Diagnostics Move into the Community and Home
This is part 6 of our eight-part series on the future of digital health. Check out our full white paper here if you want to see our complete vision for healthcare in the 2020s.
A new wave of medical device innovation has been happening in healthcare over the last decade, and COVID-19 has catalyzed its further acceptance beyond the walls of the hospital. Moving beyond 23andMe genetic testing and home blood pressure cuffs, we believe that many more elements of the lab and PCP setting will be pushed into the home environment, or at the very least, into many more satellite sites that improve convenience and access.
To paint a clearer picture of this world, simple diagnostic testing will move largely to physician-assisted home testing with telehealth-consultations. Basic tests will be the first done at home, but the menu will expand over time, as innovation brings down costs and finds novel ways to perform tests that were thought to be too cumbersome to perform at home. Test suppliers will become a commodity, with the value being supplied by those who can make this an easy, secure and informative experience. The 2019 expansion of medicare reimbursement for telehealth visits will further pave the way for reimbursement for devices that can efficiently manage chronic disease through simplified home testing that replaces cumbersome and frequent office visits.
We are looking for platforms that seek to reimagine the diagnostic pipeline from lab order to action following a test result. We want to see technologies that are empowering consumers to take control of their health, improving compliance and follow-up with tests, and providing greater convenience and cost reduction to nearly every part of the care continuum. We hope to see more devices that replace costly in-office diagnostic processes and equipment with small, at-home devices that provide cheaper and easier testing.
If you found this interesting, check out the full white paper, Eight Drivers of Digital Health in the 2020s, a comprehensive look at how LionBird views the future of digital health.
