Due to the declining birthrate and aging population, the healthcare industry is predicted to face increasing difficulties in supporting the daily lives of the elderly, driven by a sharp rise in the number of people requiring long-term care and a shortage of caregiving staff. As physicians concentrate in urban areas, regional healthcare faces a shortage of doctors, threatening people’s lives as patients struggle to receive adequate medical care. Furthermore, an aging population with a low birthrate leads to soaring social security costs, resulting in high social insurance premiums for workers and potentially leaving some without sufficient social security coverage. While continuous social security system reform is required, it is also necessary to consider methods for efficiently operating public services like medical care and long-term care while maintaining quality. Smart health is gaining attention as one means of addressing these social issues.
The Concept and Effects of Smart Health
Smart health inlves managing people’s health using IT and communication technologies. In Japan, the Digital Agency is promoting smart health, with the expectation of realizing a society where people can lead healthy and fulfilling lives.
What is Smart Health?
Smart health is healthcare that utilizes ICT (Information and Communication Technology) . It aims to improve the quality of medical and welfare services and enhance the QOL (Quality of Life) of patients and users. Specifically, it involves using wearable devices, remote treatment, and AI (Artificial Intelligence) to promote preventive medicine, increase the efficiency and sophistication of medical care, and enhance patient autonomy.
What is Healthcare?
Healthcare, in a narrow sense, refers to medical and pharmaceutical equipment and services. In a broader sense, it includes elements beyond medical treatment, such as health and physical condition management. In Japan, the super-aged society resulting from the declining birthrate and aging population is causing significant changes, particularly in the business environment surrounding elderly health management, medical care, and pharmaceuticals. In the context of Digital Transformation (DX) undertaken by companies, it is predicted that alongside efforts towards digitalization, the connection between healthcare businesses and IT platformers from other industries will deepen. Additionally, as the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened people’s interest in health management, the role of healthcare businesses has become increasingly important.
Benefits of Smart Health for Healthcare and Wellness
Smart health is expected to bring various benefits. By utilizing ICT, it enables advancements in areas previously difficult to address, leading to the creation of new medical services.
| Benefit | Specific Expected Outcomes |
|---|---|
| Promotion of Preventive Medicine | Continuous monitoring of health status using wearable devices can lead to early disease detection and prevention. |
| Increased Efficiency & Sophistication of Medical Care | The use of telemedicine and AI can increase the efficiency and sophistication of medical care, leading to reduced medical costs and improved quality of care. |
| Enhanced Patient Autonomy | Using wearable devices and online consultations allows patients to more easily manage their own health status, enabling them to take a proactive role in their health management. |
Considering these benefits, let’s explore the possibilities after the realization of remotely provided medical care. If deregulation enables the remote provision of medical care, it could connect with non-medical fields where remote services are already more common. While life-critical actions will remain regulated as before, the boundary between medical and non-medical fields may blur in some areas, making collaboration between the two essential. Services are likely to evolve around the following two key concepts:
The first is “Just-in-Time,” the concept of delivering what is needed, when it is needed, to the user in an appropriate manner. For example, a combination of online consultations, medication guidance, and drone-delivered pharmaceuticals could complete treatment remotely, even for mild symptoms or for patients who find it difficult to visit a clinic in person. Furthermore, if doctors and pharmacists were replaced by fitness trainers, and pharmaceuticals by health equipment, such systems could be applied beyond medical acts. It may become possible to receive all appropriate services remotely across the phases of prevention, treatment, and recovery, and the stages before and after.
The second is “Personalization.” Technological advancements enabling more detailed, real-time data acquisition are driving a trend towards customization, allowing services to be tailored perfectly to individual users. Even in the healthcare field, personalized services designed for remote delivery are emerging.
Types and Applications of Smart Health Devices
IoT (Internet of Things) is a mechanism where everyday “things” connect to the internet, enabling them to exchange information and coordinate with other systems. For example, home appliances can be controlled by voice using AI assistants built into smart speakers. Technological advances utilizing AI and IoT are also causing innovation in the healthcare field, manifesting in various products and services that are beginning to permeate our society as smart health.
Smartwatches and How to Use Them
We can use the Apple Watch, a wristwatch-type wearable device, as an example. Beyond its timekeeping function, it can measure data during activities like cycling, yoga, swimming, and running, and it has various features that support health. For instance, in heart rate monitoring, it displays alerts when detecting unusually high or low heart rates, allowing the wearer to be aware of potential issues even without noticeable symptoms. Although not yet approved as a medical device in Japan, it also has a function to measure ECG (Electrocardiogram), which can contribute to the early detection of conditions like myocardial infarction. In the United States, there have been several reported cases where users without any apparent symptoms went to the hospital after receiving a warning from their Apple Watch, preventing severe health crises and saving lives.
