How will technology change the future of health?

How will technology change the health landscape in the next five years?

We asked industry experts their number one prediction for how technology will impact how healthcare is delivered, whether you’re a professional in the space or an individual.

Vanessa Echeverria Barzola

 PhD candidate in Learning Analytics, UTS Connected Intelligence Centre:

“I think that in the next five years, everybody will benefit from cutting-edge health applications, which are now current prototypes and R&D projects. Current projects are focused on the tracking and automated analysis of medical conditions, aiming at helping citizens to have a better quality of life. Deployment and commercialisation are the next steps towards the digital health era.”

Valerie Gay

UTS Associate Professor in Mobile Technologies, Digital Health and Social Innovation:

“Technology,  and in particular, the internet of things, big data and mobile apps, is changing the health landscape by empowering patients and their communities. This will push healthcare to become more personalised and patient-centric in the next five years.”

Angus Stevens

Managing Director Australia, Start VR (a dedicated virtual reality content and production studio devoted to the creation of beautiful and immersive virtual reality experiences):

“VR as distraction therapy for patients will become a key component in recovery. Additionally, VR will play a crucial role in training health professionals and will significantly affect how medical professionals gain knowledge and experience.”  

Rob Deeming

CEO at Curo:

Next year’s change to digital health records, which will see opt-out established as the default for every Australian's My Health Record, will have profound implications for the way that patient data is stored, accessed, tracked and analysed in Australia. It will make it easier for all Australians to get access to consistent, informed care based on an ever-growing set of clinical data.

I am particularly excited to see this form the basis for a shift to outcome-assessed performance for the health sector as a whole. We will be able to better measure and reward performance in our industry based on how healthy the services we receive are making us. It's hard to overstate the impact this will have on quality, efficiency and care decision making.

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