In its latest CFO Insights report, Deloitte takes a tour of how the health care industry will likely evolve between now and 2040 and suggests what finance executives can do to help navigate their companies through the merger of health care and technology.

Digital tools have already changed the practice of medicine, from mobile apps to activity-trackers to telemedicine. But the hastening emergence of “digital health”—a reimagined sector built atop a fully digitized foundation—promises to empower consumers and present businesses with new challenges and opportunities.

What’s changing involves the emergence of new technologies ranging from artificial intelligence (AI) to augmented reality (AR). Existing digital health tools are also becoming increasingly integrated, with records stored in the cloud and advanced analytics deployed to improve efficiency and outcomes. And driving the urgency to maximize innovative technologies, as opposed to taking a piecemeal approach, are such factors as an aging population, the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases1, and, of course, rising health care costs.

Primary Trends in Health Care:

Health in 2040 is only 20 years away, but it will be a world apart from what we have now. Based on emerging technology, digital transformation will drive much of this change. And unlike today, care will be organized around the consumer, rather than around the institutions that drive our existing health care system. Here are some of the main components:

• The future of health will likely be driven by digital transformation enabled by radically interoperable data and open, secure platforms.
• Health is likely to revolve around sustaining well-being rather than responding to illness.
• Prevention and early diagnoses will be central to the future of health.
• The onset of disease, in some cases, could be delayed or eliminated altogether.
• Sophisticated tests and tools could mean most diagnoses (and care) take place at home.