With innovations like AI shifting healthcare towards a more personalised, accessible, and proactive model, Raconteur sat down with Dr Anne Lepetit, Bupa’s chief medical officer, to explore the transformative impact of digital health on the future of healthcare.
How will the future of healthcare enhance the patient experience?
The future of healthcare, driven by digital innovation, will significantly enhance the patient experience by ensuring care is more personalised, accessible and proactive for all. I intentionally use the word ‘all’ because, unlike today, in the future not everyone engaging with their health will be sick. And people will want a healthcare partner – like Bupa – to be by their side, not just when they are ill, but supporting them constantly to keep them well.
Advancements in AI, wearable technology, and the data generated by these devices will shape the future of healthcare. The ability to analyse health data more comprehensively will provide clinicians with a clearer, real-time understanding of an individual’s health, enabling them to deliver timely, personalised insights – innovation that is truly transformative. As we gain more information about our customers’ health, we can better tailor services to meet their evolving needs. Additionally, this empowers patients to take greater control over their well-being, making them active participants in managing their health.
When can we anticipate the arrival of this future in healthcare?
The shift is already taking place. For example, at Bupa we’re focusing on preventative and predictive healthcare, delivered through our digital health solution, Blua, which allows interventions and tailored advice. Blua gives customers access to virtual consultations, digital health programmes and remote healthcare. We’re seeing widespread adoption, with 6.8 million customers already using the service in over 180 countries. This service has enabled Bupa to become a healthcare partner for many customers.
A current example of this is the ‘Monitor your Health’ feature used by our Spanish customers with chronic illnesses like arrhythmias or high blood pressure. Blua integrates with customers’ wearable devices to sync their real-time health data directly with a team of healthcare professionals, including doctors, psychologists, nutritionists, personal trainers, and physiotherapists. This continuous and accurate data flow allows for more precise diagnoses by providing a clearer picture of the patient’s health. Instead of waiting for issues to arise, the ‘Monitor your Health’ feature detects early warning signs, enabling patients to set goals and make lifestyle adjustments proactively, helping to prevent potential health problems.
With systems like these, healthcare doesn’t just take place in a doctor’s office, but everywhere; on our way to work at home, and in our pockets. We anticipate this will expand in the future.
How can a deeper understanding of our genes help doctors develop more personalised treatments for patients?
Genomics will play a pivotal role in the future of healthcare. Throughout my medical career, I’ve witnessed how essential early diagnosis is for achieving positive outcomes. By analysing an individual’s genetic makeup, you can determine their susceptibility to severe conditions like heart disease or cancer. This will enable healthcare companies to provide personalised recommendations, such as lifestyle adjustments, early treatments or regular screenings, to help customers reduce their risks.
Pharmacogenomics, which is the study of how a person’s genes affect their response to drugs identifies in more than 95% of people tested, treatments that may not be efficient for them. Knowing which treatment is specifically adapted to each person means less complications and improved clinical outcomes. This will help the industry shift from treating illnesses to preventing them, ultimately helping people stay healthier for longer. It’s an area that we’re exploring at Bupa across our global locations.
Our unique experience in caring for patients over the last 75 years means we are well placed to guide customers through the journey of understanding their risk of developing certain diseases based on their genetic make-up, and providing the clinical support they need to manage this risk.
How do we best prepare the global healthcare workforce for the future?
This shift in how healthcare is accessed, delivered and engaged with, will bring new challenges and opportunities for the global health workforce. AI will revolutionise medicine, but it will not replace the care, expertise and empathy of a doctor or nurse. Essentially, it will be a useful tool that will change how they work.
In the future we expect it to become the best assistant possible for any healthcare professional, supporting them to make faster decisions and provide better care. In its initial iteration, AI is likely to speed up administrative work that is essential to help clinicians operate more efficiently. Using AI to automate early diagnostic and bureaucratic work means healthcare professionals will have more time to develop more personalised health plans for their patients.
For AI to fully realise its potential in healthcare, it is crucial to ensure that all healthcare professionals are trained in this technology, particularly those in customer-facing clinical roles who can identify where the greatest impacts on patient health can be made. To foster innovation in this area, Bupa has launched a global initiative called BDisruptive, which aims to educate all 90,000 employees about the opportunities AI presents in healthcare and to encourage them to share their ideas on how it can be integrated into Blua for an enhanced customer experience. Promoting international and cross-functional collaboration – such as having care home directors in the UK work alongside data analysts from Spain to tackle specific challenges – helps dismantle barriers and misconceptions about AI, igniting new ideas and perspectives in the process.
What further improvements would you like to see introduced in the healthcare industry?
More collaboration. Innovation is going so fast, it’s hard to drive progress within silos and there is a real need to foster cross functional learning and build bridges between organisations. This will support the sector to collectively deliver its ambitions more quickly and effectively.
The annual Bupa Healthcare Symposium exemplifies an event focused on fostering collaboration within the healthcare sector. This full-day symposium unites healthcare leaders from around the world to exchange insights from their recent work and celebrates the power of working together.
The 2024 event, held in London this October, features speakers from renowned organisations such as the Mayo Clinic, Amazon Web Services, and Next Med Health. Additionally, it offers a platform for innovative startups in the global health tech industry, showcasing technologies ranging from AI applications for analysing vital signs through facial recognition, to virtual fertility clinics, all showcasing how their technology can help address challenges faced by customers and the healthcare industry.
