There are two stories in the headlines today that both look poised to cut health costs. First, is the announcement of a technique to see if someone has cancer just by testing his or her blood. This new research comes out of Stanford University and was published in the Journal Nature Medicine. If researchers can do a simple blood test as opposed to a tissue biopsy that saves time, resources, and ultimately pain.
The second money-saving tech to make headlines today is a new microchip that can tell doctors if their patients have taken their medicine. This would obviously be very helpful for psychiatric patients who often skip doses and then wind up hospitalized in costly care units. It would also be helpful for elders who have trouble remembering if they took their meds.
Although these research units are the first to announce their projects, I know that similar research developments are going on at other universities as well (UCSF is one). These two money saving techniques will soon be common.