Anthony Misitano on Technology in Healthcare

Technology is vital to U.S. healthcare and will inevitably continue to grow in importance, due to the increase demands placed on providers as a result of the aging population.

Such innovation in the post-acute realm and elsewhere is critical to patient diagnosis, recovery, and therapy. Its impact comes courtesy of apps and artificial intelligence, in prosthetics and robotics. It is wearable and watchable, life-changing and far-reaching.

We can divide this technology into three distinct areas, according to a post on aimseducation.edu, the quality of human life, healthcare jobs, and the world economy.

The first of those is obvious, and always the bottom-line goal -- improving patient well-being while minimizing preventable deaths. But, technology has also spawned increased investment, as well as increased demand for EEG technologists, MRI technologists, dental hygienists, and surgical technologists, not to mention those in sub-fields like medical billing. That growth, in turn, has had widespread economic impact.

Dr. Joseph C. Kvedar, vice president of Connected Health, Partners HealthCare and author of the book The New Mobile Age: How Technology Will Extend the Healthspan and Optimize the Lifespan, touched on the topic of patient outcomes in a post for healthtechmagazine.net.

He noted technology’s part in extending lifespans by an average of some 30 years between 1900 and 2000, but added that now the challenge is to enhance the quality of life -- i.e., to help patients achieve the best health for as long as possible.

The best way to do that, he continued, was to give them the tools to improve their health and make healthy lifestyle choices. Foremost among those tools is connected health.

He went on to cite U.S. Census Bureau data showing that the percentage of Americans aged 65 and over is on the rise, with an expected increase of over 20 percent by 2030, which greatens the need for healthcare providers and caregivers.

Among other things, Kvedar writes, technology helps provide elderly patients with three important elements: a sense of purpose, social connections, and physical activity, all of which are critical to longevity.

Consider, for example, such apps as Life360 and Skype, which afford seniors the opportunity to communicate with, and/or keep tabs on, loved ones. Consider websites like myfitnesspal.com, which affords users the opportunity to track food intake and activity. Consider wearable technology like the Fitbit, which gives one the ability to count every step he or she takes in a given day.

Surgeons use robots to increase visibility, minimize incision size, while decreasing length of stay and allowing the patient to return to work sooner. Particularly notable is a robotic surgical system known as daVinci, which was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000 and has since been used to perform millions of surgeries, including minimally invasive thoracic, cardiac, urological and, gynecological procedures.

Corey Ryan, Manager of Medical Robotics for KUKA Robotics Corporation in Shelby Township, Mich., told that website in 2015 that we are “at the infancy of the automation spectrum for medical robotics” and reminded one and all that daVinci, far from performing surgery itself, merely enhances the vision, precision, and control of the surgeon.

Also falling under the robotic umbrella is the Intouch system, a remote monitoring system that can track a patient’s vital signs and signal to healthcare professionals when care is needed. There are similar monitoring options for in-patients, not the least of which is the EarlySense system, which a sensor placed under a pillow or cushion. It is notably used at a string of New York City-based elder-care facilities operated by The Allure Group.

According to Kvedar, experts predict that by 2020, there will be more than 20 billion everyday objects capable of capturing and sharing information via a worldwide network consisting of inexpensive sensors, GPS, and “the cloud,” meaning that biometric readings will be immediately available to healthcare provider and their patients, helping both to make informed lifestyle and treatment decisions.

Technology’s reach goes even beyond that, however, and nowhere is its impact being more strongly felt than in the area of 3D-printed prosthetics. The Guardian cited World Health Organization estimates that some 30 million people worldwide are in need of artificial limbs, braces or mobility devices, but fewer than 20 percent have them.

In the U.S. alone, some 200,000 amputations are performed annually. Prosthetics, often pricey when produced by conventional means, are far more affordable thru 3D printers, which have produced skin for burn victims, airway splints, facial reconstruction parts, and orthopedic implants. Those printers are also capable of producing dental crowns and bridges.

Finally, there is the influx of artificial intelligence. Google is among those at the forefront, initiating four startups via its Launchpad Studio that are designed to disrupt the healthcare/biotech space:

1. Augmedix: Streamlines visits to doctors’ offices by equipping healthcare professionals with Google Glass, which allows them to collect written notes as well as audio and video, synthesize that information, and make decisions about patients’ care accordingly.
2. BrainQ: A research project geared toward creating customized treatment programs for those unable to walk, whether because of a stroke or spinal or brain injury.
3. Byteflies: Creating a platform for wearables that would enable others within the software industry to make the best use of machine learning.
4. Cytovale: A study of how a cell changes when a patient is afflicted with sepsis, and how that condition can be detected earlier.

Elsewhere on the AI front, there are such advances as the creation of an aging center, sponsored by IBM and the University of San Diego, the goal of which is to improve cognitive health and understand the microbiome, the microbes that live in the human body; a wearable that can ascertain its owner’s emotional intelligence; a virtual healthcare assistant; and an app that can verbally explain lab results to patients.
Of course, this is just the tip of the AI iceberg. Technology is an ever-evolving situation and must continue to be given the growing needs of the U.S. population.