“Hindsight is 20/20,” they say. But what if your foresight, too, could be just as accurate? 

Technological advancements have overhauled how we manage, conduct and prepare for numerable aspects of our lives. Innovations today enable us to not only plan for the next steps, but also lay out the choices for us. From predictive text that completes your sentences for you, to your favorite music streaming app that suggests a playlist based on your listening history, technology is continuously evolving to make predictions that yield faster, more efficient and a higher quality of results. Similarly, health tech, too, has made immense strides with innovations that can foretell health conditions. Spanning the gamut of rapid diagnostics, innovative medical devices in clinical and other settings, and much more – healthcare is getting faster, smarter and more seamless.

Health tech innovations have ushered in a wave of future-ready advancements in the diagnosis, treatment and management of health, for tomorrow and beyond. It is healthcare that is...

Preventive: Aiding data gathering for now and the future

Technology has enabled a marked shift from reactive to preventive healthcare, much in part due to the immense amount of data accessible today. AI powered and intuitive bio sensing technology and other health tech innovations have given us access to the most minute shifts, trends and patterns of our body’s workings and cues. Data monitoring enables tracking of potential warning signs before they become life-threatening, with many devices also alerting you to these events. Data gathered over time also sheds light on signs and trends not just during illness, but also during recovery. This allows for the creation of more efficient health management plans and building a robust ecosystem for the future.

Early detection and diagnosis are also transforming how we approach preventive healthcare measures on a large scale. A diagnosis typically meant detecting a disease or a health condition. But today, advanced diagnostic tests indicate the possibility of a health condition even before it develops. Health tech innovations like enhanced diagnostic capabilities and rapid testing are changing the way we treat and manage disease, and also have created a huge impact in gauging the incidence of disease as well, on a much larger macro scales.  For instance, advanced diagnostics for illnesses such as malaria not only help provide quick results and faster treatment, but provide invaluable insights about incidence of the diseases and potential for outbreaks, as per geography and demographics. This enables governing and medical bodies to create sustainable plans and strategies for disease control and management. Early detection, diagnosis and data help put preventive healthcare plans into place, keeping us well prepared for potential problems in the future. 

Personalized: Bringing targeted care to the forefront

While some may argue that technology sometimes ‘de-humanizes’ life, when it comes to healthcare it is helping usher in an era of personalized and pin-pointed care, as well as equity in care. Health is personal since it affects all aspects of our lives and of those we love. Bio sensor and AI based tech today, like wearables, help doctors study a patient’s biological profile and data in depth and facilitates more personalized and targeted care as per their unique short and long-term needs.

Health is also individual – there are multiple factors that differentiate all of us from each other when it comes to efficacy of healthcare, such as physical characteristics, genetic history, hormonal and molecular markers and more. Additionally gender, too, in many cases creates a need for specific healthcare measures. For instance, heart attacks present themselves differently in men and women and may lead to missed cases and/or delayed treatment.  Health tech innovations, such as advanced blood testing today helps doctors detect the incidence of heart attacks across genders, and can also help identify risk factors and gender markers for cardiac fitness. 

Proactive: Allowing for better decision making

Future-proofing health requires informed decision making, not just in medical settings but in daily life as well. This is crucial in the management of non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular illness and diabetes, more so when you consider the burden of NCDs in the country. Innovative medical devices and at-home healthcare solutions, such as continuous glucose monitoring systems for diabetes and remote monitoring tech for cardiac health are changing the way we manage NCDs in previously unimaginable ways.  It is healthcare that is accessible and enables better decision making with relevant data about your body, for current and future conditions.

As per Abbott’s Health Tech Impact Study 2023, 2 out of 3 doctors “believe healthcare technologies will lower mortality rates, lower hospitalization duration times, and improve the patients’ post-recovery overall quality of life.” and 9 out of 10 doctors recommend at-home care to their patients. Innovations not only help people manage their health conditions better while being connected to doctors, but also enable caregivers to keep track of their loved ones’ health in a more efficient and comprehensive manner.

The potential power of tech to foretell the future is priceless. Advancements in health technology and innovative medical devices aren’t just fulfilling needs, but anticipating them. They’re allowing us to manage our health better, preempting health conditions and issues to build a safer and more steady base for the future.

Disclaimer:

The information mentioned in this document is only suggestive /for patient education and shall not be considered as a substitute for doctor’s advice or recommendations from Abbott. Please consult your doctor for more information.