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Diagnostics as we enter the next normal

The calamity. The year 2020 was an unprecedented year in history. Little did we realize when it was first reported that the virus would unleash terror around the globe, impacting all aspects of life.

The path to the next normal, beyond COVID-19 virus, from wartime to peacetime, is not going to be easy. Under the pressure of uncertainty of COVID-19, the strong global healthcare systems have collapsed and become casualties. The diagnostic industry is no exception! Most diagnostic providers have responded with high-functioning teams to resolve and manage the immediate crises, and to cater for the resurgence of COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 needs. But for some, it has been difficult to dedicate much time to reimagination and reform.

The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to result in a series of discontinuous changes that will fundamentally reshape and reset the diagnostic industry. The journey has not been easy for the healthcare industry – oblivious to the unforeseen demands of the initial months of the pandemic, it is still struggling and is still facing lots of challenges. However, after leading the battle from the front and delivering heroically to become the front liner, it is now on the path of revival. Our new reality in the future will be different from our current system – we hope to have improved services, patient empowerment, and newer business opportunities.

The evolution. Our pre COVID-19 diagnostic system was largely reactive in nature. Patients got the tests done after they had symptoms of illness and had visited their healthcare provider who advised the tests. With COVID-19 on the world stage, patients required quick and very accurate reports for receiving urgent medical care and that is when diagnostic testing jumped to the forefront and became an important tool in dealing efficiently with this health crisis as it was the main screening tool in identifying those who had been infected by COVID-19.

At the onset, diagnostic testing process was tough due to logistics and infrastructure issues but with time, newer processes like innovative sample-collection methods, automated rapid RT-PCR devices, extensive use of IT for timely delivery of reports to the patient and authorities, and augmentation of supplies with new validated reagents, were evolved to address the crisis. Patients are now more aware of the importance of diagnostics. Such awareness is likely to grow testing, as a preventive and predictive tool.

The need. The three imperative diagnostic requirements – accuracy, affordability, and timely report delivery – will now dominate the healthcare landscape. The patient will not allow the diagnostic provider, not to deliver on these attributes. The industry, however, would be required to meet these needs for revival. Amidst a plethora of newer opportunities lie pragmatic challenges too.

The solution. The only way the industry can overcome these issues and emerge a winner is by continuous improvement. One of the important levers to do so is by adopting new-age technologies, including digitization and automation, which can help in improving efficiency, productivity, resource utilization, and help driving down the cost. It is important to make the process robust, thereby reducing the test failure rate, repeat and recheck test numbers, improving inventory cost, reducing the cost of poor quality, and upskilling the manpower.

Additionally, diagnostic is now moving to patients’ homes. Home sample collection has now become a norm. As telemedicine is growing rapidly and reaching remote locations, new point-of-care or near-patient-care testing is becoming a new industry norm too. Data and record-keeping are now more important than ever. The integration with a healthcare provider to ensure a smooth data flow with analytics is going to play a vital role.

Personalized diagnostics, using genetics, biochemical and other blood values, lifestyle and environmental parameters, will give clinicians an augmented intelligence tool for better patient treatment outcomes. Going forward, user-friendly automated, robust devices for near-patient testing will be required. Self-sample-collection devices and alternate reliable samples like saliva, urine, feces will provide new opportunities. Rapid microbiology, digital pathology, computational pathology, new wellness biomarkers of wellness, along with molecular pathology, companion diagnosis using sequencing as a tool, and adoption of LCMS, have gained rapid acceptance in the new generation of diagnostic-driven healthcare services.

The labs will have to gear up rapidly for revival. The patient or the customer is more likely to approach the diagnostic provider directly before reaching their healthcare provider. Pathologists and the pathology labs have to be prepared as clinical solution providers. Last but not the least, price is going to be a major player in determining which products will edge ahead and win in the future.

The future. Even though the pandemic year 2020 is one that most of us would not like to remember, but it has also been a year that we can never forget. Resilience, Revelation, and Revival have been the hallmarks of the year that just went by. It made its way to 2021, and now we have reached midway. We cannot foresee the future but we can definitely steer ourselves to where we want to go and how.

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