Technology Inspiring Optimism for Healthcare Future

Are people ready for embedded sensors in their bodies, and perhaps in toilets – all in the name of better healthcare? According to a survey commissioned by Intel, they just might be.

As part of its “Intel Healthcare Innovation Barometer” survey commissioned this past summer, Intel found a vein of wild-eyed optimism infecting the world as people consider the role of technology in healthcare. The findings suggest that people believe that such technologies as connected sensors and videoconferencing will become substitutes for such things as regular doctor visits, and even abolish the traditional hospital.

According to the survey, conducted in Brazil, China, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan and the United States, 57 percent of people believe that traditional hospitals will be obsolete in the future. Intel says that more than 70 percent of those surveyed are receptive to using toilet sensors, prescription bottle sensors, or swallowed monitors to collect health care data.

“Technologies such as high-performance computing and big data analytics have the power to change the face of health in this world, and most people seem to desire that,” said Eric Dishman, Intel fellow and general manager of the company’s Health and Life Sciences Group (Note: We wrote about Dishman, who has his own powerful story about the power of data and technology in health matters, this past summer). “When given a choice between getting the same care as others who have their symptoms or getting care based on their own genetic profile, two in three respondents choose customized care.”

The survey found that people are very open to the idea of anonymously sharing their health records or genetic information, with more than three-quarters of respondents (76 percent) over the age of 55 saying that they would be open to sharing lab tests and health monitoring data. Millennials were a little more skeptical, but still largely in favor, with 64 percent saying that they would be willing to share such data. These numbers jumped to 84 percent willing overall when incentives such as lower medication costs and overall costs to the healthcare system were proposed.

Can technology really make the traditional hospital obsolete? Dishman says that technology innovations may be carrying us in that direction. “Care must occur at home as the default model, not in a hospital or clinic,” said Dishman. “New technologies can bring decision support, health monitoring and health coaches into the home. It was also interesting to see that people in emerging markets such as Brazil, China and India trusted themselves to use health monitoring technologies more than those in more technologically advanced economies such as Japan and the United States.”

Having spent a week at the Loma Linda University Medical Center this past week for a family emergency, I have a hard time imagining a future without hospitals. There weren’t too many people in beds and under the careful watch of RNs who looked like they didn’t need to be there. That said, a future in which sensor technology can help with the preventative maintenance aspects of healthcare doesn’t seem to be too far off.

While this survey may be a little (or even a lot) optimistic with regards what technology can accomplish in healthcare, it’s encouraging to see the attitudes and willingness of the people surveyed to anonymously share their data.  These attitudes show that a not-too-distant future in which people engage in data driven health practices, perhaps lessening the load of people who eventually fall ill enough to need to be hospitalized.

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