The global healthcare sector is constantly under the microscope as it navigates several complex challenges. According to laparoscopic and robotic specialist surgeon – and Associate Professor at Monash University – Dr. Indran Hensman, the number one challenge remains a basic need: access to healthcare.

“When you consider what the World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics say, more than half the world’s population doesn’t have access to basic healthcare,” he noted, in a recent LMDtv interview.

Hensman asked: “The root causes are complex but is that acceptable in the world today?”

“We need some critical reform, and can’t keep doing the same things and expect change,” he posited, adding that digital technology can bridge this gap: “This is where digital technology in the health space is ripe for disruption and ready to progress.”

Technology has always played a role in healthcare but recently, its potential has grown – after all, technology has accelerated in leaps and bounds. Many areas are “ripe for the picking,” he maintained.

Hensman elaborated with a few examples: “If you’re placed remotely and need to access a doctor, you can meet a consultant from anywhere. You can also monitor patients using AI in diagnostics. Variable devices help for instance, in chronic disease management.”

“What’s changed is data interoperability and health information exchange,” he clarified, adding that “there appear to be no boundaries to connecting software, which is allowing various stakeholders to connect, communicate and collaborate.”

From another angle, predictive analytics and data driven treatments are also on the rise. To this end, Hensman noted that “when a patient comes in, it’s not about shotgun therapy; it is about tailoring the treatment to that individual patient and it’s done now due to the ability of big data sets to be analysed to give meaningful insights.”

“Another advantage that health tech is giving us is using genomics and gene­tics to predict risks of certain conditions in persons,” he added.

These developments aside, Hensman cited the issue of cost, which is a problem for all countries regardless of their degree of development.

He asserted: “I think we need to keep in mind that as we leverage all these possibilities, ultimately it has to be effective and safe; and its costs must be commensurate with the outcome we’re looking at. It can’t be so overpriced that it markets itself out of being an option.”

Hensman pointed to many areas that need reform, beginning with the basic value based proposition of healthcare. “In the past, there has been a tendency to look at volume over value. So if you do more, you get an incentive,” he explained. And he continued: “There is a transition as we look to value based healthcare, which means that for a given outcome, the cost is factored very early on. This is a major reform because it addresses the problem that healthcare is too expensive and as a result, restricts access.”

Cohesiveness in treatments via data is another area of reform.

“If you look at certain parts of a patient’s healthcare journey, they’re silo, legacy and paper based. If we change that by using technology to digitise the journey, we will be able to capture each touch point. Then the data drives insights to improve the journey,” Hensman explained.

He observed: “We’ve not had this opportunity in the past; but we have it now and it’s reforming how we manage the patient journey.”

Reforms are also taking place in relation to patients’ perspectives of healthcare, which is an essential input to factor in.

“Feedback from the patient is so important. Now we have portals where a patient can provide feedback through a simple process online, which can be factored into how we adjust the treatment and optimise the experience,” he revealed.

Hensman summed up: “There are many areas where [healthcare] reform is ready to happen and technology is the bridge that provides that change.”