Healthcareis always a blistering - button theme , especially in the United States . No matter what their position on legislating that ’s passed or proposed , many Americans would agree that the scheme needs advance . In 2011 , the U.S. spend about $ 7,960 per person on health care . By contrast , many of the other land in the OECD ( Organization for Economic Co - operation and Development ) spent $ 3,233 per someone . And yet the World Health Organization ranks the U.S. ’s healthcare system 37th in efficiency . Spending more money does n’t make things better . And we have growing rates of corpulency , heart disease , character II diabetes and other diseases that are caused or influenced by poor wellness habits . Something has to deepen .
And switch it will – just ask any futurist who makes healthcare forecast . According to the Association of Professional Futurists , a fantast is a person who " uses foresightedness to distinguish what could materialise in the hereafter , and in some instance , what should go on in the futurity . " We ’re not talking about psychical protagonist here – futurists are usually scientists , and they study and analyse course to derive up with possible scenario . They think foresightful - full term and braggart - depiction , so current lawmaking may not even figure into their prognosis . With that in head , lease ’s take a smell at five futurist predictions in the world of health .
5: Get Well and Stay Well
One of the issues with healthcare today , some futurists ground , is that it focalize more on reactive practice of medicine . When you get injure or sick , you go to the Doctor of the Church and get discourse . That ’s fine for some things , but if that random pain turns out to be a serious condition , you ( and your policy company ) could be paying out a portion of money . That ’s why health care will ultimately shift its nidus to preventive instead of reactive care . This means continue you from getting disgusted in the first place , as well as catching things early before they become big problems .
Obviously , not everything can be prevented , but you’re able to lessen the peril factor for the most common disease . Heart disease , for example , is the leading campaign of death in the United States . Some of the danger factors include smoke , eminent cholesterin , high blood force per unit area , obesity , and inactivity – and all of them are actionable . But many people do n’t gain the risks until they have a heart attack . We often disregard warning sign of the zodiac , and we do n’t always get even check - ups ( sometimes because we ca n’t afford them ) . We also are n’t very estimable about educating ourselves . Not only is this bad for us personally but it also puts a song on the scheme – treating an sickness costs much more in both fourth dimension and money than taking steps to forbid it in the first place . Futurists like Jim Carroll believe that within the next 10 years or so , wellness programs will be view an built-in part of most organisation . They ’ll even provide incentives for employees who participate and cope with their goals and penalize those who do n’t .
4: Check Your Owner’s Manual
Some diseases and condition are familial ; if you know your kinfolk ’s health history , you have intercourse that you have a high risk of develop them . But even with that knowledge , you could be at risk for something and not be mindful of it . One way to find out is to have your genes mapped . The Human Genome Project , completed in 2003 , mapped the 20,000 to 25,000 factor that make up our desoxyribonucleic acid . But this includes all of the variations ; each of us has a unique genetic sequence that can reveal whether we have the gene known to cause a sure experimental condition or whether that gene has mutate . If you find out early enough that you conduct the gene for a certain type of Crab , for exemplar , you would know what to look for if it get . Or if you ’re conceive about make a child , you ’ll already know whether there ’s a chance of pass something on .
As of this piece of writing , engender your single genetic codification map costs around $ 3,000 and it takes about a workweek . That ’s not exactly accessible for most hoi polloi , and indemnity does n’t cover it . However , advances in technology are driving both the length of time it takes and the cost down – the current goal is $ 1,000 , which is about the cost of an MRI today . But futurist Michio Kaku believes that soon it will be about $ 100 to map your genes and place them on a compact disk , make it a part of routine medical pattern . Your doctor will take a saliva or blood sample and almost instantly have a sort of possessor ’s manual for your body . make out as genomic medicinal drug , this praxis would appropriate doctors to both treat illnesses based on your genes and work to prevent you from get unbalanced in the first place .
3: Consumer-driven Health
Futurists predict that technology will soon be a major player in how we take charge of our own health . Sure , there are apps available now to aid you monitor your weight , food intake and other wellness conditions . But futurist Jim Carroll foresees technology serve as a " dashboard for the human body " [ origin : Jim Carroll ] . Not only will we be using phone apps – we ’ll also be integrate tidy sum of gadget to facilitate monitor our health . engineering science like scales that touchstone exercising weight andbody fatand send them via WiFi to a Web site , or an armband that measures blood pressure and nag into aniPhone , will be more common . We ’ll be able to send this information to doctor so they can monitor our wellness all of the time .
