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Lowering Health Care Costs Through the Use of

New Technologies

MIS 304 Professor Fang Fang

May 10th, 2010

A report by:

Jannae Baca, Carly Byron, Melissa Caro and Michael Paje

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Table of Contents

I. Introduction………………………………. 3

II. Prevention…………………………………5

III. Diagnosis………………………………….9

IV. Treatment………………………………….15

V. Conclusion………………………………...21

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I. Introduction

We chose this topic because we are interested in learning more about the

relationship between health and technology. In addition, when we started researching

for our topic we found the link between technology and how it helped health services to

provide better assistance to our society very interesting.

Health technology is the use of skill to improve health care systems and medical

devices. It is also described as a technique that is utilized by health professionals to

help with diagnoses along with prevention and treatment. Health technology also

improves quality and a more organized health care system. We have learned a lot in our

Management Information System class of how important it is to be updated in new

innovations and new information systems. According to what we have learned from our

MIS class, information system can help people to achieve goals and objectives of a

business.

We see how technology has helped in so many ways to improve our society

and at the same time has also reduced costs. Today, healthcare is one of the most

controversial topics in our society. One of the reasons is the high cost of health care.

According to research, health care costs in the United States are over two trillion dollars.

A doctor’s appointment, prescriptions, x-rays, and treatments can be very expensive;

furthermore, procedures and treatments can be excessive and unnecessary. With the

use of the newest software, hardware, and equipment it will help health care systems to

be more efficient and accurate.

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The World Health Organization states that “health technology helps to solve

health problems and it saves lives” (www.who.com). New technology and better

systems are helping hospitals and health service centers to provide better assistance. In

developing countries they do not have many resources available for their health. New

technology will help those developing countries prevent diseases and diagnose illness

such as diabetes, malaria and HIV; furthermore, these technologies will lower the cost

of treatments.

Our focus for this project is to share what new technologies and new systems are

being invented for our society and around the world to decrease health care costs. We

also want to share how these new systems and technologies have improved our health

care centers and have helped to reduce the patients’ costs.

According to a website called How to do things “new technologies can lead to

cost savings and efficiency. The problem of expensive health care can be solved by

adequate use of information technology in the health care system.” This means

information systems and information technology is a very important tool of business. It

helps the people such as doctors, nurses, and patients to improve communication and

prevent extra visits to the doctor as well as saving money. “The Health Information

Technology (HIT) is working on providing a better communication between patients and

health care personal” (Kosmider). This means that with the help of technology hospitals

and health institutions get a better system and better equipment.

New innovations and the use of information systems will help to reduce medical

expenses on diagnosis prevention and treatment. This means that with new equipment

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and better software people who work in health care institutions will be capable of

offering better assistance to patients. In addition, it will help to prevent unnecessary

procedures and extra medical exams that patients sometimes have to go through in

order to find any possible problems with their health. According to an article from

stltoday.com, some Americans are more likely to get insurance, because of the new

technology being invented. The article states “medical entrepreneurs are moving swiftly,

promising new drugs and medical devices that will be ‘safer, faster and cheaper’”

(Doyle).

A reason why it is so important to be open to new things is because we may be

able to prevent the extra costs and time spent on needless exams, treatments and other

procedures that a patient may not need. Better communication and the right equipment

can fix these underlying problems.

II. Prevention

Ideally the best way to lower health care costs would be to eliminate the need for

health care all together through preventative technologies. Unfortunately with bacteria

and viruses constantly evolving, this idea is simply unrealistic. Even so, preventative

technologies can still drastically reduce health care costs. Focusing on major problems

the population faces today, these technologies can not only save money, but thousands

upon thousands of human lives as well. Presented below are several upcoming

technologies focused on achieving this goal.

