The Future of Health Care: Empty Hospitals?

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As the final key measures of health care reform are implemented over the coming months, many people are wondering what health care will look like in a year, in five years or longer.

Dr. Nick van Terheyden, chief medical information officer for technology company Nuance, is also thinking about the future of health care — and as part of his research dug up this funny (but serious at the time) video from the 1950s:

After he had a good laugh about the sliding baby drawer, he wrote up his own predictions at Fast Company. Here’s some of what he expects:

  • “Mobile virtual asssistants, like [Apple’s] Siri” will allow physicians to take notes and build electronic health records without taking their attention away from the patient, in a way that “creates the digital record in a natural, human way.”
  • Hospitals will send text-message reminders to patients about when to take medication, and provide them with online access to their health records, along with a way to ask questions “and actively participate as part of their own care team.”
  • Hospitals will shift to “telehealth” platforms — health care largely provided over the phone or video conferences. Those who actually need to visit a hospital will find far fewer people there, and won’t have to wait.

“Someday, someone in my shoes will think how silly it was that doctors actually hand-typed patient notes; that consumers didn’t know the number of steps they walked in a day or how much it actually cost to get hip surgery; and that people actually drove to see a doctor face-to-face vs. simply speaking to them over the television or computer,” van Terheyden wrote.

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