Even further into the future , Michio Kaku believe that silicon chips could be encoded with desoxyribonucleic acid and placed in your bathroom mirror : " You blow on the john mirror . It analyzes your saliva droplets , await for the P53 cistron " [ source : Medical machine and Diagnostic Industry ] . A change in this factor is present in half of the most vulgar cancers . Frank Moss , former theater director of the M.I.T. Media Lab , sees a futurity in which computer software could advise how you might meliorate your health , based on your life-sustaining signs and other input . A program might direct you to run diagnostic tryout on yourself and then beam the results to your doctor , who would excuse them and prescribe intervention via video . And if you do have to go into a doctors ' office , he or she will show you what ’s hap on a big screen , you ’ll decide on a course of action of action together and you ’ll get pedagogy sent to your speech sound . The future of health technology will mean an entirely new doctor - patient relationship .
2: Growing New Organs
Regenerative medicine involves heal the body by replace or regenerate cells , tissues or organs . It include things likestem - celland os - marrow transplant , as well as artificial organ and aesculapian devices . But there are currently some limits to this field . contrived center are only used when a affected role is about to die because they simply do n’t last long enough . If you need a novel organ that can be transplanted , like a kidney , you may be on dialysis for years , at a cost of up to $ 30,000 per class . About 18 citizenry die each day in the U.S. expect on an organ transplant . Then if you do find a giver and get a unexampled electronic organ , there are issues such as rejection to contend with .
But what if instead of become a donate organ or implant an artificial medical machine , you could just rise a newfangled organ ? Futurists believe that we ’ll be there in 10 to 20 years . Growing electric organ will not only save lives ; it will also save the monetary value of treatments . Our aging population will postulate better and more effective ways of managing their wellness , and a sort of " body shop class " where you’re able to replace what wears out will chip in to that . It ’s in all likelihood not as far by as you might think . In 2008 , British doctors implant the first engineer reed organ , a new trachea that was grow from the patient role ’s own stem turn cell . We ’re already usingtissue - engineered skinfor burn patients , and there are clinical trials growing all sort of other human cell , organ and tissues , from pinna to rakehell vessel .
1: Coordinated Healthcare
If you ’ve ever been admitted to a infirmary , you make out that for all of our automation , there ’s still a mess of actual paperwork involved . You may also see set of unlike health care providers during your stay , and sometimes they may give you conflicting information or not keep appointments . This is just one of the many aspects of a system that is inefficient and ultimately cost you more . Futurist Jack Ulrich predicts that hospitals will become more accountable and effective by allow coordinate , standardised care .
Some of this has to do with technology . health care provider need to get on display board with digitalise everything from patient disc to MRIs and electronically tracking things like pharmacy stocktaking and even hoi polloi ( in the case of , say , an Alzheimer ’s patient who tend to digress ) . digitisation will also have hospitals easily supervise things like outbreaks of illness . Providing more efficient attention also has to do with figure out together – the Patient Protection andAffordable Care Act(PPACA ) , for instance , give infirmary incentives to form accountable guardianship organization . These are net that include Dr. , hospitals and clinics that share answerability for the patient ' care .
Joe Flower , another healthcare fantast , consider that hospitals will also meliorate by adopting direction tool used in successful businesses , like Six Sigma or the Toyota Production System ( yes , the car maker ) . Some hospital are already employing this model and story that they ’re better able-bodied to care for a larger routine of affected role , without the need for more stave or larger facilities .
Lots More Information
I ’m mad about the futurist predictions for the world of health . I enter in a wellness program offered by my insurance company , so I think those are a great melodic theme . I apply some apps already to keep cartroad of my health , and I ’m all for make it easier to do so and to discuss my health with my doctor . There are members of my family who could greatly benefit from feeler in tissue paper and organ engineering . And I ’ve experienced many time the frustration of a healthcare system that is n’t standardized and digitized , with Doctor ' spot that do n’t coordinate with each other well . While some of these anticipation are already coming true and may be commonplace in 10 age or fewer , others probably wo n’t be encounter until 20 or more twelvemonth from now . But I intend no matter what it ’s significant to be informed , and I ’m always interested in the late origination in the earth of health .
