With pioneering solutions like trackable smart pills and preventive programs fueled by patient data, today's leading tech innovators are taking on some of the healthcare system's most complex and enduring challenges—and winning
Today's leading tech innovators are at the forefront of that transformation. With pioneering solutions like trackable smart pills and preventive programs fueled by patient data, they are taking on some of the healthcare system's most complex and enduring challenges — and winning.
Below, explore three ways health tech trailblazers are improving care. The cost of pharmaceuticals is an enduring pain point of the healthcare system. Yet, worldwide, as few as 25 percent of patients take their medications correctly. The human and financial costs are startling, causing roughly 125,000 deaths annually and draining upwards of $500 billion from the U.S. healthcare system. Doctors believe improved prescription drug adherence is essential to solving and managing a variety of health conditions, including HIV, strokes and diabetes. The problem is simple, but human nature is hard to change. “Smart pills” — and other software and hardware products that track prescription drug intake — offer a hopeful outlook for the future of medication adherence. A burgeoning market of tech innovators are closing the loop by involving doctors, clinicians and pharmacists in the process. EtectRX's gelatin capsules, for example, contain wireless sensors. Proteus’ ingestible sensor, meanwhile, gets embedded in pills and, upon contact with a patient’s stomach acid, alerts a patient-facing smartphone app and a physician-facing portal. It helps all parties gauge whether a patient has properly ingested a medication — and how their body is responding to it. The healthcare system’s most valuable product should be improved health, not à la carte medical services, right? Yet too often, that’s not the case. Instead of being rewarded for providing the highest-quality care at the lowest cost, hospitals and physicians are compensated per service and disincentivized to experiment with new, preventive treatments that might prove more efficient and save patients money. With the rise of value-based care, more healthcare providers are embracing a payment model based on positive outcomes, baking the incentive to cure patients in the most efficient way possible into their bottom line. Tech startups willing to bet on their effectiveness are leading the way: Cricket Health is developing a data-driven digital platform that helps diagnose kidney disease early on and prevent the need for dialysis, a move that’s better for patients and lowers costs for insurers. Onduo will only offer its tech-based diabetes care to partners who agree to pay for it based on performance. Virta Health, which provides dietary coaching and digital care to patients with type 2 diabetes is perhaps the most extreme. It won’t charge insurers or employers unless patients stay engaged for a month and markers of diabetes severity improve.In today’s health economy, care comes at a cost — often one that puts a heavy burden on patients and is driven up by administrative overheads and a change-resistant system. Take, for example, the hearing aid industry, whose manufacturing is currently dominated by five multi-billion-dollar firms. Most often, they sell their hearing aids to middlemen like audiologists, who then sell them to patients. Rarely covered by insurance, hearing aids can cost upwards of $2,000 out of pocket, putting a significant financial strain on patients. Enter the age of the patient as consumer. While skeptics rightly emphasize the importance of medical professional attention, innovators are developing entrepreneurial solutions that compete with offerings from healthcare's established players by slashing costs and catering to patients directly. In the field of hearing alone, startups like Eargo and Audicus have raised millions of dollars to advance hearing aid technology while also cutting out-of-pocket prices, in part by selling to consumers online. Can they compete with the behemoths?
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