In 2014, digital health technology made a huge leap forward. Fitness trackers became all the rage and tech startups began investigating the space to see where they could provide a health solution. While the past year has made great strides in digital health, there are many ways we can improve technology in 2015.
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Steve Roatch, president and CEO of Twentyseven Global, said, “”2015 is the year that critical information really starts coming together at the patient level. What is my health status, right now? How much do health services cost? How does my provider rank among her peers? At what moment do I require intervention? Digital health startups are working solutions to provide answers to all of these important questions.”
Create Tech That People Want to Use
Instead of focusing on problems people had and how tech could solve them, some entrepreneurs wanted to create cutting edge digital health technology that made headlines (whether or not this technology could be afforded by health care facilities or the average citizen). In 2015, the focus should turn to looking at how people want to better their lives and what tech can be created to help them achieve it.
Tech and Healthcare Need to Join Forces
We have seen many great examples of partnerships across the tech and healthcare spheres. These collaborations have allowed great innovation in the digital healthcare space. More partnerships would create updated technology in healthcare facilities, making patient care more effective. It would also allow doctors, health researchers, and clinicians to inform and support tech creators on the best ways to solve the public’s health care issues in their own homes.
Take Wearable Tech to the Next Health Level
Fitness trackers made a huge splash on the digital healthcare market in 2014. In 2015, there should be a push to create wearable tech that goes past the fitness level. For example:
- MC10 is developing a patch for babies that allow their temperature and vitals to be monitored on parents’ smartphones.
- Google and Novartis are creating a smart contact lens that monitors blood sugar levels.
- Oxitone is creating a bracelet that monitors pulmonary, heart, and sleep-related diseases.
- Cerora is creating a headset that can provide diagnostic information about concussions and brain injury in relation to Alzheimer’s disease.
Bring More Doctors into the Digital Health Sphere
Dr Saif Abed has an excellent article on LinkedIn Pulse titled “Digital Health needs Doctors more than Patients.” In this article, Dr. Abed explains that, while patients do make the health care industry run, tech companies entering the digital healthcare space need doctors’ guidance on the complex delivery of health care and patient interaction. By learning from doctors, tech companies can create digital health devices that are accessible and successful in changing patient health.
What makes digital healthcare so important is the ability to improve our nation’s health. Creating devices that allow them to see where they are going wrong in their personal health choices, along with giving them motivation to correct it, will help change the world’s health for the better.
