Healthcare is changing like never before. The year ahead will see more big changes.

Consumer-driven healthcare will be a reality in 2016. Technology will disrupt Healthcare. Healthcare apps will spike. Decision-making power for consumers will increase. Doctors will start leveraging technology more and more. They will remote monitor their patients. Health insurance providers will see an all-new consumer market. Wearables will come with more intuitive, more analytical, and more sophisticated capabilities.

As 2016 dawns upon us, CMR looks at potential trends that will shape the industry in the year ahead.

 1.     The First Wave of Clinical Wearables will hit the market 

In 2016, wearables with sensory and analytical capabilities will make their debut. For instance, diabetes monitoring is set to undergo a radical shift with the advent of game changing wearable contact lenses. Google has been working on smart contact lenses that comprise of a wireless chip and a miniaturized glucose sensor enclosed between two soft layers of lens material.

While health and wellness tracking with smart wearables will continue to see an upward growth, there will be more action in the assistive clinical applications domain.

2.     ‘Point of care’ solutions will get more mainstream

India has been the hotbed of innovation, with intense start-up activity around new ‘point of care’ solutions. While such start-ups have attracted investment, 2016 will see far more widespread mainstream adoption with the Government keen on promoting new indigenous innovations.

 3.     Healthcare M&A activity will see an upward trend in 2016

 Healthcare start-ups will continue to attract interest and investments in 2016. Digital health M&A has attracted a lot of interest this year, with even non-traditional players investing in the area. We, at CMR, believe this trend will continue to spike in the year ahead.

For wearable start-ups, the year 2016 is likely to be very promising. Large healthcare companies will focus on strategic acquisitions to stay relevant and increase cash flows. For start-ups, this would mean more breadth and more geographic footprint than before.

4.     The Health Insurance Market will increase significantly in India

The Government of India has been steadfastly focused on banking the unbanked. 2015 witnessed a drastic drop in the number of unbanked in India through the roll-out of the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). In the year ahead, as this new consumer market grows, we expect healthcare insurance to expand significantly in rural India.