Transforming the Health Care Industry with Digital Pill Technologies

Abstract

Human life is indispensable — which is why health care has soared to the forefront of technological innovation. Over the past decade, medicine has become entirely focused on data and accuracy but there is an insurmountable pressure to make health care more simple and effective for both patients and medical professionals. This report delves into the history of medical technologies and how they have shaped the health care industry today. From prosthetics to X-Rays, to artificial kidneys, and robotic surgical procedures, medical practices are ever-evolving to improve and extend human life. This report also discusses the recently-growing digitization of the health care industry that has developed from the implementation of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and media in the form of mobile applications entering the space. As of right now, these applications have existed primarily for hospital management and communications and for telemedicine purposes.

Based on the current state of the health care industry, there is an opportunity for ingestible pill technologies, called “smart pills,” to become popular. This report determines that two super-trends identified in the book Futuring, technological progress and improving health, suggest that these pill technologies are on the trajectory to gain traction to become very successful. If their capabilities are expanded upon, they hold the potential to meet patient’s demands and expectations from health care and eliminate some weaknesses in the industry, like late diagnoses of major conditions or diseases that increase the probability of permanent damage or death. These technologies also allow individuals to govern their own health — rather than medical practitioners.

With the innovation of these digital pills, there is an opportunity for media to enter the health care industry in a way that has never been done before. With the expectations for this technology, there is a need to develop a platform on which individuals can monitor their health and receive alerts when something is out of the ordinary; this can best be done through mobile applications.

To encourage patient trust with these mobile applications, the ideal media actors to take up this role would be well-respected medical institutions. Despite not being “typical” players in media, both these and insurance companies would play key roles in the implementation and success of this technology.

Lastly, this report acknowledges factors that stand in the way of the advancement of ingestible pill technologies. Despite lots of research on this innovation, there are still many structural issues with the product that must be solved before they can begin to be used in the real world. These pill technologies are also extremely costly, and innovators must find a way to cheapen the production cost for them to be used as widely as market analysts anticipate. Additionally, humans may fear that these technologies are harming their bodies or that the product and supporting application are not secure.

However, because of clear drivers in the health care industry and analysis of the super-trends, it is likely that these ingestible pill technologies will continue to be developed and begin to be used universally.

Current Situation

Despite the major success of these medical achievements, they also started conversations about ethics in the creation and implementation of health care technology. Prosthetics and X-rays can cost thousands of dollars and many insurance companies do not cover the expenses. This means that these technologies are more accessible to wealthier patients from more affluent areas. In robotic surgical procedures, there is no one to hold accountable if something goes wrong, making litigation extremely complex. With the growing use of Electronic Medical Records, patients wonder how secure their patient information is despite there being laws in place to protect this. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was established and implemented in 1996 to create some sort of moral structure in the health care industry but the regulations have failed to accommodate and adjust to modern medical technologies.

At an individual level, media space meets some of patients’ demands. Patient portals exist online and in application form to allow individuals to track their personal health information and view test results. A plethora of telemedicine apps like Aetna and Kaiser Permanente provide users with virtual doctor appointments for minor sicknesses and health concerns. Still, individuals want to reduce the time and money they spend on health care and seeing medical professionals. Many times, when an individual goes to the doctor, the visit is inconclusive and unnecessary. There is a need for media to create a platform that lets individuals monitor their own health and alert them when something is wrong to reduce time, money, and resources spent on medical visits that are not needed.

Prediction of New Innovation

As health care continues to evolve, it is important to look at shortcomings in the industry to predict future trends.

One major area for improvement is in pharmaceutics and the expansion of traditional pill-taking to transform the health care industry. Over a decade ago, ingestible pill cameras called “PillCams” were created to help doctors identify and diagnose underlying diseases and conditions. Swallowable pill technologies regained attention and traction this past year when they were reintroduced as “smart pills” with increased capabilities like measuring blood pressure and body temperature.

Given the current wants and needs of patients from the health care industry and acknowledging the six futuring super-trends, I predict that these swallowable pill technologies are on the trajectory to being used by untrained individuals to monitor their personal health. These improved versions of the pill would be ingested under the supervision of a doctor but be tracked over a long period of time entirely by the individual, alerting them if something unusual is occurring in their body. This way, the individual would not need to seek the help of a medical professional unless they know it is necessary. This also would lead to earlier detection rates of disorders and diseases, which in turn can lead to shorter treatments and an increased survival probability.

Media would play a vital role in the implementation of these individual-based pill technologies. To coincide with this technology, software engineers and medical practitioners would need to work together to create a mobile application that lets individuals do the actual monitoring of their health and send a notification to their phone when a condition or illness is suspected. From there, the application could suggest a series of practitioners that specialize in that specific illness or condition and give the user their ratings.

This innovation would likely be greatly supported by medical practitioners and individuals alike. There is demand and opportunity for individual-based ingestible pill technologies in health care and if the world is committed to a complete digital and technological transformation of the industry, then they must take steps toward identifying these rooms for growth and start moving toward solutions.

Prescription/Scenario of New Innovation

If this innovation were to become a reality, it would further transform the health care industry to be simpler and more effective for medical practitioners and patients alike. As the product undergoes trial rounds and receives Food and Drug Administration approvals, it will become more widely used across the globe.

Despite not being typical media players, notable medical institutions would be key players in the development of the supporting application for this individual-based pill technology. Essentially, the device is putting people’s health in the hands of technology. For this reason, individuals would be more likely to trust applications created by big hospital names like Mayo Clinic, Sloane Kettering, Mount Sinai, and Johns Hopkins. This digitized health care would also require the attention of prominent health insurance figures. These bodies would govern the application and technology to ensure that their actions are authentic and according to law. Insurance companies would also play a necessary role in determining the cost and handling the charging of individuals using these devices. Additionally, they would need to determine who is at fault if the technology fails or does not meet expectations: the medical institution, the practitioners, the creator of the pill, or the creator of the mobile application.

Like most medical technologies, this individual-based pill technology would stir an ethical debate. It is vital that doctors get explicit consent in writing from the patient before inserting the device and before sharing the information from the device with parents or any outside practitioners who would like to receive alerts as well. This kind of digital medicine would probably be governed by a user agreement that the patient would be required to accept before utilizing the application that corresponds with the application. Users tend not to read lengthy terms and conditions. Because of the high stakes and complexity of the information in a technology like this one, the user could be unaware or blindsided by what the device is doing to them.

While the individual-based ingestible pill technology seems to be the way in which the health care industry is heading, these ethical questions, as well as a few other factors, could prevent this device and supporting application from being successful. Most importantly, health care professionals and medical engineers are unsure if the smart pills' capabilities can even be expanded to be the only monitor of an individual’s health with only individual use aside from a medical practitioner assisting with the individual with ingesting the pill. Right now, researchers are working toward developing a battery to power the “smart pill” that is not harmful to the stomach. Because it is going into the human body, the production of these pill technologies poses several challenges that must be addressed, tested, and approved by the Food and Drug Administration before they can begin to be used. Additionally, the “smart pills” are extremely costly to produce because they are still in the beginning stages of development. If researchers and developers are unable to find a cheaper way for the production of these products, they may not take off in the industry as much as anticipated merely due to cost.

It is very possible that the continued development of the “smart pill,” specifically into individual-based ingestible pill technologies, will revamp traditional pills to accomplish much more than they previously had and solve many of the deficiencies in modern medicine practices, while also expanding media’s presence in health care. This innovation will continue the world’s push toward a simpler, more effective health care industry.

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