Multicultural Misalignment
Digital health technologies will be less effective if they are not optimized, or personalized, to account for differences in gender, age, culture, ethnicity, knowledge, literacy, and more.
Trend Longevity Rating
real progress in parts; other parts stalled or got overtaken
How this trend held up
The book's warning was vindicated by hard evidence it couldn't have cited yet — most notably a widely reported 2019 study showing a major U.S. health-risk algorithm systematically underestimated Black patients' needs, and the well-documented racial bias in pulse oximeters that became a public issue during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the corporate response the book anticipated — sustained investment in diversifying health-tech leadership and design — has not followed a straight line. The DEI initiatives that expanded through the late 2010s and early 2020s have faced significant rollback since 2023, including at a policy level following the 2025 change in federal administration. The diagnosis was accurate; the fix the authors hoped for has been inconsistent.
Every past trend prediction is re-reviewed and graded with a Trend Longevity Rating, measuring how much each originally curated trend still matters years later.
