Health care: A deeper look

USE CASES

Metaverse technologies aren’t common in digital health just yet and are probably in the first stage of the hype cycle, but we’re seeing early signals of investment and innovation. The healthcare industry has begun adopting metaverse technology for creative uses such as therapy. Some potential uses identified include immersive environments and uses of the digital twin:

• Educational: digital medical library, surgical training, immersion to practice rapid response, help caregivers empathize with patients’ conditions.
• Assistive: assist clinicians as they plan or complete procedures. VR headsets to control minimally-invasive surgical robots, AR navigation system helps orthopedic surgeons place implants, help scale the reach of trained clinicians, AR glasses for first responder and clinician communication regarding patients.
• Therapeutic: used by patients to receive or amplify treatments as they can heighten the intensity of patients’ therapeutic experiences. We expect to see more metaverse innovation in clinical areas that rely heavily on interaction with one’s environment.
• Digital twins for decision making by providers and patients: modeling the real world to simulate interventions based on comprehensive health data provided by patients. Can be coupled with AI to monitor preventatively for disease.
• Digital twins for population research: to simulate research into the impact of disease, a pandemic, etc using real data. Alternatively, individuals may monetize their own health data for research.

OUTLOOK AND MARKET POTENTIAL

The growing need to provide digital solutions and delivery models to patients during the pandemic has contributed to market growth. Provider to patient healthcare opportunities are not likely to replace in-person interaction but will supplement it. However, the other novel uses of the metaverse for healthcare research is likely to grow as Web 3.0 capabilities enable users to monetize their data. Additionally, training and simulation of real-world procedures for doctors and surgeons will be interesting to follow long-term to see when/if the technology becomes viable to be useful mainstream.

• The global digital health market is expected to reach a value of $426.9B by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 17.4%, according to Global Market Insights.
• Digital health companies raised $57.2B in VC funding in 2021, up 79% year-over-year (YoY). US digital health funding rose 75% YoY to reach $37.9B in 2021.
• “For first movers, we’ll be watching to see how you navigate onboarding, workflow integration, and reimbursement for metaverse applications, especially for provider- and patient-facing applications” (Rockhealth).

Specific challenges to overcome include: addressing user privacy issues and regulations, maximizing the experience to mirror face-to-face interaction, digital literacy and adoption by the elderly or luddites, access to technology and internet, how services will affect the business model especially in regard to insurance and payment.

FURTHER READING AND SOURCES ON MARKET AND CURRENT INVESTORS

• Whitepaper, November 2021. ‘A new Web3.0 Protocol Architecture for a Future Standard of Medical Big Data-Driven Ecosystems.’ Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XQb4xDPIYLv7kBPd8dY4dO-5Y-r5FKDt/view. Accessed March 2022.
• Research Brief, February 2022. ‘Direct-To-Patient Healthcare Provider hits $7B valuation.’ Available at: https://www.cbinsights.com/research/ro-competitors-numan-pill-club-thirty-madison-maximus-nurx/. Accessed March 2022.
• Eran Orr, January 2022. ‘The Metaverse can Create a Boundless Healthcare Experience.’ Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/01/26/the-metaverse-can-create-a-boundless-healthcare-experience/?sh=6f8ecef42340. Accessed March 2022.
• Charlotte Hawks, February 2022. ‘Digital Health Enters the Metaverse.’ Available at: https://rockhealth.com/insights/digital-health-enters-the-metaverse/. Accessed March 2022.
• PR Newswire, December 2021. ‘The World’s First Healthcare Metaverse from DeHealth.’ Available at: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/the-world-s-first-healthcare-metaverse-from-dehealth-1031061966. Accessed March 2022.
• DeHealth Ecosystem. Available at https://www.hlt.network/ (DeHealth Ecosystem webpage). Accessed March 2022.