Molecular Diagnostics – a Leap of Growth in Medical Analysis

Molecular diagnostics has emerged dramatically over the last two decades, as advanced technologies have driven this industry towards the next level of significance. Companies which already have adopted molecular diagnostic methods are now benefitted by increased accuracy and improved sensitivities in their tests compared to others. These new methods have greatly enhanced the discovery of many microbial infections, as well as genetic illnesses. Those who were hesitating due to the challenges and expense of opening a molecular lab now run the risk of being at a competitive disadvantage.

Molecular Diagnostics Industry

Molecular diagnostics has paved way for collaboration among many companies to add up their strengths. Through the collaboration, they intend to strengthen their hold in the molecular diagnostic market and develop an integrated clinical workflow solution and provide mass access to molecular diagnostics. Tie-ups with companies from other domains are mainly aimed at marketing of diagnostic tests. Only a handful of companies controlled more than two-thirds or more of the market for molecular tests. Companies like Roche will continue to lead the product portfolio includes molecular diagnostic tests for oncology, virology, microbiology, and blood screening. Multiple insurance providers are associated with them as payers of high-end medical tests.

Emerging Market Led by DNA Testing

The global molecular diagnostics market has reached beyond six billion USD in recent times according to some business reports. New technologies, innovations in medical science and expanded applications for tests have been fueling steady growth in the field. The business scope for it has its spectrum is not limited to one field of study. Molecular techniques are utilized in diverse fields like biochemistry, cellular sciences, genetics, infectious disease, oncology, hematology, and pharmacology.

Majority of the market for testing is derived from blood screening and tests related to infectious diseases. Personalized medicine is the new trend emerging with technologies that depend on DNA sequencing and molecular diagnostics. DNA sequencing is becoming a primary reason for the growth of molecular diagnostics. Personalization is the best when the approach to patients care is preventive care, which relies on proper diagnostic care or therapeutic remedies.

Clinical Testing Goes Molecular

Opening a molecular lab is a complex project demanding high-end instruments and expert to operate them. Setting up a sophisticated molecular lab is easier today because of the developments in the technology. Complex tests and bulky equipment are becoming more digital and user-friendly, gradually loaded with automated functioning. It also offers monitoring and control systems to ensure quality results.

It’s been more challenging to demonstrate the clinical utility of tests for broad patient populations. Targeted tests will continue to be the first choice for the majority of the patients. It will be more imperative than ever for clinical labs to have moldable solutions, with both targeted tests available.

A major challenge in the form of Antibiotic resistance is bound to have a long-term impact on the molecular diagnostics space. There are three elements – an integrated approach of rapid testing, antimicrobial stewardship programs, and clear actions based on results, which are required to address such a public health crisis.

Molecular diagnostics is advancing to provide most laboratory tests in infections and genetics. Genome sequence databases within and between species provide the information necessary to develop sensitive and specific diagnostic assays. In fact, microorganisms are nowadays classified on the basis of sequence rather than phenotype.

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Molecular Diagnostics – a Leap of Growth in Medical Analysis

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Emerging Nutrition Trends Attempting to Cure Global Malnutrition and Obesity

Health and wellness trends are changing the consumer point of view towards the nutrition products. They demand the adequate informed choices of products to be made available in the market so that they need not confront situations like malnutrition or obesity. Nutrition thus remains a major concern for public healthcare agencies around the world. On one side the problem of hunger and malnutrition is increasing in certain parts of the world like Africa and Asia while there are regions struggling with obesity in the North American continent. There is a need for implementing and scaling up changes aimed at assuring the access to nutritious foods and breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition and ill-health. Some of the recent developments in the field of nutrition are narrated here.

Global Paradox of Two Extremes – Malnutrition and Obesity

It is a global dilemma that under-nutrition and obesity are found to exist simultaneously in many countries. Families with experience of food insecurity may have a higher risk of overweight and obesity. Poor access to food, high cost of nutritious food, the stress of living are common reasons in many regions while physiological variations developed as a result of chronic food deprivation are individual causes illnesses related to malnutrition and obesity.

According to UN reports a number of people suffering from hunger in the world in 2017 were around 821 million or one in nine adults while obese adults are 672 million or one in eight adults. There are 150.8 million (22.2%) children under the age of five affected by low height-for-age ratio while 38.3 million (5.6%) are children under the age of five who are having high weight-for-height.  Moreover, it is also reported that 32.8% of women of reproductive age are affected by anemia.

Adult obesity is worsening as cases of overweight individuals are rising significantly in North America but Africa and Asia are also experiencing an upward trend. Indian situation in nutritional sufficiency can be judged from the fact that it was ranked 100th out of 118 countries. New evidence continues to signal that the number of people deprived of necessary nutrition in the world is growing and there was a slow progress on ending all forms of malnutrition.

Digestive Wellness

Most healthcare professionals believe that the general wellness of a person depends on the health of his digestive system and hence digestive wellness takes the center stage of their efforts. Consumers are now aware and want to experience the maximum benefits from the food they eat and thus create a strong demand for food products that claim to provide digestive wellness. It is propelled by addition of new ingredients and emerging science of preparing the food products. The general trend of ‘free-from’ foods such as sugar-free, free from dairy, free from gluten, free from added flavors is catching. Some of them also want foods with ingredients like prebiotic fibers, probiotics for added benefit. The International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) is the agency bringing more awareness and scientific understanding about probiotics. Fermented foods like yogurt are considered as the ‘functional food’ in a diet.

Brands of nutritional supplementary foods like Huel and Innermost are popular items in the Silicon Valley Diet. It is a cult meal alternative drink that the tech community is currently obsessing over. These powdered products offer a complete nutritional meal to live a healthy balanced lifestyle on a daily basis. Similar products can be made available for masses at affordable price if healthcare agencies worldwide take initiative.

