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Digital Health 101

8 factors driving the digital health revolution

After defining what’s digital health all about, let us turn our attention to factors driving the sector. We have identified 8 specific factors:

1. Aging population
Simply put, there are not enough beds to put baby boomers in hospitals once they start to get sick (which typically comes with age). Digital health solutions, such as remote monitoring and telehealth, could help seniors age at home, while enabling doctors to stay in touch with them at all times and at a fraction of the cost.

2. Healthcare is getting more expensive
In the U.S. – it accounts for 18% of the country’s GDP. To put this figure in perspective, the U.S. healthcare is as big as GDP of France. Again, digital health technologies could reduce costs across the board, and this is especially true with chronic conditions, treating which accounts for a lion’s share of any country’s health spending.

3. More bandwidth
In most places, people still get x-ray images on a CD if not on a film. While it is useful to have those images available at home/office, it would be even better to store them  —  along with other medical images  —  in the cloud and have them accessible by all interested parties, including doctors, family members and so on. Today’s internet is fast enough to enable this. Also the storage has never been so affordable and abundant.

4. Increased security
One problem with health records is that you can’t just let everyone carry them around  —  they could be stolen or compromised in some other way. Pretty much all newer phones come with a fingerprint reader that could be used as a gateway to provide users and authorized third-parties with access to health records of any individual. A system could be developed to unlock health records on one’s phone or tablet for a predetermined period (say 15 minutes) after which all data is erased.

5. Mobile revolution
People are already using smartphones which serve as an entry point for many of emerging digital health solutions; they (could) provide users with quick access to their health data. Smartphones are also used to connect to other health devices, such as smart scales, activity trackers, blood pressure monitors, glucometers, and more.

6. Doctor shortage
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the United States will suffer a shortage of up to 104,900 doctors by 2030, and the situation is similar in other parts of the world, as well. Telehealth services could help address this gap while at the same time keeping costs at bay.

7. The lack of healthcare infrastructure in developing countries
A number of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America have an even worse problem, as they lack the basic healthcare infrastructure. In these places various digital health solutions could be used to bridge the gap and provide access to health services to people living in rural areas, with smartphones and few smart, portable instruments being used for diagnosis.

8. Genomics revolution
It used to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to have the human DNA sequenced; today it is possible to get a full genomic sequence for a few thousand dollars. Also, there are some consumer-facing companies offering simple genetic records for a few hundred dollars, while some even offering personalized nutrition and fitness plans based on one’s DNA. This market is just starting out…

Combined, these factors have inspired a number of companies, both big and small, to seize the opportunity.