By 2030, patient’s health record will be available on cloud servers: Vijai Shankar Raja

Vijai Shankar Raja, Founder and MD, HELYXON Healthcare Solutions, IIT Madras Research Park, Chennai

“PhyGital”, merging both PHYsical and diGITAL experience together is going to be the new norm. Pre-COVID era, though digital was present, it was more ‘high-touch’ care, referring to the physical interactions, and this will soon become ‘Hi-Tech’, while dominance of digital will be felt, the physical touch and interactions will remain.

By 2030, the patient’s health record will be available on cloud servers which can instantly be assessed by doctors, called as ‘Digital Shadow’ as the PHR (personal health record) of the patient can follow the patient wherever he goes.

Genome based medical prediction will start playing a major role in identifying the lifetime health risks of the newly born. This will make people become well-informed in advance for them to become more responsible for their health. Further to support them to execute their responsibility well, new kind of personalised IOT based devices & AI/ML based software interfaces will become available.

The cloud-based system will track the health of each individual online. The doctors (providers) and government / insurance companies (payers) will be tracking the quality of health with high keenness to intervene at the right time, “the point of concern” of the citizen or when there is a deviation in the trend. Further a multi-layer support will also be established for the patient with the front-end support, 24X7 triage centre manned by ML / an agent, drones working like delivery boys of needed drugs, supported with home visiting semi-skilled phlebotomist or a nurse, a doctor be connected with only when things further gets escalated. Virtual becomes Real!

If the patient is serious or requiring any procedure, only then he is called to visit a hospital and meet the doctor in-person. Doctor is enabled with new kind of tools, as it will become challenging for doctors to keep abreast with unimaginably high number of discoveries and innovations happening all over the world.  Nevertheless, he understands that each individual needs a precise personalised medication. Enabling him to take Instant, Informed, Intelligent decisions. As each of his advices are backed by the feedback from the end user (patient), the doctor is brought back to the centre-stage, the ML closely observes and converts his skills into protocols, for juniors to learn the skills quicker. Thus, turning Art into Science, wherever possible.

This model brings the cost of care per person very low (affordability), any time accessibility improved (reach) and as his doctors care delivery is outcome based, the patient’s confidence (trust) is resumed. (A – R – T).