Expectations from 2022

Much has been written about the sea change in people’s thoughts and behavior over the latter course of the pandemic, as well as the fact that this change is here to stay. Healthcare being a vast field, I will focus my thoughts around the changes anticipated in the realm of lab diagnostics – which in turn has a corresponding impact on diagnostic centers.

First of all, having an accredited status for a lab is a given. Any and every lab must seek accreditation – not only for external recognition, but also the immense sense of confidence in reporting that it provides to the lab’s management and internal staff.

With the public being far more conscious about their health today, as well as having the belief that good health provides better immunity – there will be a tremendous shift toward people seeking preventive health testing at a far higher frequency than earlier. There is also a heightened understanding by the consumer that comorbidities make you far more susceptible to infections due to reduced immunity. This awareness will lend weight and better utility to health packages, built around frequently encountered comorbidities. Comorbidities, associated with chronic inflammation and metabolism, such as hypertension, cardio­vascular disease, and diabetes are the most prevalent comorbidities.

Today, hypertension occurs in 26 percent of the population worldwide. Various studies, tabling the association between hypertension and Covid-19 severity, show an increase in both severity and mortality of Covid-19 by ~2.5-fold.

Further, many of these comorbidities coexist with one another, so patients often have multiple such conditions. Patients themselves might even seek testing for comorbidity-related packages from time to time, and then follow up with physicians for further advice.

Coupled with the above is the consumers’ need to be provided services in comfort and ease. Some of the demands include hygienic and skilled home collections, easy delivery of reports through multiple mediums, such as websites, email, and WhatsApp, and an expectation of receiving calls for critical results.

No longer, a set of value-added facilities provided by a lab, these services have become the new base expectation from patients.

Since patients and physicians alike will seek accredited and accessible healthcare – diagnostic centers will need to accordingly ramp up their ability. Consumers will increasingly look for single-point minimal human contact – quick, efficient, and technology-driven home collection will provide just that. We find patients reading the in-depth descriptive footnotes that accompany reports, as well as appreciating smart reports – credible and easy to decipher information is hence the need of the hour.

On another note, there has been an upswing in the work being done in the field of academic studies and research – an important component of which is diagnostics. Labs might also need to increase capability to cater to the demands of that segment.

While most of the work done in this area during the pandemic has been centered around SARS-CoV-2 and its accompanying vaccines, I anticipate the scope to open up significantly and cover all other infections and health conditions of public health interest. Increased infrastructure for molecular biology must be utilized to widen the test menu for infectious diseases and related fields.

Focus on convenience by way of integrated health solutions and adoption of technology to provide faster and accurate results to empower the physician is also a must.

Our focus on quality and personalization will, however, continue to remain paramount as always. Armed with everything we have learnt during the pandemic, we expect the walk-in patients and home collections at our facility to not just reach pre-pandemic days, but exceed them.