Top 11 Health & Medical Tech Innovations / 4BC, ABC Wide Bay, ABC Far North
Our approach to health and wellness has evolved from a doctor centric, wait until your body breaks down approach of old, to a patient centric prevention is better than cure approach.
Driving this change in medicine and in culture is technology, leading to new wisdom, new approaches, new players, new engagements and new possibilities and this week in some of my regular on air radio segments I explored the top 12 Health and Wellness technologies and what we can expect from them.
1. Gamifying health
Games are ubiquitous on our computers and phones, and increasing numbers of them are designed to have a positive impact beyond simply killing time. Combining fun and games into healthcare apps can motivate the patient and collect data needed to make informed decisions on daily activities that contribute to one’s health. “An estimated 50% of patients with chronic diseases do not follow the prescribed treatment,”. “Gamified health tracking creates an environment that keeps the patient from straying from the appropriate therapy path.”
2. Empowered patients
Patients will become equal partners with their caregivers. Healthcare is moving beyond the hospital, and shifting towards patient self-knowledge and empowerment. The Internet has led to many people (for better or worse) researching their symptoms and diagnosing and treating themselves. While that extreme should be avoided whenever traditional healthcare providers are available, there’s no way to put the genie back in the bottle in terms of patients educating themselves. Rather, healthcare professionals should embrace the change and guide patients in participating in their own care. New technologies will finally help medical professionals focus more on the patient as a human being instead of spending time hunting down pertinent information. They will be able to do what they do best – provide care with expertise. In turn, patients will get the chance to be equal partners in their healthcare. “Healthcare cannot really advance without physicians letting their patients help themselves.”
3. Telemedicine and remote care
Home healthcare services and innovative technology will allow for doctor-patient connectivity where it had not been previously possible, saving both lives and money. Patient monitoring before, during, and after a procedure can now include autonomous robots, such as iRobot’s RP-VITA.
4. Re–thinking the medical curriculum
Medical schools will prepare future physicians for a world full of e-patients and dazzling technology. It takes many years to go from studying to practicing medicine. During that time, what students are learning is constantly changing in the real world. The old-fashioned textbook is a static learning piece in a dynamic professional field with integrated, innovative technology. Digital classrooms will create new connections between students and healthcare professionals and allow for access to the most current information and resources.
5. Surgical and humanoid robots
Robotic-assisted surgery enhances the skill of the surgeon and allows for less invasive procedures. Advanced robots will be able to perform an operation from continents away, with precision beyond what a surgeon’s hand can do. Robots may never fully take over a surgical room due to their weak versatility and adaptability compared to humans, but they will become much more integrated into surgical teams.
6. Genomics and truly personalized medicine
DNA analysis will become a standard step when prescribing medicine or treatment, to ensure it is personalized and optimized for that particular patient’s metabolic background. This kind of specificity, “will make it possible to define disease in terms similar to GPS coordinates.”
7. Body sensors
Technology is allowing us to measure critical health parameters in convenient and inexpensive ways. Tiny, wearable, sensors collect data without inferring with our daily lives in order to make better, more informed quantifiable decisions. Electronic clothing paired with sensors is one outlet used to collect such data.
8. Medical tricorders and portable diagnostics
The fictional medical tricorder from Star Trek is soon to be a reality. Diagnostic procedures are shifting towards devices that are portable and able to be performed from home. Medical mobile applications will be prescribed with patient customization. “The smartphone will be the hub of the future of medicine, serving as a health-medical dashboard.”
9. Do-It-Yourself (DIY) biotechnology
Cheaper technology and a DIY spirit are generating a new generation of scientists and engineers who see no limitations in research. Community biology labs are popping up around the world, connecting inventors, amateurs, and anyone curious to experiment with equipment and education. The resulting innovation in biotech has the potential for disruptive solutions that will further change the way medicine is practiced.
10. The 3D printing revolution
3D printers can manufacture medical equipment, prostheses, or even drugs. They will also play a vital role in regenerative medicine, to create tissues with blood vessels, bone, heart valves, ear cartilage, synthetic skin, and even organs. With its increasing affordability and open source engineering, the applications for 3D printing are incredibly vast and beneficial.
