What improvements in medical technology could PMI providers expect to use in order to control costs in the near future? Doctor Peter Mills investigates
There is no substitute for getting out there and doing things, but the internet, and more specifically online communities, can facilitate this. This approach appears to be the evolutionary next step to the more conventional one-dimensional information delivery characteristics of online programs to date. The popularity of social platforms such as Facebook bear testament to this phenomenon; people like to be involved in communities, be it with friends, work colleagues or just people who have the same health and wellbeing goals as they do.
So much of what we do on a daily basis can be measured, and if fed back to us in an appropriate fashion, can help us make decisions about our lifestyles or health-related choices in general. Take the humble pedometer, once a cheap plastic thing you clipped onto your belt, now a 3D accelerometer that can accurately record movement as well as sleep quality. Couple this with heart rate monitoring technology and you can get a good insight into an individual’s stress profile as well.
Such technology, although appealing to the health conscious is also starting to appear more frequently in clinical settings. Devices fitted with a mobile phone SIM card can transmit such diverse measures as peak flow, electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood sugar to a hospital specialist or a GP surgery enabling real time and continuous assessment of an individual’s health condition to maximise control and minimise symptoms.
One of the barriers to greater adoption is often the base price such devices have. However, for certain high-risk individuals, if these sorts of wearable devices can help keep them well and out of hospital, the value from avoiding just one hospital admission would more than pay for the cost a number of times over.
Hardly a month goes by without the news of the untimely death of a celebrity. Now of course some of these deaths are undoubtedly caused by the excessive consumption of substances of abuse, however, some are due to plain old heart attacks. The truth of the matter is that the most common presentation of coronary heart disease is sudden death. However, we now have the technology to detect significant, but asymptomatic disease in a non-invasive fashion.
Electron Beam Computed Tomography (EBCT for short) can be performed in a matter of a few minutes, uses very low doses of radiation and provides an assessment of the coronary arteries by detecting calcium in their walls. This preventive screening test is not available on the NHS, although some PMI providers do cover it on premium policies. The potential to prevent untimely death, or at the very least a costly admission to hospital with a heart attack, should not be underestimated.
Improving early detection rates
The very same technology can also be used to look for early signs of bowel and lung cancer. The upfront cost of such tests is relatively high, mainly because the scanners are expensive to buy and maintain. However, with a greater emphasis on both prevention and health economics in the delivery of healthcare in the UK it could potentially be money saving to both the private and public sectors if the right people were targeted for assessment.
Technology in all shapes and sizes is such an integral part of our lives. The majority of the population has embraced technology over the last decade and although I do not have a crystal ball it is my belief that people’s understanding and acceptance will drive greater uses in the healthcare space in the coming few years.
Dr Peter Mills is director of Medical Consultancy at Glasslyn Health Solutions
