Into the “Medi-verse:” Virtual and Augmented Reality in Healthcare
Published in the First Quarter 2023 issue of Benefits Quarterly
The pace of change in virtual healthcare has been unmatched and does not appear to be slowing down; in fact, with the untapped promise of the metaverse looming just over the horizon, we expect to see continued accelerated growth. Connected virtual reality and augmented reality solutions have the potential to transform hospital care delivery, fitness and wellness management, behavioral health and more – but employers have some work to do before they are ready for integration with their broader benefits strategy.
Is the metaverse the next home of digital health?
The metaverse, by its current definition, is a virtual environment where users can interact with computer-generated objects/characters and digital representations of other people (called “avatars”). It includes aspects of both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) -- and it is not solely associated with or facilitated by Meta, formerly known as Facebook. While there is certainly fun to be had in the metaverse, it’s also a place to conduct business and attend meetings. Many employers are racing to figure out ways to integrate metaverse platforms into their workflows. But what’s in store for healthcare -- and healthcare benefits?
The past two years have shown us that the world is ready for digitally-enabled healthcare – as long as you can afford it. VR headsets tend to run between $300 for a low-end device and $1,500 or more for a high-end model; what’s more, most goggles on the market today require connection to a computer or gaming console (another $300+) and high-speed internet. AR glasses are forecasted to retail for somewhere between $750 and $1,750. As with most nascent technologies, costs should trend downward as mass production ramps up. As we’ll discuss, technology access and affordability will be a key issue for employers as digital healthcare becomes a bigger part of healthcare overall. Given the rapid pace of innovation and the investments we are seeing healthcare companies make in the metaverse, the time to get ready for its impact on healthcare is now.
What can the metaverse do for healthcare?
While we can’t list all the many metaverse-related opportunities in the healthcare space, here are a few that we believe will have an impact on employers sooner rather than later.
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Telepresence.Think telehealth appointment, but with a virtual reality headset. A fair amount of healthcare can be delivered virtually using today’s technology of voice/video chat, but telepresence expands those possibilities dramatically by empowering patients to effectively “be in the same room” as their doctor using a VR headset. As new tools that facilitate at-home monitoring and share data with providers in real-time come to market, the subset of visits that are conductible virtually will only continue to grow.
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Health in the workplace.Augmented reality is ripe with opportunity to revolutionize the way we work together in-person. AR glasses can be used to superimpose virtual “guides” that help new employees learn on the job and more tenured ones stay sharp on their industrial hygiene, including safety-related training to reduce on the job accidents and injuries. Augmented reality also presents some fantastic opportunities for inclusion in the workplace through tools like live closed captioning, which can enable employees with hearing challenges to operate and communicate in their work environment at a cost that is much cheaper than current accommodations (like a sign language interpreter). AR glasses, by virtue of their lower tech profile, are generally less costly than VR headsets.
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Virtual Hospitals.Most people in hospitals would prefer to be home and resting in their own bed. Virtual hospitals are a step in that direction, and early indications are that patients who are discharged to recover at home have better outcomes, a more positive patient experience, and often lower costs. As an added bonus, virtual hospitalization can relieve strain on the already-taxed healthcare system and free up resources to treat cases that truly require an inpatient stay. As patient monitoring technology continues to improve, it will expand the cross-section of cases where this strategy is appropriate and/or feasible.
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Behavioral health.Connected virtual reality presents several opportunities to expand behavioral health treatment accessibility (by way of enabling telepresence) and efficacy. The metaverse will support more advanced methods for delivering traditional treatments like group therapy (from the privacy of a patient’s home and behind the anonymity of a virtual avatar) or exposure therapy, which exposes a patient to their fear slowly in an effort to break the pattern of avoiding what they are afraid of. Providers need to ensure that care is delivered safely and appropriately, as some valuable signals (like tics or tremors that may clue a counselor in on their patient’s withdrawal from a recent relapse) can be lost with suboptimal implementation, but the future of behavioral health treatment largely lives in the metaverse.
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Digital Twins.Did you know that the first time a commercial pilot flies a new type of aircraft, it has passengers on-board? As scary as that sounds, it really is not. That same pilot has logged thousands of hours of (incredibly realistic) flight simulation time, and they have also likely flown other similar aircraft. This training approach – through simulation – bears significant opportunity in the healthcare space with both the ability to visualize scan results in three dimensions (3D) and access “digital twins,” or 3D digital renderings of the human body. In the near future, though, clinicians across the globe will be able to use these tools to develop more-informed care plans for their human patients – like analyzing a tumor in 3D via a VR headset – which could potentially end up saving a life or otherwise improving patient outcomes.
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Fitness and wellness.AR is already a strong presence in the fitness space; you can have a personal coach through your Mirror or Peloton Guide correct your form and cheer you on while you work out in your living room. Now VR headsets are using gameplay to transform how people engage with their fitness and wellbeing. Are employers ready to capitalize on this new technology? The rise of gamified fitness and increasingly engaging/robust wellness incentives lead us to believe the answer is “yes” on both counts, but only time will tell whether VR and the metaverse are finally able to crack the member engagement conundrum.
Impacts of healthcare’s metaverse expansion on employers
There are countless opportunities in healthcare when it comes to the metaverse – but there is no opportunity without challenges that must be considered and addressed as well.
So, what can employers do to prepare for this next frontier of virtual healthcare?
- Ensure your employees have access to and can afford high speed internet, which is considered one of the top social determinants of health.
- Consider adding tools that help members choose doctors based on cost and quality.
- Conduct an analysis of unmet employee needs, including asking members about access to technology to engage with today’s tech-heavy healthcare system.
- Continue making concentrated efforts to reduce and eliminate healthcare disparities in your workforce.
- Ask vendors and carriers about technology advancement and adoption within their services, including how they are currently using, or are planning to use, VR and AR technology in their service delivery. Include questions on patient outcomes, cost impacts, and data privacy & security in this line of questioning.
Conclusion
The metaverse is quickly changing how we engage with digital healthcare and will become more integral in many of the digital health offerings you see today – from your appointment with your therapist, to how your doctor consults with other experts on treatment plans. However, not everyone is prepared for this new frontier of digital healthcare. Before we can completely tap into the metaverse’s potential, we must ensure all Americans have access to the resources necessary to prevent the metaverse from exacerbating healthcare disparities and inequities that already exist. Lastly, when preparing for the metaverse’s arrival on the healthcare scene, all efforts must be made to protect the privacy and security of member data. So, grab your goggles, fire up your computer, and let us get ready to enter the “medi-verse.”