11.Powered Exoskeletons and Prosthetics
Exoskeleton suits have enabled partially-paralyzed individuals to walk again. Increasing the precision of motor control and recreating natural sensation will eventually create real-time communication between the prosthetic and the brain. Until then “The real challenge for companies is to design devices that can almost perfectly mimic the complex movements of hands and legs.”
Listen to these segments now and let me know which medical innovation you’re most looking forward to or would still like to see invented:
4BC – Clare Blake – including an interview with Genny Kroll-Rosen the Australian distributor of ReWalk (22 minutes 04 seconds)
Phil Staley – ABC Far North (20 minutes 17 seconds)
David Dowsett – ABC Wide Bay (12 minutes 5 seconds)
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What health technology signals from 2015 have proven most consequential by 2026?
The 2015 health technology signals that have proven most consequential by 2026 include: AI-assisted medical imaging diagnosis (radiology, pathology, dermatology) is now clinically deployed in multiple health systems and demonstrating diagnostic accuracy comparable to or exceeding specialist performance in specific conditions; genomic medicine has moved from research to clinical practice in oncology (tumour genomic profiling now standard in cancer treatment planning in major hospitals), rare disease diagnosis, and pharmacogenomics; remote patient monitoring technology has been significantly advanced by COVID-19’s acceleration of telehealth adoption; and the integration of consumer health data (wearables, apps) into clinical care is beginning in limited contexts, though the interoperability and privacy challenges remain substantially unsolved. The overestimated 2015 signals include: direct-to-consumer genomics as a prevention tool (the clinical utility for most consumers remains limited); and general health AI as a replacement for clinical consultation (regulatory and liability frameworks have constrained deployment more than technology).
Q: What are the most important health technology signals for Australia’s healthcare system specifically?
The most important health technology signals for Australia’s healthcare system include: telehealth — the COVID-accelerated adoption of telehealth has been substantially retained and is changing the geographic accessibility of specialist care for regional and remote populations; aged care technology — the combination of remote monitoring, AI-assisted fall and deterioration detection, and telehealth is creating genuine options for supported independent living that reduce the need for residential aged care; the healthcare workforce challenge — Australia faces a structural shortage of healthcare workers that technology can partially address through efficiency gains and through enabling lower-acuity care delivery by less-specialised workers supported by AI decision tools; and the My Health Record and electronic health record infrastructure — the interoperability of health data across the system remains a significant unrealised opportunity for safety, efficiency, and research.
Q: What are the ethical questions raised by health technology that the innovation enthusiasm tends to underplay?
The ethical questions raised by health technology that deserve more attention include: the equity of access — health technologies that are available in major urban hospitals but not in rural and regional centres, or that are available to those with private health cover but not to public patients, amplify rather than reduce health inequality; the privacy and consent implications of health data — the value of aggregated health data for research and AI training creates commercial and institutional incentives that are not always aligned with patient interests; the algorithmic bias in health AI systems — AI trained on data that under-represents certain populations (Indigenous Australians, people with disabilities, older adults) may perform less well for those populations; and the accountability gap when AI-assisted decisions produce adverse outcomes — the question of who is responsible for an AI-assisted misdiagnosis or treatment recommendation is legally and ethically complex and largely unsettled.
Q: How can I book Morris Misel for a health technology, healthcare futures, or patient experience keynote?
Contact the booking team at morrismisel.com/event-organisers.
Our approach to health and wellness has evolvedfrom a doctor centric, wait untilyour body breaks down approach of old, to a patient centric prevention is better than cure approach. Drivingthis change in medicine and in culture is technology, leading to new wisdom, new approaches,.
When signals like Top 11 Health & Medical Tech Innovations / 4BC, ABC emerge, organisations that engage early have the advantage of choosing their response rather than reacting to events. That gap between those who prepared and those who did not is where competitive positioning is actually made or lost.
The most important question is not whether Top 11 Health & Medical Tech Innovations / 4BC, ABC will matter, but how quickly it will matter in your specific context. Leaders benefit most from mapping the ripple effects early — not just the direct impact but the second and third-order consequences that arrive later and hit harder. That is the practical work of foresight.
