Maple is gearing up to provide Canadians with greater access to the healthcare system. Using the app patients can easily discuss their medical problems with a licensed doctor and get diagnoses, solutions and prescriptions. Offering 24/7 coverage the app will serve as a sense of security for anyone needing greater access to the health system.
The biggest changing agent will of course be AI.
The benefits of AI technology stretch across the entire medical field and are set to revolutionize sectors that are in dire need of attention and innovation.
Take HealNet for example. This wunderkind is set to blaze new trails for rare disease treatment, offering hope and innovation to the 95% of the rare disease population who currently have no viable treatment options.
BenevolentAI is another company gearing up to improve our medical health system by introducing the power of AI. Its platform is designed to better understand diseases and patients, in turn uncovering the ideal treatments.
This new wave of healthcare is desperately needed. As our knowledge and population both grow our medical problems and the amount of data we have to analyze will become incredibly overwhelming without the proper tools. AI will help our doctors and researchers find the information they need and millions of lives are set to improve from its innovations.
It’s safe to say that tomorrow’s healthcare will look very different from yesterday’s, and this is a good thing. Technology is bringing us so many innovations and this is radically changing how we manage our health.
With our aging and growing population we desperately need this new evolution in medicine. Everyone will benefit and this is an amazing thing.