Healthcare Future Is All Around Us

Healthcare is all around us. Recent news reports have commented that the world is more concerned with their individual health than ever before, and the focus is ever-increasing toward wellness, rather than simply disease prevention.

An analysis of the trends of Healthcare would no doubt be a very broad-based discussion. After reflection and emailing a request to Dr. Dray, I felt it would be more interesting (and easier to follow) if the discussion focused along the future trends of Healthcare documentation, because documentation will inevitably trace the timeline parallel to more global Healthcare trends.

Current: A better understanding of current healthcare documentation can be realized if we take just a minute to talk about the past. Over the past fifty years, there is a noticeable trend of increasingly detailed and quite honestly rather arduous documentation trail that can be traced. Fifty years ago, very little writing took place beyond prescriptions, the operative note, birth and death records, and the occasional health/physical. Today, however, the rule of thumb for a healthcare professional is “If you didn’t document it, it wasn’t done” – and that rule has been tested and held true in courts of law. From the most miniscule ambulation assistance to the complications of quadruple cardiac bypass, healthcare is a constant barrage of verbosity and terminology which could literally be declared its own language.

Even now, there are THOUSANDS of physicians, clinics and hospitals who have taken documentation to “the next level” – that of a paperless system. My current work is as an Informatics Specialist and Registered Nurse allows me the opportunity to work with 32 primary clinics across the state as they progress toward a paperless system. My experience will tell you that currently there are more than 450 software opportunities for clinics to select and implement, and the number of physicians and clinics implementing across the state is approaching 27%, up by 12% in the past six months.

Five years from now, the opportunity to obtain a “paper” copy of your health records or see paper utilized for documentation in ANY healthcare setting will be practically non-existent. Complete web access for healthcare including physician access and remote access to healthcare will be commonplace. The insurance corporations will control disease process management, and documentation will reflect that control – there will be a strong calling for wellness and disease prevention, as the cost of health-care rises and the willingness of insurance to pay falls.

In ten years, pharmacies will become an “endangered species” as pharmaceutical needs will be met via the internet – 24-48 hours of medication will be dispensed by primary care clinics, and the remainder will be received via mail – no pharmacy consultation will be necessary. In addition, advanced technologies in nanotech and documentation will allow the development of transdermals and patches which will eliminate the need for “daily pills”.

20 years will see a significant change in the insurance industry as well as healthcare. Through bio-tech, nano-tech,