Precision Health in 2022
Precision health uses biomarkers and genetics to create personalized treatment plans for patients, reduce adverse health effects, and provide some form of preventive care [1]. In 2022, healthcare continued to transition towards value-based care that benefits patients in the long term [1]. Furthermore, in the last seven years, precision medicine accounted for 25-40% of treatments approved by the FDA [1]. Regardless of its growing popularity, only a fifth of care providers offer preventive programs [1]. This is concerning because patients will often prefer to choose doctors that do provide preventive measures over those who do not. Eventually, this will drive the market and the healthcare industry will have to catch up if they want to stay competitive. Furthermore, precision health services need to become even more targeted and personalized for patients so healthcare can finally shift away from proactive care and towards preventive care.
Genetic Information Fuels Better Health Decisions
It is clear that the use of genetic information to provide patients with a specialized treatment plan can improve health conditions while decreasing overall healthcare-related costs [2]. It can even be used to predict how successful a treatment plan will be and the risk. However, using genetic information to provide healthcare is usually provided in a clinical setting. Therefore, this year we should see an increase in the commercialization and availability of precision health. Moreover, one disease that precision health can help target is cancer. Since cancer occurs due to mutations and variations in the genome, precision health can be used to help predict the risk of these mutations occurring, as well as other genetic risks [3]. Although precision health is often found in clinical settings, increased accessibility to trials can also give more patients a chance to participate in them.
AI in Optimizing Clinical Trials
Currently, clinical trials take around 10 to 15 years for drug development, which can delay patients from receiving the best treatment plans [4]. However, AI can shorten this time frame by automating the process [4]. Some of the things AI can do includes finding patients that would benefit from the study, monitoring trends and vitals in patients, capturing data, and tracking for any safety issues [4]. One of the most important is being able to track patients depending on their genetics, current symptoms, and past health records. AI can do this fast and shorten the time it takes for patient enrollment from months to days [4]. Moreover, AI can create different variations of a drug and conduct testing based on machine learning. All of this helps to accelerate the drug delivery process and allows patients to receive targeted care faster.
Benefits of Precision Health
Precision health is becoming increasingly popular due to its many benefits. For one, precision health requires the collection and storage of large amounts of patient data that can be accessed when needed. This also allows doctors to use genetic information to choose the best treatment plans based on predictions and models. Precision health will start to shift healthcare towards preventive care that identifies certain risk factors and mitigations [5]. Moreover, this will help reduce the need for trial and error that often comes with patient care. In turn, healthcare costs will decrease while patient health will improve [5]. Precision health can also be used with AI to track disease progression and alert doctors and caregivers of worsening conditions. This will be useful in disease detection and management [5]. Overall, patients and stakeholders are interested in investing in precision health due to its countless benefits.
HITS
HITS provides healthcare management services & works with doctors to develop health informatics tools that promote safe and secure care. We take pride in our services and settle for nothing other than 100% quality solutions for our clients. Having the right team assist with data sharing is crucial to encouraging collaborative and secure care. If you’re looking for the right team, HITS is it! You can reach out to us directly at info@healthitsol.com. Check out this link if you’re interested in having a 15-minute consultation with us: https://bit.ly/3RLsRXR.
References
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2022/07/07/why-healthcare-providers-must-embrace-precision-medicine-or-risk-losing-a-competitive-edge/?sh=30aff4bb4b32
- https://www.healthcaredive.com/press-release/20230117-new-research-finds-precision-medicine-has-reached-a-global-tipping-point-fo/
- https://healthitanalytics.com/news/mn-health-system-joins-research-network-to-advance-precision-medicine
- https://www.tcs.com/insights/blogs/ai-clinical-trials-improve-drug-discovery-process
- https://www.jax.org/personalized-medicine/precision-medicine-and-you/what-is-precision-medicine