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doctor could control remotely to test your blood pressure? What if he or she could look at data collected from your smart watch to see how you're sleeping and what your active heart rate is? What if you could get your blood tested at a convenient place in your neighborhood--maybe at your local pharmacy--that sends the results directly to your doctor? What if you could keep seeing a primary care physician you like even if you moved to another state? (Left) Health workers pose with a robot that helps with consultations, therapies, and mental health evaluations of COVID-19 patients. (Claudio Crus/Getty Images) (Right) A dad checks his daughter's temperature while a doctor watches over a video calll. (Maskat/Getty Images) These are all real possibilities in the future, and I'm curious to see how they transform health care. Beyond the technology and privacy limits, there are also regulatory hurdles we need to figure out before digital health care becomes truly mainstream. Some states still make it hard to see patients virtually in a different state because of how licensing currently works. As unbelievable as it sounds, we're only starting to see how digitization is going to change our lives. There is so much potential for technology to create more flexibility and options for people. Tm hesitant to suggest that anything about the COVID-19 pandemic has been positive. But when we look back at this period, I suspect history will view it as a time of terrible devastation and loss that also sparked lots of massive changes for the better. Reasons for optimism in 2022 My work has always been driven by a simple idea: The world can get better. A big setback like the pandemic makes it harder to believe that progress is possible. I'm still optimistic, though, about our ability to build a world where everyone has the chance to live a healthy and productive life.