Pandemics of bird flu, influenza and the recent H1N1 virus pose an imminent

threat to people everywhere. The next bird flu pandemic is estimated to claim over sixty-

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two million lives. Almost sixty million of the lives claimed will be in developing nations

with seventeen million being children (http://www.filligent.com/). To prevent such a

tragedy an affordable, simple solution is needed. Filigent, a Hong Kong biotech

company, is dedicated to conquering such a challenge. As such, the company has

created BioMask. Biomask is a medical facemask that kills influenza, common cold,

respiratory and measles viruses as well as mycobacterium on contact. Such a feat is

made possible by BioFriend, another product generated by Filigent. BioFriend utilizes

molecular mimicry. Basically it acts as human cells to attract microbes. Then BioFriend

destroys them by disrupting their surfaces and cell walls. Filigent has not revealed the

exact agent used to accomplish this molecular mimicry, (probably to prevent

competition in the marketplace) but they have revealed how it works. The agent

generates a negative charge to attract the microbes. Next copper and zinc ions kill the

microbes as describe above. Tests show that this rather simple process can be very

effective. BioMask was sprayed with fifty times the amount of virus contained in a

normal sneeze. In less than one minute, ninety-nine and nine tenths of the viruses were

destroyed. After ten minutes, the viruses were one-hundred percent eliminated. This is

extraordinary in comparison with other facemasks where after ten minutes fifty thousand

viruses still remained (http://www.filligent.com/). Scientist estimate such an effective

facemask could decrease the number of cases from one million to six in the first eight

weeks of a pandemic. BioMask is not yet for sale, but Filigent hopes to sell it for twenty-

five percent less than a standard surgical mask (http://www.filligent.com). Researching

facemasks on the Amazon website, the BioMask should cost between ten to twenty

dollars. Such an affordable technology will help not only people in wealthy countries, but

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those living in the third world as well.

People of third world nations face a great variety of health threats. One such

often forgotten threat, steams from the lack of proper toilets. Over two and half billion

people in the world do not have access to modern, proper toilets. Such hazardous

waste causes one and half million children every year to die from diarrhea. Such

startling facts motivated Anders Wilhelmson to invent the PeePoo bag in September

2005. The PeePoo bag is lined with a urea coating. Enzymes in human waste

breakdown urea into ammonia and carbonate. This process kills pathogens by raising

the pH level. Once this is complete, the leftover ammonia fertilizes the soil while the bag

biodegrades. The best part of all, the PeePoo bag only cost three cents

(http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-03/peepoo-bags-sterlize-human-waste-

and-create-fertilizer-only-three-cents). Between December 2008 and January 2009

three hundred people living in Kibera tested the PeePoo bag. The product was

positively received and produced magnificent results (http://www.peepoople.com/). The

PeePoo bag has the potential to save millions of lives at an incredibly low cost. Until

modern toilets become available to the billions of people in need, the PeePoo bag is a

great solution.

Another significant way to diminish health care cost is by catching a disease

before it becomes life threatening. The Lab-in-a-Wristwatch tackles such a challenge.

The wristwatch is packed with different small chips all accomplishing a variety things.

With a drop of saliva, the watch can diagnose the threat of a heart attack. With a drop of

blood, the watch can search for indicators of thromboses. The watch can also detect

dehydration through skin moisture and warn a patient with a pacemaker if their too close

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to an electromagnetic field. These different chips are customizable to individual patient

needs. This product is still being fully developed and as such does not have a price

associated with it; however, it is designed in an expensive plastic. The developers,

scientist from the Frauhhofer Institute in Germany, are aiming to keep price low. Even if

the price comes out a little high, the development of this product could lead to the

disposable of expensive diagnosis equipment; furthermore, patients will not have to wait

days upon days to receive lab results. The wristwatch provides an immediate answer

and action can be taken right away (http://www.fraunhofer.de). Like the other two

technologies, the wristwatch could also benefit third world countries by eliminating the

need for an expensive lab. The wristwatch allows a quick, affordable diagnosis possible

preventing even larger, more expensive health issues in the future.

Similar to the Lab-on-Chip Wristwatch, gold nanosensors are now being used to

continuously monitor blood clots and trace proteins. Silica cores, about one-hundred

and twenty nanometers in diameter, are wrapped in gold shells covered with aptamers.

Aptamers are nucleic acid strands that are capable of binding to specific molecules.

These sensors are injected into blood streams and latch onto biomarkers for different

diseases. Shinning a laser onto the sensor causes it to emit a specific light spectrum

associated with a specific apatmer. Once the sensor is latched onto a biomarker the

light spectrum changes. Such a technique immediately informs doctors of blood clots

presence. Or in the case of thrombin, the sensors can be used as a continuous

monitoring system, again informing doctors of any immediate, deadly changes.

Basically by using different apatmers, a variety of diseases can be tracked. No cost

estimates have been released. Also not noted is how long the sensors last. Does the

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body eventually break them down? Does a patient need to periodically re-inject

him/herself with these sensors? For the time being, these questions remain unanswered.

