The future is tech, natural health care and focus on elderly care

In honor of National Doctor’s Day, we want to say thank you to all the physicians out there tirelessly taking care of children, elderly and all of us in between. With significant changes being made with the new president-elect, healthcare practitioners, as well as those not in the industry, need to be aware of what’s coming. Hint: The future is tech.

Here are some healthcare trends we’ll see in 2017.

1. An Influx of Wearable Devices

The global wearable medical device market is worth 13.2 billion as of 2016, according to research firm Kalorama Information. That number is expected to more than double by 2021. Wearable devices include:

• FitBit
• Activity monitors
• Sleep monitors
• Fetal monitors and other obstetric devices
• Neuromonitoring devices
• Wearable pain management devices
• Glucose/insulin monitoring devices
• Wearable electroencephalographs and electromyographs

2. Embracing Telemedicine

We telecommute more in our work, and Facetime with our loved ones overseas, so why not adopt this for medicine? Although not as accurate as seeing a physician in person for testing, people love the convenience vs. going through the arduous process of setting up an appointment and waiting in the waiting room with only a small chance of getting a prescription or diagnosis.

3. Medical care will go increasingly retail

Just like patients get eye exams and glasses at their local superstore, they’ll embrace having other medical care at their convenience. Since 2014, the number of retail clinics, such as those in Walmart, has exploded by 47 percent.

4. A Focus on Senior Care

With baby boomers aging and an influx of young people avoiding having families, a re-focus on elder care has emerged. HomeHero is an emerging startup that offers a range of vital in-home care services for aging members. It’s a non-medical home care provider that leverages smart technology and human compassion to extend the health system into the home.

5. A Focus on Nutrition as Medicine

As technology emerges, a more natural way of living is also coming back: relying on nature to heal us. A recent HRI survey found that consumers want more nutritional advice, especially from their healthcare resources.

“Two modern approaches to eating those progressive consumers are utilizing to stack the deck for optimal results are plant-based and Paleo diets. Such eating styles signal the fact that how we think about and understand nutrition and our bodies is changing. Each eating style differs, and yet ultimately both are all about wellness and human performance”, says the Hartman Group in a recent Forbes article.

People want faster, more reliable healthcare that’s natural and authentic. They want easy-to-read labels and receive compassionate care without waiting in line for an eternity. Although the state of healthcare is in a vulnerable position right now, people want a more clear, honest and natural relationship with their medical care.