Personalized Healthcare: Building Blocks for a More Sustainable Future

Opinions are my own and don’t represent Roche company

Highlights: 

• Placing the patient at the center of the healthcare strategy allows for the improvement of diagnoses, treatments, and preventive measures while making healthcare more efficient and sustainable.
• The role of technological innovations, such as telemedicine or artificial intelligence, enables remote patient management, deep analysis of clinical data, and improved research processes, ultimately leading to better treatment outcomes.
• Partnerships and collaboration among various stakeholders are crucial to foster personalized healthcare and creating a long-term sustainable healthcare ecosystem.

In the area of healthcare, the main objective is to keep the population healthy for longer, to prevent disease, to develop better diagnoses and to offer more effective treatments. Personalized healthcare offers us the opportunity to improve healthcare by incorporating new technologies. The drive for more personalized healthcare gives us the chance to build a more efficient and sustainable healthcare system. 

COVID-19 has shown us the importance of coordination in healthcare research and innovation. We have seen a lot of learning in the healthcare system and the room for improvement that still exists. During the pandemic, we have seen many examples of innovation bringing us closer to truly personalized healthcare. Examples include the ability to remotely consult and monitor, offsite testing at home, remote data collection in clinical trials, or the ability to share real-time data between hospitals and research teams. 

The incorporation of personalized solutions in healthcare is closely linked to the healthcare digitalization process. Digital transformation, large database analyses, and the use of new digital tools will improve the efficiency of healthcare processes and the sustainability of the healthcare system. 

Experts recommend an active approach to the patient and citizen in the health strategy to achieve improvements in both the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care. This, for example, requires avoiding unnecessary interventions and helping to generate new business models where the focus is on value. The three basic pillars for unlocking a medicine of sustainable precision would be: 

• Establishing strong leadership in a united organization that drives an innovation-oriented healthcare system by prioritizing prevention and facilitating training to prepare professionals with the necessary skills. 
• Establishing access, sharing, and re-use of health data in an orderly and protected manner, to optimize the use of scarce healthcare resources. 
• Adopting dynamic and flexible policy-legislative frameworks that facilitate collaboration to provide the system with adequate funds based on value-based health care (HCV) models. 

In recent years, technological innovation has led to a profound revolution in the field of healthcare. The digitalization process and the shift away from paper allow for a holistic view of the relationship between patients, healthcare professionals, and service providers. In addition, the digitization of files and tests that can be performed in the hospital also leads to a reduction or elimination of paper-type physical media. 

Patients are already benefiting from a personalized approach to disease diagnosis and treatment. Putting the patient at the center of the strategy has triggered a much more personalized and tailored approach to healthcare needs. Personalized healthcare ranges from precision diagnosis, data analysis, targeted therapy, and close patient follow-up.

One of the keys to the sustainable development of personalized healthcare is being able to establish collaboration and find synergies among all the stakeholder involved in healthcare. Partnerships need to be established to work together with health professionals, academic institutions, researchers, governments, and companies providing treatment or services. 

Another example of how personalized healthcare contributes to the sustainability of the healthcare system is genomic sequencing in cancer diagnosis. This is a cost-effective tool that achieves better health outcomes at a lower cost. In the short term, it is an investment but in the long term, it has been proven to improve patients’ survival rates and quality of life. In addition, this type of tool generates new scientific evidence for future research. 

The use of personalized healthcare can help identify patients who will benefit from more than one therapy. Patients who might have more adverse effects and avoid hospital admissions or serious complications could also be identified. Telemedicine and digital patient monitoring devices, such as apps or wearables, are part of new technological tools that can help in remote patient management and the proper use of services. These advances will improve the efficiency of waiting rooms, emergency rooms, and the support of patients with chronic diseases. Faced with the increase of an aging population and current limited resources, it is critical to streamline patient care and optimize the efficiency of care processes. 

The technological revolution and the pursuit of more personalized medicine also apply to the field of research and the development of new products. Technological advances have contributed, for example, to improving and optimizing the design of new products or even to improving the final user or patient experience. Artificial intelligence and machine learning tools open the door to a deep, holistic analysis of clinical trial data as well as real-world drug use. Real-time understanding of the impact of treatments could reduce the risk of adverse reactions, achieve better adherence rates and optimize outcomes, as well as the use of health services. 

The goal is to improve current treatment plans, but there is also a clear interrelationship in the future development of new molecules. Researchers now use tools that incorporate artificial intelligence to understand the molecular structure in detail and do a large number of tests before they begin early in the development of a new drug. Along with the ability to test molecules known for other uses, artificial intelligence also helps with the reuse and recycling of molecules. Being able to quickly learn from the experiences of others and patterns, which cannot always be seen with the naked eye, will make us make much more informed decisions and it will be within our reach to make really meaningful changes. I believe that sharing experiences and good practices to learn from each other is necessary to enable personalized healthcare to become a reality for all and to foster a more sustainable healthcare ecosystem.

In summary, personalized healthcare is key to improving the efficiency and sustainability of healthcare systems. By incorporating new technologies and digitalizing healthcare processes, personalized solutions can be implemented to offer better diagnoses, treatments, and preventive measures. The three pillars for achieving sustainable precision medicine are strong leadership, access to and utilization of health data, and flexible policy frameworks. 

Technological advancements, such as digitalization, telemedicine, and wearable devices, enable a more personalized and tailored approach to healthcare. Collaboration among all stakeholders is crucial for its success. Genomic sequencing in cancer diagnosis is a cost-effective example of personalized healthcare that improves patient outcomes and generates scientific evidence. 

The overall goal is to enhance current healthcare practices, enable informed decision-making, and create a sustainable healthcare ecosystem through shared experiences and learning.

Sources: 

1) Unlocking innovation to build more resilient and sustainable healthcare systems in Europe. (s/f). Eithealth.eu. Retrieved from (June 28, 2023):
https://eithealth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/EITH-ThinkTank-Summary_Healthcare-System-Resilience-and-Sustainability.pdf

2) Enrique de Alava, María Jesús Pareja, David Carcedo, Natalia Arrabal, José-Francisco García & Reyes Bernabé-Caro (2022) Cost-effectiveness analysis of molecular diagnosis by next-generation sequencing versus sequential single testing in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer patients from a south Spanish hospital perspective, Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research, 22:6, 1033-1042, DOI: 10.1080/14737167.2022.2078310

3) Health. (s/f). Research and Innovation. Retrieved from  (June 28, 2023):
https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/research-area/health_en

4) Building blocks for personalised healthcare. (s/f). FutureProofing Healthcare. Retrieved from (June 28, 2023): https://futureproofinghealthcare.com/en/personalised-healthcare/building-block