This article in The Economist illustrates perfectly how the pandemic is ushering in a decade's worth of change in health care and this digital revolution now underway is poised to be the next trillion-dollar business.
Demand for 'digital medicine' has surged with one French firm, Doctolib, saying its video consultations in Europe have shot up from 1,000 to 100,000 per day.
As with all technology fads, some of this will turn out to be hype, but when we look at just how far behind certain aspects of health care are, its not outrageous to predict a massive increase in digital health care will remain constant once adopted. For instance, 70% of American hospitals still fax and post patient records and a big hospital in Madrid reported virtually no electronic patient record-sharing across Spain's regions when the first wave of Covid-19 struck in spring 2020.
Given that doctors have embraced digital communications and analytics, as has been common on many other industries for years, coupled with patients growing more comfortable with remote and digital treatments, it is very conceivable that we are witnessing the birth of the next trillion-dollar business taking shape!
Confronted with shutdowns and chaos, doctors have embraced digital communication and analytics of the sort that has for years been common in other industries. Patients are growing more comfortable with remote and computer-assisted diagnosis and treatment. And enterprising firms, from health-app startups and hospitals to insurers, pharmacies and tech giants such as Amazon, Apple and Google, are scrambling to provide such services.
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