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Fourth Industrial Revolution Changing Healthcare for the Better

By Andrés González-Silén - Asistensi
Executive Chairman and Co-Founder

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By Andrés González-Silén | Executive Chairman and Co-Founder - Tue, 03/28/2023 - 11:00

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If we are willing to fix a broken system, change can’t be seen as a threat to the world; it should be seen as an opportunity for everybody. As a doctor, my aim is to contribute by supporting and promoting innovative tech solutions for the health sector.

In our daily lives, technology continuously amazes us, introducing dramatic improvements in what is known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). This revolution is about the speed of technology advancing toward outstanding solutions, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, robotics, 3D printings, blockchain, quantum computing and many other technologies, that are created to improve the state of how human beings interact with our ever-changing world. 

Even though this revolution is at an early stage — it was conceptualized in 2015 by the World Economic Forum — it has had a major, positive impact, bringing efficiency and effectiveness to the healthcare sector. In fact, this amazing journey is paving the way for significant advances in every field with radical transformations. Here are some of the milestones that are being transformed: 

The 4IR is definitely making it easier to identify and diagnose risk situations at an early stage, which means faster interventions and better prognosis for quality of life. The Internet of Things (IoT), embedded into devices and wearables, has a transformational role in monitoring patients’ conditions outside the hospital, making it possible to do early prevention and also increase the capacity of doctors to see many more patients at the same time, with the same quality of service. This has a positive effect in the economics of population healthcare and serves as a means to keep expanding medical services toward more vulnerable communities.  

An example that proves the power of the 4IR in a pivotal environment, is the development of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2020, which was done at an impressive record time, demonstrating that the healthcare industry and pharmaceutical companies can be agile and efficient in times of need thanks to technological development. COVID-19 was identified in January 2020 and by December that same year, thanks to the joint efforts of two of the world’s big pharma conglomerates, the vaccine was approved for emergency use in the US and shortly after to the whole world.

This scientific triumph is considered a historical achievement of medical science:  only in the US, the COVID vaccination program prevented millions of infections, kept more than 18.5 million humans out of the hospital and prevented approximately 3.2 million deaths, according to the Commonwealth Fund and Yale School of Public Health. In other words, technology is a synonym for progress, development and innovation.

Despite the worldwide public health disaster caused by the pandemic, which brought a negative impact, limiting in-person contact and promoting social distancing, among others consequences in all fields, healthcare sector providers turned this threat into an opportunity, uplifting a solution known for a long time as telemedicine. This method of providing medical care remotely through the use of technology has brought health and economic efficiencies while improving quality of life on a large scale.

From my perspective, the following are some important outcomes from the implementation of telemedicine on a wide scale:

  • Real-time access to healthcare professionals. No waiting periods to get a quick medical orientation that could change the outcome of an emergency. It serves as an incentive to stay at home because it is possible to get the doctor online in a few seconds, while getting to the clinic could take hours.

  • More access in the urban setting. Although this does not mean that the majority of people have gained access to basic quality healthcare services, it definitely has broadened the spectrum of telemedicine from rural areas into urban settings, including most socioeconomic strata, which means more people having the opportunity to connect. 

  • Improves quality of life. There is no commute; the telehealth consultation only takes a few minutes in comparison with a physical visit, which takes an average of 45 minutes (not including waiting periods and other factors), and it's done primarily at home.

  • Reduce unnecessary visits to clinics. Based on our experience, 85% of cases can be resolved at home, meaning that most people are not transported or sent to the clinic, which in turn translates into huge cost savings for the end payer (out of pocket, insurance, family, among others) 

However, this development has brought significant challenges to overcome, such as:  

  • Technological generational gaps, which is impacted by the way each group interacts with technology, setting trends and changing consumer behavior.

  • Trust. The confidence users have to adopt new trends. 

  • Confidentiality and data protection. Trust to ensure that users’ information is protected against unauthorized access. 

As a doctor, understanding the implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the healthtech environment has led me to understand the importance of developing innovative technological solutions that help manage the demand of services in a way that wealth and quality of life are created.

Photo by:   Andrés González-Silén

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