3 Digital HealthcareTrends That We CanExpect To See More OfIn 2017

J E R E M Y B A R B E R A

The Contents

Clinical Trials01

Digital Monitoring02

Consumer Use of Digital Health03

Clinical TrialsMedical devices can be used to monitor the patientswho are participants in clinical trials for new drugs andother therapies. Pharmaceutical companies rarely havethe ability to monitor trial participants on a 24-hourbasis. If electronic data can be sent via devices aroundthe clock, researchers will be able to come toconclusions much sooner. According to a 2016 survey bydigital device enterprise Validic, devices are being usedmore and more for clinical trial data collection. Whendata is generated by patients and streamed directly toclinical trial managers in real time, the information ismuch more accurate than it would be if patients visitedperiodically and relied on memories.

Digital MonitoringWearables are able to monitor aspects of a patient’shealth like blood pressure, blood sugar levels, weight,mediation and levels of activity. When a patient usesany kind of wearable, whether it is a small device or apatch, a steady stream of data can be sent tohealthcare providers and used to evaluate a patient.Recent research shows that in 2015, the medical deviceindustry market totalled approximately $5.1 billion, andit will probably triple by 2020 and more healthcareproviders will begin to take the concept on board.

Consumer Use ofDigital HealthConsumers are gaining awareness of the need tomonitor their own health to prevent future healthconditions. Digital technology is being used in a muchmore abundant way than it was before. In 2016, aventure that invests in health-related startups calledRock Health released its annual survey about summertrends in healthcare. The survey found that 56 percentof respondents were utilizing at least three types ofdigital health, a huge increase from 19 percent in 2015.

ConclusionOnly 20 percent of respondents said theydid not use any digital health technology.Of the respondents, 10 percent of themwere considered avid users of digitalhealth technologies such as telemedicine,wearables, electronic access to medicalrecords and more. Unsurprisingly,millennials dominate the digital healthmarket. In a constantly changing world,technology is truly altering the healthcaremarket for the better. Advances in digitalhealthcare changing the world, and wecan expect this to continue in 2017.