Investing in productivity enhancing technologies can drive healthcare affordability

Funding for the HealthTech sector is reaching all-time highs, but innovation alone isn´t really helping reduce health care costs. In 2021, according to CB Insights, digital health companies worldwide received more than USD 57.1 billion in investments. According to the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates, 20% of healthcare spend is wasted globally. So where is the disconnect?

The underlying reasons for this waste include preventable and rectifiable workflow and system inefficiencies and improper care delivery. The innovation ecosystem needs to focus on technologies that increase net productivity (the relative output generated per unit resource required) and therefore optimize costs to increase the affordability of care. There is strong evidence pointing to various ways that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can minimize inefficiencies, optimize time-consuming processes and expand healthcare affordability while decreasing the cost of care. “AI could improve health outcomes by up to 40% and reduce treatment costs up to 50% by improving diagnosis, increasing access to care and enabling precision medicine,” according to Harvard’s school of public health. If implemented correctly at scale, it could save the medical industry upwards of USD 150 billion in costs by 2025 and these cost savings can be passed on to patients. The application of machine learning and artificial intelligence to clinical settings for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and the improvement of clinical care has been demonstrably cost-effective.

Click here to read more