The Metaverse and Healthcare: Revolutionizing Medicine with the Limitless Potential of Web 3.0

This article presents content originally published in "Design Mind," a design journal operated by frog, under the supervision of Mr. Noriaki Okada of Dentsu BX Creative Center.

With the advent of the metaverse, if there comes a moment when the digital world surpasses the real world, what role will the metaverse play in our health management—both in the real world and in cyberspace?

You might think the metaverse is just "some outlandish future imagined by IT bigwigs." But look around you. Online games like "Fortnite" are gaining popularity, and productivity-enhancing digital collaboration tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Miro, and Figma are being widely used. These are just the tip of the iceberg. The era of the metaverse is already here—and it will only become more widespread.

We must contemplate how the services we use daily will transition into the metaverse world and how our lives will change as a result. "My business won't be impacted by the metaverse for years." Executives thinking this should reconsider. Such companies' businesses won't withstand the world's rapid transformation.

frog seeks to identify new use cases for groundbreaking technologies. Through our Healthcare division, we have been imagining how the metaverse will revolutionize the healthcare industry and how Web 3.0 (※1) can solve humanity's healthcare needs.

※1＝Web 3.0
An approach that seeks to democratize information by enabling decentralized management through technologies like blockchain, challenging the monopolistic control of data held by major platform companies on the internet.

 

This article introduces our vision for the future of health insurance, treatment, and hospitals. We explore how these three pillars supporting healthcare will transform under the influence of cryptographic processing (blockchain, tokens, and secure new governance systems) and immersive digital environments (the proliferation of VR/AR hardware and software, including headsets, enabling treatment in virtual spaces).

Tokenization of Insurance (Individual Authentication Information)

Health insurance is at a turning point. Consumers increasingly demand insurance customized to their individual needs and risks. Current insurance products are designed uniformly to pool premiums from large numbers of people, spreading risk to reduce the danger of insurer bankruptcy. This ensures anyone with coverage can receive necessary treatment without facing significant out-of-pocket costs.

In the US, the Affordable Care Act restricts the risk factors insurers can use when calculating premiums (e.g., prohibiting gender-based premium differentials). However, the metaverse could leverage vast digital data to more accurately predict health risks and deterioration, enabling prevention.

Of course, this requires careful consideration of important ethical issues. For example, what information insurers can and cannot use as a basis for rate calculations. If data is used effectively, everyone might be able to enroll in customized insurance tailored to their needs.

In the metaverse, data is encrypted, ensuring it remains private. The current situation, where data needed for insurance claims is scattered across electronic health records and insurance companies, would disappear. Instead, all activities in the metaverse—alongside everyday data like recipes, location, conversations, search history, and social connections—would be recorded as health information. Data will be securely stored and shared using crypto wallets (a type of tool used for cryptocurrency transactions). This could lead to revisions of certain government regulations (like HIPAA: the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) that currently hinder the sharing of data beneficial for health promotion. Concurrently, data security and privacy protections from the consumer's perspective will also improve.

For example, when scheduling a medical appointment in the metaverse, users can log into the healthcare provider's site using their crypto wallet and choose which of their health information to share. Examination results are securely stored in the patient's own wallet. Healthcare providers and insurance companies can access the wallet as needed to review prognosis and offer a wide range of new, valuable products and services. For instance, using a depression patient's metawallet to demonstrate reduced symptoms like anhedonia—typical of depression—could clearly show the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy.

In the future, insurance is expected to be tokenized using non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Users earn insurance tokens by receiving preventive treatments or engaging in health-enhancing behaviors. These tokens can be used to receive discounts on insurance premiums or access services that improve not only healthcare but also lifestyle.

Health insurance will no longer be merely a risk-sharing mechanism but a partner in maintaining health. Insurance companies will aggregate healthcare-related tools, resources, and diverse activities for policyholders to participate in, offering them at appropriate pricing. In the future, insurance companies that create impact by providing diverse activities leading to token acquisition will succeed and reap the greatest profits. The mechanism for safeguarding people's health will finally be realized in the metaverse.

The Evolving Digital Therapeutics Market

Digital technologies like "MyChart" and "Apple Health" are increasingly used for recording medical information, facilitating patient-to-patient communication, scheduling appointments, and providing daily treatment support (such as medication reminders). Just as with work and daily life, seamlessly utilizing both digital and real-world services for health management is becoming the norm.

