Self-Diagnosis, Online Medical Tests, Pharmaceutical Industry: Future He...

Future of health care, impact of Google and home testing kits for genetic disease, inherited medical conditions, HIV, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis etc. How patients, clients, over the counter therapy customers, and consumers of health care products will manage their own treatment. Patrick Dixon is a health care keynote speaker at many health conferences. Patient choice and public health policy changes with government budget health cuts, health care rationing, post code lotteries. How doctors and nurses will manage patients who often know more about their own medical condition, have made their own diagnosis, have made decisions about their own treatment (patient autonomy). Impact on over the counter pharmaceutical industry, chemists, drug stores, pharmacies and retail sales of health related products. Wellbeing, disease prevention, health promotion, vitamin and health supplements, dietary supplements. How computer aided diagnostics will change clinical management of many medical conditions in hospital, clinics and in community care settings. Health care management and allocation of resources will be influenced by community-based diagnostics. Computer programmes to decide treatment and therapy guidelines. Future of the pharmaceutical industry with non-prescription medicines, remedies, therapies, drugs. Prescribing new treatments using new diagnostic tools, and patient clinical care pathways. Health policy development by governments, and health insurance companies. How insurers are using new diagnostic tests to evaluate risks in health insurance underwriting processes. Patient survival and increase in life expectancy with early diagnosis and treatment using equipment bought by consumers for home use. Risks in self-diagnosis and self-treatment with delay in hospital admission for conditions such as cancer, stroke, heart attack. Issues of confidentiality and secrecy in self-testing kits where the patient knows more than their doctor, and fails to disclose key health information to their insurer before buying health insurance, or life insurance cover. Future of the NHS and national health service, medicare in America. Funding of health care in future -- people expected to fund their own health needs.