The shifting healthcare landscape – A glimpse into the future

Diagnostics, often deemed the pivotal fulcrum guiding healthcare service delivery, wields profound influence across the care continuum. It shapes individual diagnosis, aids treatment planning, gauges care effectiveness, and underpins continuous health monitoring. The importance of precise diagnosis is evident across all healthcare facets.

In recent years, a profound awareness has dawned regarding the lifetime health impact of each healthcare value chain element. Accurate diagnostics emerge as the decisive factor, steering the course.

The uncomplicated yet profound principle that measurement leads to effective management permeates healthcare systems, including government entities. Government tenders now prioritize point-of-care testing and comprehensive individual tracking along care pathways, signaling a shift from technology-centric procurement to outcome-driven strategies, spurring demand for new technologies and robust methodologies.

In the realm of technology-driven health-tech companies, demand surges for decentralized point-of-care diagnostics, integrated with lifetime track-and-trace architecture. This demand is driven by the desire to directly impact individual health outcomes, aligned with our goal of offering high-quality healthcare at every Indian’s doorstep.

The three distinct shifts are reshaping the healthcare landscape, not limited to diagnostics – the consumer expectation shift, the technology shift, and the shift in the government approach.

Consumer expectation shift. The rise of digitally-native giants like Amazon, Uber, and Netflix has irrevocably elevated consumer expectations. This dynamic has permeated healthcare services, where consumers anticipate real-time responses and near-constant access to health data. Intensive care units are interconnected with control rooms, fuelling intelligent intervention, armed with terabytes of healthcare data generated by intelligent devices. Tele-consulting doctors are equipped with comprehensive patient information before even asking a question. This has resulted in some highly smart solutions to age-old problems. The modern consumer, valuing privacy yet demanding intelligent care provision, shapes the bedrock of healthcare innovation.

Technology shift. While evolving consumer behavior steers demand, technological advancements are equally transforming the supply side. Empowered by potent sensors and advanced lenses, the DIY approach is reshaping home-based healthcare activities. Post-surgery rehabilitation now extends into homes, facilitated by cutting-edge devices transmitting data for remote interventions.

This kind of shift is changing the way a healthcare technology company invents and thinks about solutions that we need to be building. It is no more about inventing a new technology and loading a layer of intelligence on top of that device to carry out some analytics. The approach now is to aim at the intervention required and desired clinical outcomes that we are aiming for, then modelling a digital tool that achieves this goal, and then building a medical device, which can generate the relevant data point. Focus has shifted to desired clinical outcomes before developing digital algorithms and corresponding medical devices. This recalibration sparks a new era of device innovation and operation.

Shift in the government approach. Government policies pivot on the intersection of necessity and feasibility. The two aforementioned shifts have expanded possibilities. This transformation has elevated government decisions, rooted in analytical reasoning, and focused on outcomes. Service contracts are awarded with an emphasis on real-time data reporting over technology procurement. Government progress often surpasses industry, as seen in platforms like GeM, necessitating capability development to remain relevant as suppliers.

Regulatory processes and tolerance for innovative ideas are evolving, indicating potential for a globally connected regulatory landscape akin to financial networks. Imagine the innovation and resource optimization possible with an interconnected global regulatory system, fostering cross-border collaboration and global healthcare solutions.

In summary, the healthcare landscape is poised for profound shifts. As diagnostics take center stage, the fusion of consumer expectations, technological evolution, and government adaptability will shape a healthcare arena centered on individualized care, technological excellence, and collaborative solutions.