Personalized Nutrition

Personalized nutrition is a continuing trend as people realize that everyone has different needs. It is expected to shape the future of health and wellness market. It is the concept of bringing specific customized food pattern on the mass scale which dietitians were doing for each individual. Increased personalization of products requires more inputs for product development and investment in brand building.

Consumers are becoming more knowledgeable about the effects of readymade foods and their own dietary requirements. More personalized products such as food allergies and specific food intolerance needs are increasing in demand.

There is a kind of movement for personalized nutrition which is mostly driven by advancements in technology, in many cases just waiting for science to catch up. A nutrition tailored for a specific individual is possible in near future with the help of technologies such as wearable fitness trackers to DNA testing that will drive the demand for such services. Even packaging is getting person-centric in labels and visualizations. For instance, independent studies have revealed that consumers relate more to ‘orange juice’ on the ingredient label than ‘Ascorbic Acid’ or ‘Vitamin C’ though both labels are just different names of same ingredient.

Healthcare Revolution through Technology Enabled Insurance

Many economists support the fact that an employer-sponsored health insurance is hurting the pockets of employees. Almost all experts are recommending the separation of insurance from employment. Though the private insurance systems are available, the dependence on employer-sponsored insurance is very high in western countries like USA.

Self-Insuring the Healthcare Sector

Companies are increasingly looking to self-insure the health care. This can be done in various ways but in the most likely scenario, they will use the reach of technology and mass acceptance of smart devices for developing smart ecosystems such as telemedicine, robotics for surgery, diagnostics network, and clouds of electronic medical records.

Challenges of the Current Healthcare Insurance System

There are sector specific challenges in the current healthcare system as a fragmented ecosystem of suppliers and manufacturers. Healthcare insurance provides face pressures on margins, and regulatory policies are uncertain. A patient does not have enough knowledge and they lack the control over its decisions to make insurance claims. The fundamental difficulty with the system is that it makes the patients vulnerable, unable to make decisions for their own benefits and can’t avoid the potential risks.

The current system induces people to spend more money on health insurance and overall health care spending. It is regressive and expensive and represents the single largest tax expenditure. It makes people dependent on their employers for their health insurance and they are worried about how the exchange coverage may not be affordable to them if they leave the job. Doctors have opinion that the patients are at disadvantage if they don’t have insurance or if the coverage is uncertain. Government can take initiative to sponsor health insurance for all people as a promising alternative to the current system.

Technology Enabled Solutions

The internet has enabled the patients to get online consultations and take second opinions from experts. Technologies such as the mobile applications allow them to monitor their own health. The crucial missing ingredients are provided by these solutions such as the access to their own health care history, diagnosis reports, medical records, and they are able to share information with anyone if required.

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Healthcare Revolution through Technology Enabled Insurance

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India Launches World’s Largest Health Insurance Scheme – Ayushman Bharat

India has witnessed the launch of the biggest government-sponsored healthcare scheme in the world known as Ayushman Bharat in which the number of beneficiaries is so large that it can cover the people in India equal to total population Canada, Mexico and the US. The insurance scheme is named as Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY). It will have a well-defined health cover of five lakh rupees per family per year. There was a general debate on whether the scheme has the ability to offer respite to India’s poor and vulnerable. The benefits of the scheme are valid across the country and cashless benefits are available in public/private hospitals listed under the scheme for the beneficiary covered under the scheme anywhere in India.

How does Ayushman Bharat work?

The entitlement will be based on the deprivation criteria in the SECC database. The package rates for payments of treatments will be decided by the government. Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission Council (AB-NHPMC) will be the apex body for policy directions and fostering coordination between center and states. State Health Agency (SHA) is the authority at the state level to implement the scheme. The transfer of funds will be done through an escrow account directly from the center to state so that the funds will be available on time.

The most important aspect of the scheme is its cashless and paperless transactions through a robust and scalable digital platform. A cover of five lakhs per year towards hospitalization expenses of their family members is provided. Apart from the expenses on hospitalizations treatment, the scheme also covers pre and post hospitalization costs to in certain cases. The beneficiaries will not be required to pay any charges and premium for the hospitalization expenses.

‘Ayushman Mitra’ – the health serviceman to assist the beneficiaries, will be appointed in each empanelled hospital and will act as coordinator between hospital and beneficiary.  These staff members will run a help desk in order to enrolment patients in the scheme. They will also check the documents to verify the eligibility.

What are the benefits?

Eligible families from SECC database have already been listed and shared with the state governments and respective departments. They will get a unique AB-NHPM family identification number allotted to them. Only families whose name is on the list with identification number are eligible for the benefits of AB-NHPM.

There are a total of 1,354 packages in the scheme included by the health ministry under which treatment for coronary bypass, knee replacements, and many other health ailments will be provided at almost twenty percent cheaper rates.

Why public health insurance is needed?

The NSSO presented some alarming statistics in 2015 on how medical emergencies and expenses on healthcare thereafter disturb the financial security of poor families in India. There was the steep rise in hospitalization expenses, especially for critical ailments in the past few decades. As the expenses are usually paid through the sale of assets that bring income to the family, health ailments are nothing short of a disaster for poor families. An estimated six million families are falling into poverty each year due to hospitalization. By targeting lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder this scheme provides immunity to these families against the financial losses from sudden medical emergencies. This will take away the economic forces that push these people towards the depths of poverty and will help in uplifting both the economic status and quality of life for the poor.

How to make it Effective?

India Launches World’s Largest Health Insurance Scheme – Ayushman Bharat

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