y dictates a theoretical path (threshold number of steps, calories, algorithm which he considers realistic, transform the patient into a hypochondriac.
In this regard, the mastery by physicians, and more generally by health organizations and professionals, of these same information and communication tools, constitutes a real challenge. Today, the healthcare professional remains the trusted person. He must then seize this opportunity to help the patient, not to learn, but to learn better by referring him to reliable sources of information and by guiding him towards a reasoned use of these new tools.
Thirdly, following on from the previous questioning, we must ask ourselves about the potential limits of patient autonomy in managing their health. Problems arise in particular with regard to self-medication in the face of the now direct sale of medicines to the consumer via the Internet (direct-to-consumer). This is the case of Viagra, used for erectile dysfunction, which sometimes only serves a goal of improving performance, or other drugs like Lipitor, lowering cholesterol levels. To the risks of misuse of therapies is added a lack of knowledge of their undesirable effects. These can prove to be underestimated in clinical trials carried out upstream, often on a small number of people (200 for example), and do not prevent serious side effects in the case of a sale at very large ladder .
The dissemination of incomplete information via the Internet can also contribute to this phenomenon. We also think of examples as simple as sunscreens that do not protect from UVA rays, because only UVB rays are regulated in the United States.
Thus, if a progressive access of individuals to their medical information is envisaged, the quantity, accessibility (in the sense of the capacity for interpretation and analysis) as well as the quality of the information available today is not guaranteed . As a result, self-diagnosis and its direct consequence, self-medication, remain risky practices, especially when they are likely to affect millions of Internet users as is the case today. But in a more optimistic way, we can recall that there are also examples of success of an autonomous management of acts by the patient.
In the end, we can see in the emergence of this patient autonomy certain risks involved, and also many reasons for hope.
In any case, whatever the degree of dissemination, these connected tools will certainly restructure the medical landscape. One can especially imagine that they will make up for any shortages of doctors in the future.
The evolution of the insurer profession
The third trend concerns the insurance profession and its evolution. The latter may be interested, as we alluded to previously with the case of Kaiser Permanente, in becoming a care provider in search of efficiency by participating, in partnership or directly, in the development of integrated care networks. But above all, it appears that with the rise of ICT, the insurer will be increasingly confronted with questions of disease risk prevention. The impact introduced by ICT is in fact to give additional possibilities of information on the risks incurred in health individually by each insured, and to develop preventive actions accordingly. Connected tools provide capabilities for monitoring the health status of any individual up to now unthinkable (insofar as a data recording system is set up between the insurer and the insured).
This concerns the prevention of the disease, depending on the risk factors known to the person (history of cardiovascular disease, pre-diabetic state, for example), or even in principle by playing on the maintenance of a good state of health.
This concerns secondary prevention focused on known weaknesses: to an asthmatic person, we will send a warning signal if they are going to areas at high risk of crises; to an elderly person prone to falls, we will equip their floors with “magic carpets” capable of detecting suspicious movements and informing them of a deterioration in their mobility.
Finally, this concerns preventive approaches based 