Another potential set back is the price of gold. With resent economic conditions, the

price of gold has skyrocketed. As such this technology may prove to be cost ineffective;

however, the current test for blood clots is already time consuming and expensive

(http://www.popsci.com). When the price of gold comes back down again, this

technology could prove to be worthwhile.

The above example preventative technologies will not eliminate health care cost

all together, but they have the potential to make a drastic impact. Continued

development of such technology will continue to benefit our society; furthermore,

combining preventative, diagnosis and treatment technologies will create a more

affordable future for patients.

III. Diagnosis

When it comes to a person’s health, prevention is very important. Sometimes

things just cannot be avoided, and when this happens the next step is to diagnose the

problem. Many diagnostic tools are out there to help a doctor decipher what is wrong

with their patient. The only problem with these technologies is that most of them are

very expensive to use. Without the aid of insurance, most patients cannot afford to pay

the medical bills that these technologies create. Different procedures and equipment are

used for an array of medical options to diagnose the issue, but the problem is that a

patient is paying hundreds of dollars just to diagnose the problem, not treat it. This is a

huge dilemma not only in America but in third world countries whose doctors and

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hospitals cannot even afford to have these technologies that are capable of diagnosing

problems. In America we have the technology, but if a citizen cannot afford to have

health insurance, then it is not likely that they can afford the medical expenses that it

would cost to diagnose the issue, let alone treat it. For third world countries that are able

to afford these technologies, it is likely that the hospitals that have them are only in the

city and not all citizens of these places have the means to get into the city to receive

help. This means that they are forced to go to local doctors who may not be able to do

anything or not even seek any help and try to deal with the problem on their own. As

medicine and technology quickly evolve, we begin to see answers to these problems.

New technology is being invented that will diagnose health problems in a much cheaper

and easier fashion than ever before. These technologies are also much smaller which

make for easy portable use. This is a great for third world countries because they tend

to do a lot of house calls for patients, since not everyone can leave their house or facility.

There are many new technologies that have come out to help eliminate this problem.

The diagnostic chip is one of those technologies. This chip is simply a piece of

paper treated with hydrophobic polymer that takes the liquid and moves it along

different sections where it encounters different regents that make it change colors. The

chip looks like a small tree, where the branches are the different sections. It is the size

of a finger print and costs only about a penny. It is used by putting a drop of blood on

the chip and depending on the colors of the branches, it will determine if the patient has

a disease. Some of the diseases that it can diagnose are HIV, malaria, tuberculosis,

hepatitis, and gastroenteritis. These are all very serious diseases that are especially

prevalent in third world countries. With the chip only costing a penny and being so small,

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it will make an enormous amount of difference for these countries. They will be able to

afford it and give it out to millions of citizens who will be able to find out if they are

carriers of these diseases. If they are, they will be able to promptly seek medical

attention to treat them. Not only will this help the patients be able to find if they are

carriers of these diseases, but these chips will also be able to tell them how severe the

virus has gotten. Most technologies cannot do this but with this capability it will save

large amounts of money. Usually figuring out how bad a disease has progressed

generally involves more money and more lab testing. Vials of blood will no longer have

to be taken and sent to labs in order to receive results because in that amount of time a

patients disease could be escaladed . The ease of portability that these chips can

provide makes it so that even the remotest areas can receive them. This chip was

invented by George Whitesides who is a chemistry professor at Harvard. One of his

goals for this technology is to make it so that cell phones can be used in tangent with

the paper chip. This was a promising idea because he knows that cell phones are so

prevalent everywhere, people in third world countries who can’t make it to large cities to

have their results read can send a picture of the chip to large hospitals in the city. He

also wants to invent an application that will help a patient read their own chip and

decipher for themselves what diseases they have. This chip requires little technology to

create and can be made so cheaply that it helps to answer the problems of expensive

diagnosis technologies.

