Ten innovations to transform healthcare

These trends hold potential to improve patient outcome and reduce costs

Healthcare is an industry in need of innovation. Governments, health plans, providers, and life sciences companies are facing rising costs and inconsistent outcomes in their pursuit of the triple aim — improving care, improving health, and reducing spending.

Deloitte surveyed leaders across the healthcare system to identify the innovations that are very likely to transform healthcare. Here is a list of top 10 innovations that could achieve more value, better outcomes, greater convenience, access and simplicity at less cost and time required by patients and healthcare providers: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) Advances in genetic sequencing could lead to the development of diagnostic tests that may identify at-risk populations where early interventions could save downstream healthcare costs. Diagnostic tests also may help clinicians target specific medicines to patients who are likely to respond well to them, reducing or eliminating the use of ineffective treatments. 3D-printed devices Manufacturers and providers could use 3D printing to create highly customised, low-cost medical technology products that can be tailored to suit the physiological needs of individual patients. Immunotherapy Immunotherapies, which involve classes of drugs that strengthen the body’s ability to generate an immune response, have the potential to significantly extend survival for cancer patients, without the negative side effects and associated healthcare costs of traditional chemotherapy. Artificial intelligence (AI) AI, the ability of computers to think like humans, is anticipated to transform healthcare by completing tasks currently performed by humans with greater speed and accuracy, using fewer resources. Point-of-care (POC) diagnostics POC diagnostics allow for convenient and timely testing at the point of care such as a physician office, an ambulance, homes or hospitals that could result in faster, more cohesive, and less-expensive patient care. Virtual reality (VR) Virtual reality can engage patients in low-risk, artificially-generated sensory experiences that could accelerate behaviour change in a way that is safer, more convenient, and more accessible to the consumer. Leveraging social media to improve patient experience Social media offers healthcare organisations a potentially rich source of data to efficiently track consumer experiences and population health trends in real time, much more efficiently than current approaches. Organisations have the ability to track consumer experience and population health trends in real-time. Biosensors and trackers Biosensors included in rapidly shrinking wearables and medical devices allow consumers and clinicians to monitor and track more aspects of patients’ health, enabling earlier intervention — and even prevention — in a way that is much less intrusive to patients’ lives. Convenient care Retail clinics and urgent care centres to provide more convenient and lowercost care to patients for a number of health issues. Telehealth Telehealth offers a more convenient way for consumers to access care, while potentially reducing office visits and travel time. This convenient care model has the potential to increase self-care and prevent complications and ER visits.

Incorporating these top 10 innovations into business models will require changing how healthcare organisations currently prevent, diagnose, monitor, and treat disease. However, the industry needs to break current constraints and expand the frontier to achieve true breakthrough performance.

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