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies remain cautious about entering digital therapeutics. According to Grand View Research, the digital therapeutics market was valued at less than $2 billion in 2021, representing just 0.05% of the entire US healthcare industry.

Moving forward, the development of the metaverse will drive greater adoption of digital therapeutics. Over the next few years, we will see a race to develop effective and comfortable digital treatments designed with a human-centered approach, targeting nearly every disease and symptom.

Pharmaceutical companies must fundamentally rethink their current business models and management approaches. The era of searching for the next blockbuster drug through concentrated investment in R&D and time-consuming clinical trials is ending. Going forward, pharmaceutical companies operating in a style closer to agile IT firms will succeed over risk-averse, conservative, and slow-moving life science companies.

However, this must proceed in parallel with the continued rigorous demonstration of efficacy through stringent trials. Physicians and researchers, acting as digital therapeutics developers, will leverage advanced medical knowledge, clinical experience, and cutting-edge design and coding skills to provide detailed guidance, enabling the rapid development of new treatments and clinical trials.

Within the next few years, we will see a shift from pharmacy-based treatments to a decentralized, open digital therapeutics market. In this new market, patients will be able to choose treatment options tailored to their needs, guided by prescriptions created through multi-faceted analysis of patient data. Cryptocurrency will be used for payments in the digital therapeutics market. Insurance products will also become more flexible, allowing patients to use their benefits to cover the high costs of treatments in the digital therapeutics market.

The "Meta-Hospital" Merging Real and Digital

Recently, hospitals and medical institutions are increasingly being built near major cities to expand their market share. In the US, hospitals are capital-intensive businesses, so large hospitals aim to increase patient volume to boost revenue. Even hospitals adopting "value-based contracts" (where reimbursement is determined by the value of care provided to a population, not the volume of services) are required to quickly connect patients to the appropriate care setting. Examples include primary care physicians over specialists, and urgent care clinics over emergency rooms.

U.S. hospital administrators are acquiring physician groups and local clinics to increase reimbursement for large treatment centers. Hospitals also face the challenge of reducing their environmental footprint. While in-person care is currently central, the future will likely see in-person visits reserved for necessary cases, with everything else shifting online.

When designing insurance networks going forward, the focus will shift from geographic coverage to online care, high-quality treatment, specialized expertise, and universal access. Situations where someone cannot attend a loved one's important medical appointment due to distance will become a thing of the past. If desired, you will be able to participate in a family member's medical consultation from anywhere in the world.

The era where only hospital staff are involved in treatment will end. Comprehensive services will be arranged in real time, ensuring optimal care regardless of location. While COOs (Chief Operating Officers) will retain significant influence over hospital management, CDOs (Chief Digital Officers) will hold the real power. Frontline staff, such as nurses, will play a crucial role in coordinating in-person and online care.

Finally, in the metaverse world, mental health will be integrated into treatment from the outset, not added as an afterthought. Wearables and implantable EEG devices will become widespread to monitor mental health and provide treatment when needed, supplemented by metaverse data constantly measuring mental states. Opportunities for easy consultation with psychiatrists will increase, and 24/7 online consultations will become available. The metaverse will also feature many tranquil spaces designed to promote relaxation and mindfulness.

Hospitals will gradually aim to propose and realize comprehensive treatment models that transcend geographical limitations. A new era of convenience and imagination, driven by comfortable digital experiences, universal access to the best healthcare through online consultations, AI-powered medical advice, and more, will accelerate this shift. With explosive growth in data and rapidly advancing medical knowledge accessible anywhere, metaverse-based treatment will likely become the recommended form of healthcare. This will ultimately lead to a vision of environmental sustainability, achieved through significant reductions in hospitals' carbon emissions.

The Future of Health Brought by the Metaverse: The Frontiers of Treatment Innovation

Helping clients recognize future possibilities—that is frog's work. We create opportunities for clients and their customers to achieve future success. frog's Healthcare division continues its dedicated efforts to propose human-centered approaches to treatment for those in need of medical care.

The metaverse represents the cutting edge of therapeutic innovation. This new, unexpected world holds many unknowns. But rather than turning a blind eye, let's seize the opportunities this uncharted territory offers together to provide better services for those needing treatment. Of course, we must consider ethically and morally significant issues, as well as problems unique to metaverse experiences. Yet we believe humanity possesses the power to create an entirely new realm of healthcare—one that is data-driven, safe, comfortable, and accessible to everyone. In such a world, what do you want to become?

This article is also published in the web magazine "AXIS. "