How Digital Technologies Will Change the Healthcare Jobs of our Future

The last century witnessed spectacular strides in healthcare as antibiotics, vaccines, pharmaceuticals, new surgical techniques and increasing healthcare access combined to make the world a healthier place. Average life expectancy in 2000 has doubled over the previous 100 years. As people live longer, the healthcare issues that most bother us have evolved. We worry less today about dying in childbirth or from diseases like tuberculosis and malaria (though these remain formidable problems in some parts of the world) and more about living with heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimers. Healthcare spending, which has grown much faster than GDP, is evidence that living longer, healthier lives will continue to occupy our imagination.

The increased pace of digital adoption is an ally in addressing the healthcare challenges of our future. Technology tools are increasingly automating routine tasks while connected diagnostic and monitoring tools are lowering the bar for patients to access healthcare. And despite variable opinions, there is little doubt that an increasing number of healthcare tasks performed by trained professionals today will be replaced by technology.

Over the last few years, I have seen the ubiquitous “compounder” at private clinics replaced by “patient relationship managers.” An overwhelming number of patients (at least the online segment) now access health information before and during their treatments. The sight of public health workers wielding Android tablets to capture patient data is not that unique anymore (though how much these things make a difference is a conversation for a different time.) I read recently that there are more visits to WebMd every month than to all the doctors in the United States.

There is a fundamental shift happening in patient expectations and correspondingly, in what healthcare professionals do. It’s clear that empowering patients and doctors with more information will power future generations of healthcare professionals. It’s worth considering what kind of roles future generations of healthcare professionals could look forward to. This is not an exhaustive list and certainly not an expert one, but one meant to start a conversation on what healthcare professionals could be doing in 30 years.

Digital Technologies in Healthcare

The last five years have seen significant funding for digital healthcare startups. The next 30 years promises to create millions of jobs for the application of digital technologies. Most health technologies today focus on increasing transparency and credibility of information for patients, offering online reviews of healthcare experiences and designing mobile technologies that monitor your health. Other companies offer telemedicine consultations for patients as well. While the penetration of many of these technologies remains relatively low today, the inevitability of their adoption makes this one of the most exciting domains to watch out for.

Information Aggregators

We understand human genetics, biology and chemistry much better today than we did even 20 years back. This remarkable progress has yielded information that can often be overwhelming for patients and even doctors. Are you receiving the latest treatment? Is the latest treatment the best one? What do you do with the results of your gene mapping? Do you chose an angioplasty or a cardiac bypass surgery for your heart condition? Should you chose the more expensive stronger medicine with unimaginable side effects or the moderately effective medicine that is much more tolerable?

As more information becomes available, these type of questions will increasingly confound decision making. Patients will need expertise in helping assimilate this information. Increasing opportunities in aggregation and communication of healthcare information will be vital to help guide patients in making well-informed decisions.

Population Health

Society has a broader responsibility to analyze, understand and identify population level health trends. Why does infant health continue to be so poor in India? Why is there a rising prevalence of mental health in developed societies? What can be done to prevent the rising rates of cancer globally? Population health professionals study trends to identify causes and potential solutions to health challenges at a global level.

Very often, simple population health approaches can yield dramatic results. Promotions for condoms have played a key role in preventing HIV. Promoting breast milk for infants has helped improve health for young children. The pulse polio campaign has been vital in the eradication of polio from India. Using thought-through technology tools could significantly power the impact of many new population health interventions. Since many of these investments yield outcomes over the medium to long term, more ownership is needed from visionary governments, corporate foundations and global health agencies that are capable of placing long term bets.

Healthcare Management

As the healthcare industry begins to morph into more of a technology business than a services one, there will be an increasing need for professionals that can manage the emerging business of healthcare. Ensuring that hospitals, clinics and even businesses offering the services outlined in this article are running efficiently and continually adding value to doctors, patients and healthcare payors will be a prime goal for healthcare management professionals. These professionals will also be vital to help shape innovations in delivery, pricing and reimbursement models so healthcare access and outcomes can expand to the broadest population at acceptable costs.

Academics

Training professionals, whether in medical, surgical techniques, management, population health, research, health economics or other important disciplines will remain a vital source of healthcare expertise to the industry. Increasing importance will be assigned to teaching relevant cross-functional subjects, combining medicine and healthcare with diverse subjects like ethics, philosophy, research, technologies and business. With new scientific advances pushing our understanding of acceptable norms (areas like designer babies and commercial surrogacy for example), academia will play a key role in grooming healthcare leaders of the future and in shaping the role of medical ethics.

Researchers

New advances in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, devices and diagnostics will remain critical, to improve the experience for underserved populations and also to improve outcomes at a lower cost. Healthcare professionals with an analytical bent of mind will be most attracted to this field. Healthcare research has a long gestation period (over 15 years for a new pharmaceutical product from idea to market) and requires high commitment, motivation and patience. However, contributing to new scientific advances that can improve millions of lives is an unparalleled thrill that can make up for the years of research efforts.

Regulators and Policymakers

Health is a vital component of a country’s economy and governments will continue to play an active role in regulating this sector. Unlike other sectors, where a poor product leads to an underwhelming consumer experience, a poor healthcare product could kill the consumer. Formulating policies on the quality of health professionals, quality and cost of care will require deep domain expertise. In addition, regulators will increasingly need to focus on the impact of new technology advances, particularly in areas such as medical ethics, patient data privacy, the impact of new technologies, healthcare pricing, access and exposing patients to new treatment paradigms. Balancing new technology approaches with their potential benefits/ risks can have staggering impact on healthcare experience for doctors and patients and will require deep engagement with experts across multiple disciplines.

Big Data

Every piece of health information collected can have a profound impact on the health of an individual as well as in drawing learnings on managing health for large populations. For example, tracking heart disease patients over 20 years would provide invaluable insights into the best way to treating future generations of heart disease patients. Making sense of health data of millions of people to draw meaningful inferences for future generation of patients requires exceptional expertise in research design and statistics. The relevance of big data will apply to all the fields mentioned in this article but the potential impact of big data could be so enormous, that the field will acquire prominence of its own.

Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices

To meet the needs of new and better medicines and medical devices, the growth of the pharmaceutical and medical devices industry will continue unabated in the future. Scientific advances, research and expanding market access will lead to more targeted therapies as well as tech-driven companion diagnostics and services. Expanding access to global markets will compel innovative business models. Pricing pressures and greater public scrutiny will compel this sector to explore dramatically new innovations and business models to demonstrate continued cost-effectiveness and value of their products.

Healthcare Workers

Last but not the least, we need to invest in our healthcare workers! We simply do not have enough doctors and nurses to address our present needs, not to mention the emerging healthcare challenges of an aging population. Patients will continue to interact with doctors, with the technology leaps and advances helping to make these interactions more impactful. Some disciplines like mental and geriatric health as well as oncology are particularly under-resourced, but training more workers in most disciplines will be vital to leverage the benefits of technology in creating a healthier future.

There must be others as well. What have I missed?

I see public and private enterprises investing considerably in capacity building, very often training young people for jobs that may (and should) not exist in 5 years. I do hope healthcare training investments will be guided by jobs we need today but also the ones that we’ll need to create a healthier future.

First published in Tincture on 2 Nov, 2016.