Smart Glasses and How to Use Them
Smart glasses are eyeglass-type devices equipped with cameras, displays, sensors, and more. In the medical field, they can be used to improve operational efficiency, monitor patient vital signs, and facilitate telemedicine. This is expected to enhance the quality of medical care and reduce the burden on healthcare professionals. As smart glasses are still a developing technology, they are anticipated to become more widely used in medical settings alongside the proliferation of IoT.
Strategies and Innovative Means for Promoting Smart Health
The use of AI is a focal point in promoting smart health. AI is used to analyze data collected from things via IoT technology. A key feature is that the analyzed data is transformed into data with certain patterns, making it easier for humans and computers to utilize. Furthermore, through deep learning (a machine learning method that teaches computers to perform tasks natural to humans), AI can continuously learn, allowing it to propose solutions that lead to better outcomes. The combined use of AI and IoT is expected to further enhance the precision of smart health.
AI and Smart Health
In healthcare utilizing AI, services exist that promote people’s health through nutritional management of dietary habits and the combination sale of customized supplements. There are services where users answer questions about their lifestyle and nutritional status via smartphone, leading to the delivery of supplements, ingredients for home cooking, or pre-prepared frozen meals.
Combinations with online consultations also exist. Services provide effective and efficient medical care by appropriately combining in-person and remote consultations. This includes effective guidance and management for lifestyle-related diseases like diabetes, as well as early prevention of severe conditions through remote monitoring of blood pressure and blood glucose levels.
AI is also used in the medical field for early disease detection and preventing oversight of lesions, with increasing opportunities for diagnosis using image analysis of projected images from MRI and CT scans. Advancing AI-powered diagnostic imaging support requires vast amounts of data for AI training. The Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) is conducting research through its “Medical Image Big Data Cloud Infrastructure” project. This involves collaboration between six academic societies related to medical imaging (such as the Japanese Society of Pathology and the Japan Radiological Society) and the National Institute of Informatics (NII) to build a large-scale medical image database and a common platform for AI development, aiming for sustainable AI advancement.
Promoting Smart Health through Data Acquisition and Utilization
There are primarily three types of data acquired in the healthcare field:
EHR (Electronic Health Record): Data used by professionals within medical and long-term care institutions.
HIE (Health Information Exchange): Enables electronic sharing of medical information among multiple medical and long-term care institutions.
PHR (Personal Health Record): Facilitates electronic information sharing between patients and professionals.
Methods for Acquiring and Utilizing Health/Medical Data
Simply put, EHR is an electronic medical chart. An increasing number of medical institutions are digitizing records previously kept on paper, requiring continuous recording of patient medical history and treatment details.
HIE is a system infrastructure that enables medical institutions to collaborate and share patient health information. If a large-scale medical and long-term care platform is built, patients could smoothly receive diagnoses even when changing hospitals, thanks to shared information, potentially enabling the provision of more advanced medical services.
PHR allows individuals not only to view their own medical, long-term care, and health data but also to upload data they collect themselves, such as blood glucose levels and weight, enabling two-way interaction where healthcare professionals like doctors can review the data.
If a large-scale platform linking EHR, HIE, and PHR is established, it could enable more advanced medical services than ever before, while also making personal health management more convenient.
Concept of a Medical/Healthcare Collaboration Platform
Using PHR data related to healthcare as an example, we can illustrate the construction of a public medical database. In B2B, horizontal sharing between medical/long-term care providers and pharmaceutical/medical device companies could enable collaborative development of medical equipment and drugs. In B2C, the collaboration between citizens (consumers) and health/insurance providers could advance the personalization of services through individually optimized health and insurance offerings. Furthermore, research and development collaboration between medical/long-term care providers and pharmaceutical/medical device companies could lead to the provision of individually optimized medical and long-term care services. If vertical sharing and horizontal sharing of data advance, it is expected that convenience will improve. This could be achieved by managing only basic information on a collaboration platform, while linking to and retrieving other necessary information from existing databases based on identifiers like the My Number or health insurance card number as needed.
Proper Usage and Precautions for Smart Health
There are various ways to use smart health. A familiar example is the use of the electronic medication notebook app. You may have scanned the QR code on a prescription to register it in such an app. Additionally, iPhones have a built-in Health app that automatically records daily steps and sleep data.
Setting Up Smart Health Devices and Apps
Linking healthcare apps with an electronic medication notebook allows for centralized management on a smartphone. By scanning the QR code on your medication notebook and completing member registration, you can use the service. Managing it via a smartphone app eliminates the need to carry a paper notebook, removing the risks of loss or theft and the mistake of forgetting to bring it, making it a very convenient service.
Furthermore, the Health app pre-installed on iPhones accumulates health-related data, which forms the basis for various health management smartphone apps available on the market.
[Sources: List of medication notebooks compatible with eYakuLink: Japan Pharmaceutical Association]
Using Health Apps for Step Counting, Sleep, etc.
