Is this the end of old age as we know it?

Globally, life expectancy has increased from an average of 29 in 1770 to 73 years in 2019.

Healthy life expectancy has also increased across the world in more recent years, as has the number of years, on average, in which people live with a given disease burden or disability.

But what would happen if technology could extend the healthy part of our lives for a decade or more? Technological advances such as health sensors, AI diagnostics and telemedicine could improve health and prevent disease throughout the human life span, delaying the onset of age-related health conditions.

Digital technology can revolutionise healthcare through prevention, improved diagnosis, early treatment and recovery. This whole life approach to healthcare will use artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, telemedicine, big data and other innovations to keep us healthier for longer, at lower cost.

The International Electrotechnical Commission’s (IEC) latest report ‘Digital healthcare – a vision for 2030’ reveals the key societal and technology trends to watch out for, and how standards can potentially support safe innovations and developments.

A vision of the future: healthcare in 2030

How will healthcare change over the next decade? Let’s look at some of the expert predictions for healthcare in 2030.

1. Extending healthy life
Inevitably, there’s a point in life where old age begins to cause some health problems for an individual. Changes such as earlier diagnosis and treatment of illness, more high-tech treatment and improved social care services including rehabilitation and nursing care could help to make the active, well part of a person’s life last longer.

A longer healthy life supported by lifetime social healthcare support will help to keep people mentally and physically healthy for longer, in turn reducing society’s total healthcare costs.

2. Rethinking hospitals
In the pre-digital age, hospitals were a physical space for delivery of care. They often have inefficient systems, having developed incrementally over many years. A modern hospital could see much more reliance on digital technology. This could automate much of the administration that today takes up physical space in hospitals. Some of the routine, repetitive work carried out in hospitals could be done by robots, for example delivering meals, taking measurements or performing diagnostics.

The adoption of telemedicine has been greatly accelerated by the pandemic. Remote care provides efficiencies for both caregiver and patients, helping to reduce cost and improve access. Greater use of telemedicine could lead to less emphasis on the physical space of a hospital and a greater sense of it as a connected community linked to, but limited to, a collection of buildings.

3. Patient data will deliver greater insight
The ability to collect patient data easily and at low cost will help to improve preventive care. Collecting medical data throughout a patient’s life gives doctors valuable information and will help to ensure early diagnosis, making treatment easier and helping to improve outcomes.

Sensor devices and patient data will also empower people to take charge of their own health, helping to manage conditions such as obesity, asthma and diabetes. Wearable devices and wellness applications will become increasingly accurate and reliable, increasing adoption.

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will transform diagnostics
Combining data and AI will enable hospitals to deliver earlier diagnoses, combined with targeted treatments. For example, using AI to analyse scan images is faster and often more efficient than having a human carry out the same task. Automating this task could mean that patients are diagnosed faster, and doctors are able to spend time on more productive tasks.

AI could also inform treatment choices for patients, giving doctors valuable insights that help to determine the most appropriate treatment for a particular situation, providing patients with a better and more efficient experience.

5. Robotics will move into the home
The use of robots has been growing at a rate of 17.5% annually for the last four years. As advances in technology make robots easier and safer to use, they will find their way into home and care contexts. This could help with people with disabilities or the frail and elderly, reducing the cost of social care and improving lives.

Robotics could also be used for rehabilitation, allowing rehabilitation exercises to be carried out within a patient’s home rather than a specialist centre. However, in order for this to be possible, technology will have to be developed to allow unskilled users to operate the robots.

How can standards help to support healthcare of the future?

The revolution in healthcare will only be possible with sustained innovation in technology. Standards have a vital role to play in supporting innovators and providing guidance on best practice. Using standards can help new entrants to a market, ensure interoperability and enhance safety, as well as helping to prevent costly and time-consuming errors or duplication of work carried out by others.

Robots at home

The new IEC Digital Health white paper sets out areas where standards exist to support innovation, and gaps where further standards could be developed. For example, an organization working on robotics for eHealth might refer to IEC SyC AAL and ISO 10218 series on the safety of robots, but this area could also benefit from further standards on safety at home and cyber security for home robots.

Data storage and safety

Alternatively, an organization working on data formats such as archives, records and storage might use ISO TC 215, ITU-T SG 16/Q28 on multimedia frameworks for eHealth applications or ITU-T SG 17/Q9 on telebiometrics. This area could also benefit from standards on long-term reliable storage for life course data, efficient systems for decreasing healthcare costs while increasing delivery and electronic health records for reporting outcomes.

To learn more about digital’s role in the future of healthcare and how standards can help us support safe innovation in this area, download the white paper today.