Nov. 14, 2018
Diagnostic booths with large-screen 8K resolution, telemedicine tools and sensors tracking just about everything, are a few of the predictions which futurist Michael Rogers offered last month at the Big Data and Healthcare Analytics Forum in Boston, according to reporting by Tom Sullivan in Healthcare IT News.
“I suspect by then there will be some kind of massive vertical consolidation,” Rogers, a veteran journalist who recently concluded a two-year post as futurist-in-residence at The New York Times, said, speculating that it could be along the lines of Amazon Health or CVS Wellness.
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“Payers, providers, suppliers, pharmacies will all be under one corporate roof,” he said. “Patients won’t get health insurance anymore. They’ll subscribe and get unlimited virtual consultations via telemedicine, with wellness, fitness and nutrition information.”
Patients will not receive the majority of care in doctor’s offices or hospitals but, instead, in what Rogers described as factory-made diagnostic booths assembled in schools, drug stores and elsewhere.
Such booths will be loaded with smart sensors, 8K screens with resolution so high it appears as if a real person is there speaking with the patient, with room for people to move around, exercise and interact with a variety of diagnostic devices.
“That will be your basic way of visiting the doctor,” Rogers said. “When patients do go into a facility they will leave with a host of digital health tools and intelligent support, such as interacting with chatbots.”