Another new technology that is saving large amounts of money in the medical

world is the 3M Littmann Electronic Stethoscope 3200. This device is a stethoscope that

does so much more than the average stethoscope which is only used to listen to things

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in the human body, such as a heartbeat and breathing in the lungs. This new device

amplifies sound with exceptional sound quality and also has the capability to record

what it hears. It is also able to record and play back for the doctor to listen to as many

times as they need as well as have other doctors listen for a possible second opinion,

without the patient ever having to be there. This saves patients large amounts of money

because they do not have to come in for more appointments, in order to have their heart

heard again. The doctor can just play it over and over again until they are satisfied that

they have diagnosed the problem correctly. It also has Bluetooth that can send the

recorded sounds to a computer, where they can be saved, stored, or sent to other

locations. The biggest money saving part of this stethoscope is that it has software that

can detect heart murmurs and from that it can tell a doctor if the patient has a heart

abnormality or leaky valve. This saves money because according to popular science,

“This scope could save $9.4 billion a year in unnecessary echocardiogram tests and

cardiologist fees.” This is a substantial amount of money being saved because the

doctor able to detect what’s wrong right then and there, instead of sending patients off

to do extra tests that are unnecessary if the doctor already knows what the problem is.

The average citizen, even if they do not have insurance, will likely be able to afford a

basic exam by their doctor where they can be checked by this equipment. This tool

makes it easier for doctors to catch heart problems that may have been previously

missed by the old stethoscopes.

A new technology that has been recently publicized on television commercials is

General Electric’s new Vscan, which is a portable ultrasound scanner. This new

equipment is the size of a cell phone and can be used anywhere without the need of

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being plugged in or attached to anything other than itself. This can save large amounts

of money because doctors will no longer need to send patients to radiology and will

eliminate the technician who would administer the x-ray, as well as the use of the large

expensive radiology equipment that was used in the past. This new technology is also

great for third world countries that cannot afford the large equipment and may not have

much access to the electricity that the large equipment requires. Also, because it is

portable, it can be taken to patients in third world countries if they do not have a way of

getting to the doctors or clinics in the area. The scanner will take real time scans of the

patient and like a camera take a picture that can be zoomed in or moved around. The

picture is in black and white but color overlay can be added if necessary. The scan can

be recorded and replayed later and like the stethoscope has Bluetooth technology so

that the scans can be sent out and saved to review later. This is all very useful

technology that will help in the fight to lower health care costs.

Microscopes are very expensive, especially for a high tech one. They cost in the

hundreds of dollars for a basic one and in the thousands of dollars for a really good one.

With these prices so high that third world countries cannot afford to keep in all their

clinics. A new technology has been invented that can turn any cell phone with a camera

into a portable microscope for the very inexpensive cost of only ten dollars. Almost any

country or clinic can afford this and most people have cell phones that this equipment

can attach to. This can also save on professional lab technicians because in these

countries it can be hard to find lab technicians that can read what the microscopes are

showing. So to help fix this situation, the cell scope is attached to the camera of the cell

phone which enables the user to take a picture of what the cell scope is showing. Once

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the picture is on the cell phone, it can be sent to any hospital or lab technician to take a

look at the picture and send back the results very quickly. This device saves money as

well as time and comes in many different ranges of scopes. Scopes can be different

lengths with different magnification power. The diversity in scopes makes sure that all

things can be seen in a very cost effective manner. The cell phone does not have to be

changed or modified in any way to fit the scope onto it, so no extra cost is incurred by

the user. Not only is this technology great for developing worlds but can be used by

regular citizens around the world and right here in the United States. It is very common

here in America that our doctors and clinics are equipped with larger microscopes but

the scopes can be bought by any citizen wishing to use it. The purpose that it serves is

to help the average citizen save money and keep track of their own changing health

conditions. For someone who has a mole or multiple moles that need to be watched, a

person can use the scope to take a picture that is then sent to their doctor who can

keep an eye on the mole without the patient ever having to step foot inside the doctor’s

office. It can also be used by cancer patients in relatively the same fashion because

they can conduct their own blood cell count and can send pictures to their doctors who

can monitor the blood count. This saves money because every time a patient visits the

doctor’s office it is costing them money.

All of these new technologies combined are working together to save money and

save lives. The diagnosis of a problem is critical to helping a patient stay alive. If a

disease goes unnoticed, it will get worse, so catching it sooner is imperative to keeping

a patient alive and healthy. The sooner it can be caught the sooner they can be treated.

Health care for most people is the largest cost that they will incur in their lifetime.

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Keeping these costs down will make it so that everyone can afford good health care no

matter how much money they make. Technology is at the leading front of doing this, so

we rely on it to help lower the costs that we are seeing when bills come in. It also makes

it so that other countries who normally cannot afford health care have a cheaper option

when diagnosing health problems.

