Back to the future? Jason Helgerson, Founder and CEO of Helgerson Solutions, believes the pandemic will ultimately prove a catalyst for home healthcare
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n the 1985 hit science fiction movie – Back to the Future – a high school student played by Michael J. Fox utilised advanced technology to travel back in time. You may ask what possible link there may be between that movie and global healthcare post-pandemic? My answer is, that like the movie, we will utilise technology to go back in time to the era in which healthcare came to us - in our homes - and this change will be far more impactful than many believe.
Until roughly the 1950s, healthcare was commonly provided at home. Doctors regularly visited patients, and we only used hospitals and even clinics in extreme circumstances. As technology advanced and doctors could no longer fit the new tools of their trade in their bags, it became necessary for patients to travel to healthcare. The transition to a world in which healthcare requires patient travel has profoundly impacted how these vital services are provided. Beyond just patient
inconvenience, this change has led to a massive shift in the relative power dynamic between patients and providers. As a result, providers are at the centre of the healthcare delivery system in almost any country you look at. Practically all aspects – from office hours to service locations, even to how and by whom services are provided – are built around the needs of providers. Patients are simply expected to adjust and comply. As healthcare policy analyst and commentator Roy Lilley recently said when I interviewed him for the podcast Health 2049, a patient’s time is considered worthless. As a result, the overall experience most of us have when it comes to consuming healthcare services is inconvenient at best and de-humanising
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