Fitbit , Apple and Amazon are all continuing to develop consumer health wearables and fitness trackers , enabling users to harness greater interest and control over their healthcare . Following from the launch of Bluetooth in the early 2000s , the number of connected wearable devices worldwide is predicted to jump from an estimate of 325mn in 2016 to over 830mn in 2020 .
“ This is a Penicillin Moment , basically ,” observes Patel . “ Technologies in healthcare have got the potential to save more lives than some of the biggest inventions of the last century . There are mainly two fronts : machine learning and artificial intelligence ( AI ) capabilities . As this gets better and better and better , it ’ s going to augment the physician role . Rather than the physician spending a lot of time on diagnostics , machines can interpret scans , CT and MRI images . This trend is going to evolve .
“ Secondly , the ability of the machine to collect and interpret large amounts of data and find correlations and causations that we might not even be aware of . That will give us a different perspective on diseases . Once we find out exactly what ’ s going on , that ’ s when you have positive interventions being made
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