Stefan Blum: «Investors Are Keen on Digital Health Care»

Digitization in the health care industry is receiving more and more attention from investors looking for a long-term return, says Bellevue Asset Management’s Stefan Blum in an essay for finews.first.

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Artificial intelligence and big data have enormous potential to improve medical provision and to deliver cut costs. For investors, the commercialization of digital health care opens a wide array of investment opportunities.

Mobile applications that issue a warning to diabetes patients, linked up through sensors, when their blood sugar reading goes beyond a certain level; software that scans digital patient records for relevant information and prepares their treatment; or robots that assist doctors in the execution of complicated surgery and enable a more frequent use of keyhole surgery that is less prone to side effects. The digital revolution has reached the world of health care, helped by almost unlimited opportunities courtesy of artificial intelligence.

«Health care costs are growing faster than the gross domestic product in the OECD»

Innovative treatments are not only a welcome help for doctors in the performance of their job and a promise for a better and more efficient health care provision. Disruptive technology including sensors, connectivity, and cloud computing also contain huge savings potential. McKinsey calculated the potential dividend achievable through digitization in the U.S. to reach as much as $300 billion.

In coming years, older segments of the population will grow disproportionately due to the coming of age of the so-called baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964. And human beings per se are also getting older. It comes as no surprise then that health care costs are growing faster than the gross domestic product in the OECD.

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