IV. Treatment

The prevention and diagnosis is important in a doctor’s ability to do the correct

treatment to any case. The treatment that a doctor does can help a patient’s health.

New technologies are emerging for doctors to use in their facilities to help patients live

longer. The new treatments will be explained and examined.

A. Medical Access

The new technologies are giving the medical interactions between patient and

doctors faster service. Doctors can now process information by online access and

patients can retrieve the information, medical records are securely put on a medical

website and instead of calling to setup an appointment, patients can setup online

appointments. Doctors can send emails confirming appointments and patients can

setup manual or automatic payments on the medical website. Hospitals and medical

centers have safe and secure websites that benefit the doctor and patient relationship.

Online access is cutting down cost by taking away the human time along with setting up

appointments at the office maybe soon transitioned to computer base soon.

Technology is catching up to faster responses and cost is going down.

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According to Injury Board website, Health Insurance Portability and

Accountability Act (HIPAA) effective April 14th, 2003 monitor who accesses your medical

records. Friends, Family, Insurance Companies, Government Agencies, Employers,

Court Orders, and Health Researchers can have access to your records. Keeping your

records safe and secure is what the Act is implemented for; you can also check who

accesses your records.

B. New Technologies

There are twenty impacting new technologies that are helping treatment costs go

down. One is decay-fighting microbes. The normal treatment is brushing your teeth and

seeing the dentist for routine check-ups and bacteria living on teeth causes tooth decay.

The microbes act like a barrier that can last a life time. A Florida based company ONI

BioPharm has made bacteria that doesn’t cause tooth decay. The dentist just applies

the bacteria on the tooth and it’s done. The costs are not known yet but imagine not

going to the dentist for tooth problems any more.

Another type of treatment is the asthma sensor. Asthma is an inflammatory

disorder that causes the airways to feel shortness of breath, coughing and chest

tightness. A research team at the University of Pittsburg has developed a nanotube that

is really tiny. The handheld device can enter a person’s nasal passage and analyze the

breathing pattern. It helps determine if you’re going to have an asthma attack. This will

help millions of Americans fighting asthma attacks.

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Interestingly there is a cancer spit test and it won’t require a patient to do biopsy

tests anymore. Biopsies are treatments that remove the tissue for examination. A

research team at the University of Los Angeles has made a test that can detect oral

cancer from a drop of saliva with promising results that can detect new diseases.

Imagine being able to detect a disease without getting a 2-3 hour doctor visit that can

cost time and money. The spit test can help save you hours spent at the doctor’s office

and monetary funds.

People that need their heart rhythm monitored use an electrical pacemaker that’s

inserted inside the human chest. It will run out of battery and can cause certain types of

irritation and prolonged health risk. Several researchers at different universities are

combining their efforts to combat this problem. They are making a biological pacemaker

using stem cell research. They say they can use a biological pacemaker to follow the

rhythms of a canine’s heart. This is a stretch but still the results can help people in

need. This future treatment can bring health care cost of a pacemaker extremely down

because it will require only a one time operation versus multiple doctor visits.

Glaucoma is a disease that causes blindness in many people today. A contact

research team at the University of California Davis has made a contact lens that can’t

detect and monitor your eyes. The wireless technology is linked to a nearby computer

and provides early detection that can prevent blindness. The researchers are hopeful

that the contact lens may be able to dispense drugs to the eye. The contact lenses are

called Smart contact lens.

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A speech restorer made by an Illinois group Ambient Corporation can help

restore speech. People that don’t have the ability to talk are like this because the

neuronal signals don’t make it from the brain to the voice box. The device connects the

neuronal signals to a voice box or computer outside of the body. The ability will help

people communicate better in the future because they won’t have to type or breathe out

words.

Imagine not having the ability to move your muscles. You wouldn’t be able to

pick up anything or do much of anything. Throughout our body we have muscles that

help us do our day to day things. People that break their muscle take a long time to

heal and when people break their bones the muscle in the area will begin to shrink.

That’s because of a lack of physical interaction causing them to recede. An Israel

company StimuHeal has made the Myospace, it’s a battery operated device that is

inserted on the area of the muscle. The patient can wear a cast and still have their

muscles stay their normal size and wont have to wait awhile for their muscles to return

to their original size. People today have problems rehabilitating, this solves that problem.

It makes it possible to not even move your muscle and it is either reshaped or stays the

same as you had it. The future savings to this treatment is time and money.

