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A message from our President this evolution. As we continue to refine the ana-
Pharmaceutics will also play a significant role in

lytics used to analyze the mountains of health data
When You Wake Up we are collecting, trends will guide healthcare
providers in the optimal use of pharmaceuticals to
treat various diseases. “Researchers have trained
Tomorrow, What Will machines to recognize distinct patterns that indi-
cate how a person will metabolize drugs, enabling
Healthcare Look Like? them to more accurately predict how effective
medication will be. Using AI to determine if some-
one will respond positively to a given treatment is
particularly useful in oncology and neurology,
Usually, once every year, I take a few minutes to see what others are saying and where researchers can help doctors select treat-
writing about the future of healthcare. I had a few minutes last week and I looked. ments specific to a patient’s needs.”
I have written before on this same subject and there are many similarities Jaime Caldwell If you want to see change in healthcare, wait a
between then and now. Two or three years ago, I remember writing about how AI day! Genomic analysis, robotics, AI in medical
(artificial intelligence) would benefit healthcare. I seem to remember the concerns decision support, and, maybe, 3D printed tissues and blood vessels are right
back then were that AI would not displace workers, rather, that AI would be a sup- around the corner. So, what are people saying about the next couple of decades?
plement allowing workers to be more productive and to concentrate on duties that The Economist brought together a panel of experts to look at just those long-
don’t lend themselves to an AI intervention. I also seem to remember that there range change issues. The results are regionalized (U.S., EU, Asia, and Other) and
was concern that we aren’t graduating workers with the skill set that they will I will mention just a few. Some make perfect sense and others invoke concern. I
need to coexist in an AI world. think that most can see 3D printing as an up-and-coming technology with 3D
Well, this year’s review of the literature captured even more discussion about the printers able to create needed replacement organs. I think that nanotechnology
use of AI and blockchain in healthcare along with repeated concerns about the also makes sense with devices and treatments delivered through that route. How
human interactions with technology. So, what might we be looking at in the near about brain/computer interfaces? It seems to me that we are already proceeding
future? along this path.
Clinical mobility ranks near the top in terms of our future. “The digital hospital How about hospital redesign? We are clearly seeing that evolve even today. It
of the future won’t just be more efficient, but it will also deliver better care, be won’t be long before hospitals will only treat the sickest of the sick, needing
more affordable and more deeply engage patients in their treatment and recovery.” reduced patient room space and more space for the growing use of robotics and
All the players in healthcare will be electronically connected, leading to a reduc- streamlined treatment processes with high use of technology.
tion in cost, improvement in quality, improvement in patient safety (reduced med- With so many aging over the next couple of decades, more research will be
ication administration errors), and more providers will be using this technology focused on the aging process and how to create aging situations that incorporate
to access predictive analytics to assist in the improvement of care. increased monitoring and personal accountability.
The customers (patients) are part of this equation. Growing numbers of cus- Lastly, and one that creates some concern, in three of the four geographic areas,
tomers (77 percent) are comfortable with their healthcare providers using mobile designer babies are identified by significant percentages as a focus of research. I
devices in their care. There are also growing numbers of customers tracking their guess that this is inevitable as our understanding of the data becomes better and
own health metrics through either their mobile phones or wearable devices. better.
Perhaps even more important in this discussion, 95 percent of customers will be Change is inevitable and we will continue to live it every day!
willing to share their health metrics with their providers.

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