Engaging Through Awareness: Purpose-Driven Framework Development to Evaluate and Develop Future Business Strategies With Exponential Technologies Toward Healthcare Democratization

Abstract

Industry 4.0 and digital transformation will likely come with an era of changes for most manufacturers and tech industries, and even healthcare delivery will likely be affected. A few trends are already foreseeable such as an increased number of patients, advanced technologies, different health-related business models, increased costs, revised ethics, and regulatory procedures. Moreover, cybersecurity, digital invoices, price transparency, improving patient experience, management of big data, and the need for a revised education are challenges in response to digital transformation. Indeed, forward-looking innovation about exponential technologies and their effect on healthcare is now gaining momentum. Thus, we developed a framework, followed by an online survey, to investigate key areas, analyze and visualize future-oriented developments concerning technologies and innovative business models while attempting to translate visions into a strategy toward healthcare democratization. When forecasting the future of health in a short and long-term perspective, results showed that digital healthcare, data management, electronics, and sensors were the most common predictions, followed by artificial intelligence in clinical diagnostic and in which hospitals and homes would be the places of primary care. Shifting from a reactive to a proactive digital ecosystem, the focus on prevention, quality, and faster care accessibility are the novel value propositions toward democratization and digitalization of patient-centered services. Longevity will translate into increased neurodegenerative, chronic diseases, and mental illnesses, becoming severe issues for a future healthcare setup. Besides, data privacy, big data management, and novel regulatory procedures were considered as potential problems resulting from digital transformation. However, a revised education is needed to address these issues while preparing future health professionals. The "P4 of health", a novel business model that is outcome-based oriented, awareness and acceptance of technologies to support public health, a different mindset that is proactive and future-oriented, and an interdisciplinary setting to merge clinical and technological advances would be key to a novel healthcare ecosystem. Lastly, based on the developed framework, we aim to conduct regular surveys to capture up-to-date technological trends, sustainable health-related business models, and interdependencies. The engagement of stakeholders through awareness and participation is the key to recognizing and improving healthcare needs and services.

Keywords: Industry 4.0; Innovation Think Tank; artificial intelligence; disruptive technologies; healthcare democratization; innovation; patient-centric; revised education.

Figure 1

Innovation Think Tank Framework for capturing, validating and visualizing trends. In the first phase, areas to be further investigated are identified. This phase concerns the detection of future holistic trends and customers' needs. In the second phase, online surveys are regularly conducted to explore up-to-date advances regarding medical technologies and health-related business models to promote novel value propositions. In this phase, stakeholders are engaged through awareness and proactive participation. The third phase concerns the analysis and visualization of collected data. Thus, the investigation of data would allow insight into future trends and needs based on which healthcare should focus. In the fourth phase, future visions are translated into actions, in which different stakeholders are engaged toward the promotion of change and healthcare democratization. Lastly, in the fifth phase, the developed framework and methodology are constantly evaluated and validated based on learning and practice.

Figure 2

Bar chart. (A) Where will these technologies be mostly used? Options were: Home care/self-care, hospitals, emergency medicine, private medical ambulatories/centers, mainly online, others. The most two relevant responses were hospitals (71.6%) and home care/self-care (56.8%). (B) Which of the following technologies will have the greatest impact in healthcare delivery in 5–10 years from now? Options were: personalized 3D printed artificial organs/limb prosthetics/skin, AI to predict and prevent disease development, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing method to treat incurable diseases (e.g., HIV, cancer, malaria, Huntington's disease, dementia), autonomous robots to assist/replace surgeons, AI-powered artificial limbs and exoskeletons, Nanotechnologies for internal repair and medication, Brain-computer interfaces for enhanced rehabilitation, brain and body sensors to monitor in real-time physiological and cognitive functioning, AI-based online clinical diagnostics, Other. The most three common answers were AI to predict and prevent disease development (69.1%), personalized 3D printed artificial organs/limb prosthetics/skin (40.7%), and AI-based online clinical diagnostics (42%).

Figure 3

Pie chart. Which of the following innovative technologies do you expect to reinforce each other most and thus impact the future of health? Options were: digital Healthcare, virtual reality / augmented reality, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, robotics, Brain-Computer Interfaces, health wearables, voice assistant, new touch interfaces, minimal invasive therapy systems, environmental protection and sustainability, data management, electronic and sensors, cybersecurity and data privacy, gene editing (CRISPR/Cas9). The most selected technologies to mutually reinforce each other were artificial intelligence, digital healthcare, and health wearables.

Figure 4

Bar chart. (A) What would you expect to be the main issue that we will encounter when forecasting the future of health? Options were: increased lifespan (e.g., 100 years of life perspective), increased of neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., Alzheimer's disease and other dementias), replacement of infectious diseases with increased chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular, pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, cancer), reduced hospitalization needs and nursing assistance, remote patient monitoring with digital healthcare systems (e.g., visiting the doctor in person will become a privilege), increase of mental/psychological illnesses, real-time AI-based healthcare home assistance, drones to deliver services/medical products (e.g., especially in undeveloped areas), smart robots replace humans at the hospital/pharmacy/medical ambulatory reception, smart robots assisting home care, mobile health (m-Health) becomes the standard of operations/procedures/services, electronic prescriptions only, cancer and other currently incurable diseases can be treated with pills or injections, on-demand (personalized) healthcare services. The most five selected responses were: increased lifespan (46.9%), increased of neurodegenerative disorders (53.1%), replacement of infectious diseases with increased chronic diseases (46.9%), remote patient monitoring with digital healthcare systems (35.8%), and increase of mental/psychological illnesses (64.2%). (B) What will be the main implications when adopting digital healthcare and other disruptive technologies? Options were: data privacy, big data management, ethics, and novel regulatory approvals, patient compliance (cooperation), reliability of digital procedures and clouds (e.g., to acquire, process, store, and exchange data), CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing method, reimbursement or lack thereof, lack of support from the clinical profession. The most three selected responses were data privacy (69.1%), big data management (38.3%), and ethics and novel regulatory approvals (63%).

Figure 5

Healthcare innovation generation. A summary of the main results is represented in the diagram. Future healthcare issues will be mostly determined by increased neurodegenerative and chronic diseases, followed by demographic changes characterized by the aging population, mental/psychological illnesses, and need for remote patient monitoring. In response to these challenges, the entire healthcare system needs to embrace innovation. Therefore, the process of innovation will be characterized by a revised education to prepare future healthcare professionals, digital services, novel regulatory procedures, a better management of big data, and the implementation of advanced medical technologies. In particular, hospitals and home care/self-care are the two main places where innovative healthcare delivery services will take place. Furthermore, the implementation of disruptive technologies will empower healthcare with preventive, predictive, and personalized procedures. Generating novel value propositions means the promotion of a proactive system, focused on health and prevention. With a patient-centric and outcome-based approach, followed by the democratization and faster accessibility of care services through digitalization, healthcare will be capable of embracing innovation while facing the rapid changes brought by the 21^st-century.