Transforming healthcare to address unmet medical needs

Transforming healthcare to address unmet medical needs

Healthcare is continuing to face growing pressure to change with medical knowledge doubling every 72 days.¹

This increase in knowledge, coupled with advances in science, data, analytics and digital technology, promise a shift in the way we approach diagnostics and healthcare. This shift is creating a transformational moment for healthcare, and among other things, leading to an increased demand for value-based outcome-driven healthcare.

Today, the growing prevalence of heart disease, cancer and diabetes are major contributors to the rising cost of care, as 86% of healthcare costs are associated with managing chronic disease.² These costs are also impacted by the global rise in both aging populations and morbidity rates due to cardiac conditions, cancer and infectious diseases.³

Managing the growth of these diseases and medical conditions has a significant impact. Gross domestic products will continue to be consumed by growing healthcare spending, affecting governments around the world.^4,5

Now more than ever, there is a need for evidence-based, personalised healthcare. Diagnostics can play a leading role in enabling healthcare professionals to detect, monitor and drive the overall fight against disease, especially as patients, clinicians and payers continuously focus more on health outcomes and value-based care.

“With signs of unprecedented change in healthcare delivery, labs and clinicians are expected to manage an increasingly high number of samples and deliver results more efficiently, while improving patient outcomes,” commented Thomas Schinecker, Global Head of Centralised and Point of Care Solutions, Roche Diagnostics. "That is why Roche must continuously deliver innovative solutions that support clinical decision-making based on unmet medical needs."

Improving clinical decision-making with high value assays

With an increased prevalence of chronic and infectious diseases, there is greater urgency to enhance our understanding of how to approach effective treatment and prevention. Roche is working with laboratories to connect and evaluate various data sets to uncover new ideas. These insights enable Roche to develop innovative high-value assays designed to tailor treatments to individual patient needs, supporting earlier and more accurate diagnosis of disease.

In Alzheimer’s Disease, for example, new tests based on biomarkers found in cerebrospinal fluid help physicians detect and diagnose Alzheimer’s earlier. Current treatments focus on alleviating symptoms and are unable to stop Alzheimer's from progressing because they do not affect the disease's underlying causes. Diagnosing dementia or AD will help those impacted by the disease to be aware of the condition.

Similarly, in the area of heart failure, having a full clinical picture, with the right objective information, enables physicians to confirm the initial diagnosis and ensure the best patient management and monitoring. In an emergency situation, these tests also assess disease severity and the risk for adverse events,^6,7,8 ultimately enabling physicians to decide whether to admit or discharge patients from the hospital.⁹

Diagnostic tools also provide insights in Women’s Health to help clinicians and patients make informed decisions about their care. A simple fertility blood test, known as anti-müllerian hormone testing, enables clinicians to better understand a patient’s fertility, or ovarian reserve. The accuracy of these test results empower healthcare professionals with valuable information to guide patients on their recommended course of treatment.

Bringing novel diagnostic tools to the market is critical to drive personalised healthcare and sustain our healthcare system,” said Ann Costello, Head of Centralised Solutions Franchise with Centralised and Point of Care Solutions, Roche Diagnostics. “Using data-driven insights will enable clinicians to better tailor medical treatment to individuals and small groups of patients.”

Simplifying complex laboratory processes to improve outcomes

Big data is already shifting the boundaries of possibility in medical research and patient care. As a result, laboratories are working in an environment with unprecedented volumes of data, everything from details about the human genome to digital health records. 

Roche is enabling labs go beyond managing their day-to-day workloads efficiently to also elevating their role to support better decision-making and healthcare outcomes. To do this, Roche works in close collaboration with labs to find ways to streamline, connect and integrate workflows and data. These meaningful insights can help to better inform care delivery, including everything from lab operations to best practice applications of diagnostic solutions.

Leveraging data will empower healthcare professionals to make data-driven decisions that improve laboratory processes and performance. The availability of cutting-edge analytics offers ever-increasing opportunities for benchmarking, future-focused planning and streamlining of laboratory operations to make more efficient and  improved care possible. New advances in digital diagnostics also supports care team collaboration, standardizes clinical workflows and creates space for best practice sharing by aggregating relevant patient data from multiple sources into one dashboard.

Digital diagnostic tools increasingly harness the power of data, redefining the role of the lab, and reinforce the value of labs and diagnostics in achieving their vision for better healthcare in their communities.