Jones & Copeland Smiles - January/February 2022

REPORT THE WELLNESS

JAN/FEB 2022

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TOP MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR 2022 Coming This Year!

Another new year is officially upon us. While 2021 brought its own challenges, it was still a year of many exciting milestones in our house. Between Dr. Copeland, Dr. Hanna, and my family, each year brings its own firsts (and sometimes lasts): a first Christmas, first time without training wheels, first “home run,” or even last year of preschool. Each year holds many moments remembered and the promise of more to come. Professionally, I am equally excited about all the new advances and technologies another year will bring. As I write this, we are using digital technology and processes that weren’t available even in 2020. Below, you can read directly from Dr. Bertalan Meskó and Dr. Pranavsingh Dhunnoo on their top five medical innovations expected to impact the coming year. I wish each of you a very happy new year full of health, wellness, and prosperity!

called “vocal biomarkers.” By analyzing a person’s voice recording, the algorithm can discern differences between vocal patterns characteristic of certain diseases. This is the technology that startup Sonaphi is employing in its app that aims to detect potential COVID-19 infections based on vocal features. Earlier during the pandemic, researchers and engineers from San Francisco explored such potential through the Cough for the Cure initiative. Other organizations like Cambridge University, Carnegie Mellon University, and UK health start-up Novoic have also been reported to be working on similar projects. We could thus see more such voice-tech apps to be released this year that might potentially help identify conditions beyond COVID-19. They could offer fast, accurate, and cost-effective checkups remotely while alleviating the burden on hospitals. 2. AI in Diagnostics: The Physician’s Assistant The pandemic highlighted AI’s potential in health care, and the technology will continue to bring its disruptive force in this field. In 2022, we can expect more applications of AI in diagnostics beyond identifying COVID-19 from coughs. For instance, with dermatology apps like MiiSkin and Google’s Derm Assist, patients can keep track of their skin lesions, receive

regular reminders to monitor any suspicious lesions, and get recommendations as to when to have a specialist investigate further. Clinicians as well will have AI-based tools to support diagnoses. PathAI is developing a system that uses digital pathology slides with AI technology to aid pathologists in making quicker and more accurate diagnoses. With deep learning techniques, Enlitic’s software can flag radiology images with subtle suspicious signs earlier to speed up the workflow of practitioners and help save crucial time for patients. Now we even have companies like DeepMind using their AI to predict protein structure, a task that clinicians cannot accomplish themselves. This approach can help develop new cures for conditions with faulty proteins. Their AI previously helped predict the risk of developing acute kidney disease two days before it manifests based on patients’ medical records and lab results. With such potential across clinical practice, we should not be surprised to see new AI tools coming to the aid of doctors and patients alike. 3. Chatbots: The New First Contact Point for Primary Care During the pandemic, smart algorithms have also proven their worth in assisting health care professionals to distinguish those who could have been infected with COVID-19 from those

–Dr. Jones

1. Vocal Biomarkers: Identifying Conditions From a Conversation “Computer, run a health check-up from my vocal input.” This line might seem to have been lifted from a “Star Trek” script, but we are close to having such conversations with our computers. With artificial intelligence-based techniques, symptom-checker software can detect so-

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with less threatening conditions. Institutions like the National Health Service (NHS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) deployed such tools to ease the pressure on overburdened health care systems. But these little medical helpers have been under development for years, and a number of those are available on the market. These range from general symptom assessment to mental health monitoring app Youper. Fueled by the pandemic, their adoption can be expected to rise and we will see more chatbots developed for more specific medical conditions. In the future, patients might even turn to such chatbots as their first contact point for primary care. Patients will then be connected to a doctor in case the automated assistant cannot respond to the raised issues confidently. 4. At-Home Testing Kits: Lab Tests at Your Doorstep One of the futuristic health care innovations that are the easiest to put into practice now is likely at-home testing. With a personal testing kit, one can measure a range of

health parameters that used to be only available in laboratories.

Some are already seizing the potentials of digital health in this sphere. Insurance firm Oscar Health famously incentivized a healthy lifestyle by rewarding U.S. customers with Amazon gift cards for achieving their daily goals as measured by Fitbit wearables. In Germany, at least six health insurance companies reimburse mySugr’s digital diabetes solution, which includes an app connected to blood glucose monitors for easier management of their condition, and this covers 15 million lives. We can expect to see similar approaches emerge in 2022. However, this presents a slippery slope as it can lead to a leakage of one’s privacy and lifestyle choices. With such insights, insurance companies can modify plans and benefits accordingly and can charge premiums for those who are more at risk of some conditions or who are not taking proper care of their health. You can read more of Dr. Bertalan Meskó and Dr. Pranavsingh Dhunnoo’s thoughts at MedicalFuturist.com/top-medical- innovations-2022.

From microbiome analyses to whole- genome sequencing, such at-home lab tests provide crucial, personalized health information in a private and convenient manner, while lifting off additional pressure on health care institutions. The rise of at-home lab tests has also been precipitated by the need to identify COVID-19 infections quickly and effectively. In the near future, these tests could become as easy and accessible as pregnancy tests: cheap, simple enough to use at home, accurate, and not requiring any technical knowledge. 5. Digital Health Insurance: Revamping the Industry With the significant load of personalized health >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

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