People that have nerve problems and don’t have the ability to move don’t have

many solutions. A researcher at the University of Northwestern University is developing

a nerve regenerator. This is a breakthrough created from stem cell research. Basically

you inject the nano gel liquid into the damaged area. Instead of helping heal the scar

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tissue the nano gel will rebuild the nerve damaged. It’s still in development but their

work has promising results.

The Smart pill is a pill being developed by California group called Proteus

Biomedical. The pill shows if a patient has taken the pill because there is a sensor on

each pill and can be identified who’s taken the pill. The treatment will help patients from

overdosing and making a better monitoring effect to see if the patients taking their

required medicine. The future savings for the insurance companies and doctors will help

drive the prices of pharmaceuticals down. The pill is already in its final testing and when

it gets approved the pill will save patients money in the long run.

Gastrointestinal liner is an interesting treatment. Basically people have to have

gastric bypass surgery to help extreme overweight problems. Millions of Americans are

affected from being overweight and have to try different types of diets and workouts to

slim down and maintain a better health. A Massachusetts group Gi Dynamics has

developed a treatment that prevents food from making contact to the intestinal wall.

When food connects to the intestinal wall it gets absorbed to the body and makes

people overweight. The device is a liner which doesn’t need surgery just insertion. The

results show patients losing weight by this procedure. In the future people won’t need to

do surgery to fix their overweight, the liner will do that.

A human body’s liver does the job of detoxification, protein synthesis and

biochemicals necessary for digestion. People with liver problems have a hard time

doing examinations and treatments. Painful biopsies are needed to examine your liver.

A research team from France called EchoSens are developing a machine that can scan

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a person’s liver in a matter of minutes. The scan is called a Fiboscan that measures the

organs elastically. The scan helps determine if your liver is healthy enough for further

use.

C. New Treatment

Nano medicine is what has been in development and in use. It is being used right

now in the computer industry to make chips smaller. Nano medicine is being researched

to help with treatments and to lower infections. Researchers are using this type of

medicine to treat brain tumors and other types of surgeries that require a more precise

type of treatment. The ability to attack certain cancer cells and not affect other cells is

important to the treatment. It’s still being developed but it’s promising.

Wireless medicine is being used already. Patients can be treated by doctor’s

miles away with virtual monitors and visual aids. The wireless technology brings health

care faster to people in need. The diagnosis and treatment can become faster in the

future to bring the success rate of operations and treatments better. Wireless medicine

is helping patients interact with their doctors.

Medical imaging is getting better visually. It helps doctors examine and see what

a patient’s health is at. The image that is being developed shows a clear visual for

patients to understand why the treatments they get are being done. It’s also helping in

treatment by leading the surgeon to the right location and making different cuts.

Virtual medicine is where they use tiny particles to look into a certain area on a

human body and magnify it to 1 micron. The treatment will help people who don’t want

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biopsies. The research is fairly new to the field and needs more testing to see how

viable it is.

Artificial medicine is already in use in the medical field. Types of artificial

medicine are heart, liver, lung, pancreas, bladder, and other types of organs. The

artificial organs used today are getting better and more efficient. Examples of certain

organs that will help patients in the future are artificial pancreas that will help diabetics

control their glucose levels. Artificial medicine has promising results and the

researchers still have more to do.

V. Conclusion

Initially when we began our research, we felt overwhelmed. Upcoming

technologies appeared to be overly abundant. As we continued researching, it was easy

to see how helpful these innovative technologies are for everyone worldwide.

Information systems and information technology are very important tools for health care.

In addition, health technology is helping to reduce costs and be more accessible to all.

The presented technologies of this paper are but a brief insight to the innovations

that will completely alter the health care system. As preventive technologies are further

developed, patients will save money by avoiding expensive diseases and diagnosis.

Pandemics such as bird flu and H1N1 may one day be a thing of the past. Diagnosis

technologies will continue to grow and eliminate the need for expensive diagnosis

systems. Tools such as the paper chip will start to provide third world countries with the

health care they definitely need and deserve. Finally, treatment technologies will

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constantly be adapting. Efficient techniques to treat everything from infections to heart

disease will become a normal part of society. Most importantly the combination of these

three approaches will significantly impact health care cost around the world. As a

society we all deserve equal access to medical treatment. One day, this idea will

become a reality.

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