Healthtech innovations could improve care for catastrophic injuries and reduce costs significantly

• Cost of care has risen year on year with the most serious cases now costing in excess of £400,000 annually.
• Compensation system for care following life-changing accidents is outdated and no longer meets public expectations for assistive technologies.
• Majority of public believe that new technologies have an important role in the provision of cost-effective patient care and treatments.
• COVID-19 improvisation will generate research base for designing next generation of care models
  
  

The COVID-19 outbreak has revealed the inflexibility and lack of innovation in personal care systems around the world. Relieving these pressures will require an innovative new approach. Our new report, The future of care: is technology the answer?, published today, interviews health and insurance professionals in the UK, the US and Australia as well as polling over 1,000 people in each country. The report explores some of the systemic barriers to adoption of healthtech solutions and recommends future best practice for more personalized and modern care delivery.

Several experts have highlighted that technology can be better integrated into traditional care packages, in order to increase patient choice and independence.

Jo Douglas, independent care expert, said: “The area where there is scope for more technology is for people who need less than 24 hour support, where technology could replace some personal care. Remote monitoring can allow people to live in their own homes but operate independently up to a point.” Increased use of healthtech is supported by the public with 39% of people surveyed stating that technology is under-utilised in how they access healthcare treatments.

"Several obstacles will need to be overcome in promoting the expansion of mixed care models, where personal care and technology are rotated according to preferences and needs. Some experts highlighted the tactical role of claimant advisers in advocating personal care as a means of maximizing the value of their client’s damages claim. The application of assistive technologies may be overlooked in the claims setting precisely because they may help to reduce the cost of care and lead to a lower overall compensation award."

Heather Cook, Chief Innovation Officer, Brain in Hand, a professional digital support system which helps people with making decisions, managing anxiety, and dealing with unexpected situations said: “Local authorities are now able to quantify the savings that the Brain in Hand system is able to deliver. In Kirklees, the Local Authority has quantified that for every £1 spent on Brain in Hand, it has delivered £10 in savings. Once our clients can see the benefits and tangible savings it our system delivers, almost invariably, they integrate our system into other areas, expanding into areas such as autism, learning disability or mental health services.”

Another reason for the under-adoption of assistive technology is the clinical knowledge gap, because many health professionals are not familiar with the fast-developing range of products or how to support their patients (including vulnerable groups) to use them effectively in their own homes. Our report highlights a growing demand from patients for healthtech advice including online appointments, smartphone health apps, and automated home devices for care tasks such as environmental control, dispensing medication or fall alarms.

Over half of our survey's respondents believe that technology can empower people living with catastrophic injuries, giving them a greater sense of independence, with over one-third recognising the cost-efficiencies which might follow.

Mark Burton, Partner and Head of Catastrophic Injury at Kennedys, says: “Many personal care services can now be replaced or improved via assistive technology. Whilst consumers are supportive of technology-based solutions in healthcare, the medico-legal market is outdated and offers insufficient integration of personal care and assistive technology solutions. The clinical knowledge gap around the role of technology in allowing increased independence for some patients needs to be closed via education and proactive engagement by all parties.

"The status quo has partly arisen because, tactically, the personal care model generates the highest compensation awards. As such, there is little, if any, claimant impetus for reform. It can, however, place an unfair burden on the state or compensators, and is prohibitively expensive for any users outside of a 100% compensation scenario.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing emergency re-appraisal of the traditional care supply chain for reasons of infection control and business continuity. We have carried out extensive consumer surveys and stakeholder interviews, in order to reality-test demand for increased adoption of healthtech solutions. The results were revealing, in that public attitudes are supportive of reform, but that there are various practical impediments embedded in our existing claims and healthcare infrastructure.”