Technology has changed how we live in many ways, but not necessarily how we are doctored. That is coming soon.
Picture this future scenario: You have a doctor’s appointment, and as you enter the parking garage, you are assigned a stall on the first floor. At the office, you are greeted immediately by someone who already checked your insurance card when you entered the building.
In the exam room, a list of your medical needs for the day are already on a computer screen. Any needed tests can be performed directly in the office, including cholesterol levels and blood-sugar counts.
When the doctor enters, all of the necessary information is projected on the wall like a hologram. As you talk, your medical record populates with the information that is said in the format of a clinical note.
Because of your diagnosis of heart disease the computer automatically suggests an aspirin, cholesterol medication and a beta-blocker, noting that you are not on any of these based on the list that has been reviewed and automatically checked with your pharmacy.
A stethoscope communicates directly with the computer to interpret your heart sounds, other notations are made regarding pulses, liver, etc.
Patient instructions are printed for you and all of the medications electronically prescribed to the pharmacy of your choice, along with your estimated co-pay, the actual cost of the medication, an explanation of what it does and when it will be available.
Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat and others have disrupted the current technologies and have created an entirely new business paradigm. The world of medicine will do the same.
All of these technologies, and many more, are already available in some places. The Mayo Clinic just announced that for the past several years it has researched the potential to use algorithms to help intensive care unit physicians deal with the overwhelming amount of information that is available when treating their sickest patients.
Its system prioritizes what information is critical and notifies clinicians when data points might be missing, or if the information provided does not match the expected treatment for patients based on their vital statistics.
Artificial intelligence has the power to transform medicine with immediate evaluation of care plans for each diagnosis, lowering the chance that appropriate medication is being missed. In a recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, nearly two-thirds of women with diabetes were not treated appropriately with statin medication as indicated.
Granted, not every single case is due to a missed prescription from the doctor, but in many cases, these omissions of the correct medications can have serious effects.
Having real-time reminders about the evidence-based recommendations for different diagnoses, along with an automatic check to see if the medication is on the patient’s insurance formulary and also an estimate of the cost, can be easily achieved today in medicine.
The possibilities to modernize are endless, and although many doctors have been fearful of the future, companies like Amazon and Apple are not going to wait. It only makes sense to have the many different portals of information communicate seamlessly, and it will save millions of dollars in better health outcomes, reduced waste and coordinated care.
The exam room of the future might not even be somewhere patients have to go. Virtual visits may just take the place of almost all interactions with a doctor, using different data collection from connected medical devices that are already in the home. Test results can be downloaded, and critical results prioritized in real time every time the doctor logs on to the electronic health record. Providers can be oceans apart from their patients, but still provide the highest level of care with their ability to analyze the information and avoid delays in diagnosis and further care.
Why wait to see a specialist if one can be brought into a virtual exam room immediately and the clinical case presented in real time? The days of the old waiting room, and the use of the century old stethoscope for diagnosis, are over.
It’s a new world out there. Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat and others have disrupted the current technologies and have created an entirely new business paradigm. The world of medicine will do the same.
Thoughts on this or any other story? Write a Letter to the Editor. Send to news@civilbeat.org and put Letter in the subject line. 200 words max. You need to use your name and city and include a contact phone for verification purposes. And you can still comment on stories on our Facebook page.
