2030 - the future of medicine (Oxford University Press)

It is 2030. What are the new technologies that have advanced healthcare? What are the new or strengthened demands placed on the healthcare systems of the world? Is the future affordable, or do we see drastic rationing of care or the collapse of healthcare insurance? This book tackles these questions, and provides some answers. It does not shrink from the uncomfortable challenges that lie ahead, as demand surges and new technologies add to the strain. It lays out ten levers that stand a fighting chance of closing the healthcare equation, of balancing supply and demand. But these levers require radically new thinking on the part of politicians, health systems managers, professionals and patients alike. Thinking that needs to be urgently turned into action, whatever the barriers and vested interests. Of all subjects, healthcare is intensely personal, so the future is illustrated with the health histories of members of a fictional family, the Carters. They could live in the US or the UK - or any number of countries that all face the challenge of affordable healthcare over the next 20 years.