Chronic Disease Crisis Gripping US
One of the defining characteristics of the US is the astronomical expenditures on healthcare in the country. In 2013 alone, US$2.9 trillion was spent on the healthcare sector, which is nearly 18 percent of the country’s GDP. This number is expected to touch the US$4 trillion mark by 2015.
Despite such heavy expenditure, every second US adult (over 133 million people) is suffering from at least one chronic illness, with seventy-five percent of healthcare expenditure going towards treating these illnesses.
Chronic disease refers to ailments like asthma, obesity and diabetes, which can often be avoided and are easily manageable through lifestyle changes, if detected at an early stage.
It is anticipated that by 2025, more than half the US populatin will have some kind of chronic ailment, a scenario which puts huge pressure on American healthcare services infrastructure.
Changing Healthcare Landscape Will Create Higher Demands for Medical Information Sharing
To confront this pressure head-on, the Obama administration has made revamping the entire US healthcare system a focal point over the past few years. To combat challenges in the system, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was introduced with the aim of changing the existing healthcare framework.
The ACA intriduced a triple aim framework, which will attempt to completely changed the face of healthcare services usage, payment, and delivery in the US.
Scalability and Flexibility Will be Crucial for Achieving Healthcare Goals
This approach aims to streamline investment by facilitating greater flexibility, interaction and information-sharing among stakeholders. A huge aspect of this, at least as far as technology is concerned, comes down to connected health M2M, the market for which is growing at a CAGR of 34.34 percent in the US from 2013-2018.
Connected health M2M is a remote healthcare service delivery model, which enables accessing and sharing of healthcare information and analysis of healthcare data. It manages clinical data, and communication and collaboration among all the stakeholders of the healthcare service ecosystem, and is an essential piece of the puzzle when it comes to achieving the goals laid out in the ACA triple aim framework.
Operational and Demographic Challenges Necessitating Connected Health M2M
A huge chunk of healthcare spending in the US goes towards ensuring good hospital care and top-notch medical infrastructure, but the desired outcomes remain out of reach because of poor coordination and lack of information-sharing among healthcare stakeholders.
“The medical industry is still very much paper-based, with patient information sharing confined to paper charts,” says Faisal Ghaus, Vice President of TechNavio.
“Most digital information is stored in closed environments in the places where they originated rather than being shared among hospitals, health insurance agencies, governments, and patients. This hampers effective decision-making and decreases transparency.”
He goes on to say that as demand for healthcare in the US increases exponentially, it is becoming essential that patient health data can be accessed and shared easily by hospitals, medical practitioners and insurance providers.
“As the focus of healthcare is shifting to consumerism, access, compliance, regulation, effective resource utilization, and mobility to create a holistic healthcare services framework, it is critical for stakeholders to understand the huge benefits that can be derived from investing in new technologies and innovation in the field of connected health M2M products.”
