In 2021 global research indicated that 85% of the respondents were comfortable taking care of their health provided they had the right information and technology applications available to them. This is indeed an interesting scenario and never before has the power of data and technology combined to create an empowered patient and consumer. Today not only do we have access to health information from reliable sources but also, we have the necessary tools and applications available to us on our smartphones and connected devices.
The current Covid 19 pandemic has further accelerated this growth in digital adoption in healthcare with the focus being permanently on patient experience. If government initiatives like the Arogya Setu application gave up to date information on the state of the pandemic and the actions one needs to take to prevent them, applications like COWIN helped manage probably one of the largest vaccination rollouts in the country, complete with the digital certificate that was directly delivered to the patient’s phone and email id.
What we have understood for the future of healthcare in India is that there is a convergence of 3 key elements
- Expertise- Provided by Hospitals, Medical Devices, Pharma, Doctors, Nurses, Nutritionists, Fitness Instructors, etc.
- Technology- Cloud, Mobile, APIs, Machine Learning, and AI among others
- Data – Structured data in the form of EMR/HIS records, Unstructured data from fitness apps, and derived data from elements like weather that impact health
More details and thoughts on the future were published in an article in the Economic Times Health World. Do read the article here. Would love to explore your thoughts on the same. Do write back to discuss.
