In previous years, The Medical Futurist published annual e-books about digital health trends regarding potential developments that were worth keeping an eye on for that particular year. Based on our analyses and forecasts, these trends help give a bigger picture regarding the direction that the field was heading towards during that year; even though not all forecasts came to fruition.

This current e-book also shares our insights about noteworthy trends based on similar analyses. However, unlike our previous annual trends e-books, we do not restrict ourselves to a current year but look at the short-term future now, with the developments likely to happen in the next 2-5 years. Moreover, we don’t only focus on these insights but also help in providing context about those trends and relevant technologies in general.

In this book, we elaborate on 20 trends that we have been constantly monitoring and that we believe will have the most importance in shaping the digital health landscape in the near future:

1. Patient empowerment is the biggest milestone in the history of medicine
2. Lifestyle medicine is the redesign primary care has needed
3. Globalised healthcare brings precision medicine to life
4. Pharma companies & digital health: packaging a medication with a digital health service
5. Direct-to-consumer genetic testing has an edge in drug sensitivity
6. Nutrigenomics is the biggest promise of digital health
7. Food scanners are lagging behind
8. ECG devices have led the regulatory race for portable diagnostic devices
9. A.I.-guided portable ultrasound devices are the unicorns of digital health
10. The conscious health consumer of the future uses sensors and loses privacy
11. Virtual visits and chatbots represent the new primary care
12. Artificial Intelligence needs a prospective upgrade and the video game industry can help
13. Bioprinting: It is possible to bioprint living tissues but not organs
14. 3D printing can customize treatments and supplement the medical supply chain
15. The automation race defines whether A.I. can outperform physicians
16. COVID-19 has catalyzed technological adoption, but not the cultural one
17. Mixed reality can transform virtual meetings and medical education
18. Virtual reality can help ease pain for patients in the hospital
19. Robots only roam rich hospitals and pharmacies
20. Digital health insurance companies will have no competitors

Each section contains an aspect that we wanted to highlight about that technology or trend based on our analyses by studying the field for years. We also walk you through that area with relevant descriptions and examples that we find interesting. Additionally, we include further reading suggestions at the end of every section which you can turn to so as to dive deeper into the subject.