What you think is the #1 challenge in healthcare today? What medical technology can help to meet those challenges?
With the current raging debate about the American healthcare system, we are hearing conflicting, sometimes contentious, and frequently emotional viewpoints. Our healthcare system is complex and there are now many competing special interest groups engaged in the debate. While there are predictions that there will be legislation passed, there are also indications that it may not be the comprehensive healthcare reform that was envisioned. Perhaps we will have “insurance reform” but what may be lost is the goal of accessible, affordable, care for all Americans. Additionally, the need to achieve better healthcare outcomes for individuals and populations, while reducing cost will remain a huge challenge.
The rapidly expanding aging population and concurrent rise in chronic illness are making meeting this challenge ever more urgent. Listen to the opinion one expert, Anand K. Iyer, PhD, as he describes what he see as the number one challenge in healthcare today and a medical technology approach that he believes meets that challenge. In his interview and presentation, he describes how low-tech, wireless technology can reduce healthcare cost and improve outcomes in diabetes. Similar outcomes can be realized for other chronic conditions as well.
Listen to Anand Iyer’s Interview mac-08-anand-k-iyer
Listen to the full Conference Presentation 11-anand-k-iyer-phd
View Anand Iyer’s Conference Presentation iyer-anand-diabetes-management-and-emerging-wellness-solutions
Martin Sklar
Aside from specific technologies, the concept that we can move, and maintain care of patients into lower cost venues is truly what I believe we need to discuss. Moving patients from a higher cost, acute clinical setting to presumably lower cost, more ambulatory settings, is a major part of the approach that is required.
Needless to say every time we can reduce costs, and maintain or improve outcomes in one setting, and move a patient to a lower cost setting, we will be reducing the demand on the health system as well its cost.
I believe that not one, but a number of critical technologies are needed to accomplish enhanced care for more people at lower costs. These technologies include nanotechnologies, sensors, tissue engineering, software and wireless technology. Nanotechnologies will allow size reductions and enhanced capabilities, now limited to more critical settings, to be applied elsewhere. This will be somewhat analogous to what minimally invasive surgery allowed us to accomplish twenty years ago. Sensor advancements will be accomplished in part as a result of nanotechnologies, and provide new capabilities in less acute and lower cost venues. Tissue engineering will allow therapies unavailable today and therefor move patients into lower cost venues quickly and effectively with little or no side-effects. Software will allow patients to have devices not only monitor and maintain, but also warn medical personnel and even first responders if required. There will probably be problems and solutions to those problems we cannot envision today.
These technologies and more will move acute diseases into chronic conditions, possibly cure or significantly reduce chronic conditions along with their debilitating effects, and ultimately
allow us to care for ourselves with greater independence. Will these new capabilities, to solve the many unmet needs, be available in time to eliminate system collapse? Doing our homework to understand those new opportunities including unmet needs, associated costs, payer issues, regulatory requirements will provide the template for us to avoid a future system collapse.