In the Physician’s Weekly (PW) podcast’s first episode of 2024, host Rachel Giles, MD, and PW editorial board member Alex McDonald, MD, discussed their perspectives on anticipated medical breakthroughs they felt could shape the future of healthcare in 2024.
Now that we are halfway through the year, have their predictions held up?
AI: “AI will likely continue to explode. I don’t think AI will replace the human physicianpatient interaction, but I think it will help us do our jobs better because there’s so much information; one person can’t know it all. It’s going to help us make better decisions at the point of care and in long-term prognosis,” said Dr. McDonald.
Inflation Reduction Act: “The Inflation Reduction Act will help change some out-of-pocket expenses. Once patients meet their deductible, they’re not going to have that 5% cost for some medications, which can be exorbitant. That’s going to be a big thing, especially for Medicare beneficiaries,” explained Dr. McDonald.
Malaria Vaccine: “It’s been showing to be incredibly effective in Africa. Thousands of children have been vaccinated, and it’s showing incredible promise for long-term protection against malaria,” said Dr. Giles.
Digital Decision Support: “Theoretical models about what might happen if you have a disease, you’re at a decision point, and you can choose A or choose B. These computerized models help us decide the outcome of path A versus path B and further decision points down each path. I feel like you can take a very complicated situation and almost have predictive analytics of all these different pathways based on which decision you make at which point,” explained Dr. McDonald.
T-Cell Vaccine for HIV: “The proof-of-concept trial has been impressive. We’re looking forward to seeing how they scale this up and distribute it, but it’s available in limited situations and sites now. I think we’ll see more real-world evidence coming out of that,” said Dr. Giles.
Improved Virtual and Home Care Hospitalization: “We know patients do better at home. If they’re stable, we can give IV medications at home and do virtual visits with remote monitoring and wearable technology. We can have the doctors and the medicine go to the patient. I love this sort of paradigm shift, from where we were 150 years ago before hospitals; we’re shifting back because we realized that the centralization of hospitals is maybe not always the best thing when it comes to infectious disease spread,” said Dr. McDonald.