The data recorded on an iPhone for daily steps and sleep duration can be viewed directly, but linking with an Apple Watch allows for more accurate data recording. By wearing an Apple Watch daily and continuously recording health data, the information accumulates within the iOS ecosystem and can be viewed on the iPhone. Health management apps installed on the iPhone can analyze this data and optimize personalized management methods within the app. In the United States, health management systems are often linked with medical institutions’ systems. Therefore, if an anomaly like abnormal pulse rate is detected for registered members due to illness or injury, the medical institution may send a notification. There are reportedly many cases where early detection prevented severe conditions and saved lives.
Importance of Proper Information Handling and Privacy Protection
A crucial element in digitizing the healthcare field is the ID (Identifier) . Typically, when receiving treatment at a hospital or clinic, a medical ID card issued by the institution is required. This card contains a unique ID assigned by that institution, and the medical records are managed using that ID. Visiting a different hospital means records are managed under that institution’s unique ID. However, over a long lifespan, people may change their surnames due to marriage or their addresses due to relocation. If past medical records are stored individually at each hospital or clinic, when a patient visits a new medical institution, their medical history must be gathered and understood by the attending physician. The time and effort required to coordinate this information can be a significant burden, and missing information could prevent the patient from receiving adequate care. To advance digitalization, further consideration is needed regarding how IDs can cover the broad healthcare domain.
The Impact of Smart Health on Life and Society
In Japan, against the backdrop of rising medical costs due to aging and the potential strain on the social security system supporting these costs due to the declining birthrate, the government is promoting a shift in healthcare from “treatment to prevention.” The expectations and role of smart health in this area are set to grow significantly.
Improving Lifestyle through Smart Health
Smart health is a method of improving people’s health and wellness (a proactive lifestyle approach aimed at living better, distinguished from traditional health) using technologies such as wearable devices, mobile apps, and medical equipment. Smart health helps improve lifestyle in various ways.
Health Management, Lifestyle Improvement, and Improved Access to Care
Smart health helps improve people’s health and wellness. Wearable devices can track various health data, including heart rate, steps, and sleep quality. This data helps individuals better understand their health status and achieve their goals. Smart health also helps reduce medical costs. Wearable devices aid in early detection and prevention. This allows people to receive treatment before they become ill, leading to reduced medical expenses.
Improving QOL through the Fusion of Life Sciences and Digital Technology
In a society with a declining birthrate and aging population, it is predicted that addressing rising medical costs and widening health disparities will be necessary. In the future of healthcare, it is likely to become common practice to measure cost-effectiveness through objective outcome indicators, assessing how well healthcare services, coordinated across the fields of health, medicine, and long-term care, contribute to improving people’s QOL (Quality of Life) . Raising the QOL of citizens gives significant importance not only to material wealth but also to mental well-being and satisfaction through health.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| ① From Life Support to QOL Focus | Promoting medical and long-term care aimed at maintaining a fulfilling social life. |
| ② From Treatment to Prevention | Avoiding disease onset and severity through daily health management. |
| ③ From Fragmentation to Coordination | Providing more precise prevention, diagnosis, and treatment through the integration of health, medical, and long-term care data. |
| ④ Management & Evaluation Based on Effectiveness | Implementing cost-effectiveness analysis through the measurement of objective outcome indicators. |
In this way, healthcare is being redefined as lifestyle design and support. It is expected that the goal will be to improve the QOL of all citizens, not just treating illnesses in patients, but also including healthy individuals. As medical care and healthcare become more closely integrated, the shift “from treatment to prevention” will likely accelerate.
Smart Health and the Future of Society
Smart health has the potential to significantly impact various aspects of society. Specifically, society may change through improved health and wellness, increased efficiency in medical care, and the creation of new industries.
Impact on Society, Expectations, and the Potential of the Smart Health Market
For example, with the “Spread of Telemedicine,” remote healthcare using wearable devices and mobile apps becomes widespread, allowing patients to consult doctors from home or work. This is expected to improve patient convenience and expand access to medical care. “Realization of Personalized Medicine” uses data to achieve medical care tailored to individual patient needs. This improves the precision and effectiveness of treatment, leading to enhanced QOL for patients. “Increased Efficiency in Long-Term Care” enables care staff to grasp patients’ health status in real-time and provide appropriate care. This improves the quality of care and reduces the burden on care staff.
In these ways, smart health is poised to make our future lives richer and healthier.
Conclusion
Finally, let’s summarize smart health:
Smart health is healthcare that utilizes ICT (Information and Communication Technology).
Smart health offers benefits including “promotion of preventive medicine,” “increased efficiency and sophistication of medical care,” and “enhanced patient autonomy.”
Utilizing smart health may lead to the creation of services focused on “Just-in-Time” and “Personalization.”
Smart health devices include wearable items like smartwatches and smart glasses.
By utilizing AI, along with data analysis of EHR, HIE, and PHR, advancements in medicine and health promotion can be expected.
Smart health accelerates the shift in the future of medicine “from treatment to prevention.”
Through smart health, there are high expectations for improving our lifestyles and realizing a society where people can lead healthy and fulfilling lives.
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