Six in 10 Americans live with at least one chronic illness, such as heart disease, cancer, or diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And a recent study projects the number of people in the US aged 50 and older living with chronic conditions will increase by more than 60 percent by 2050.

The silver lining is that treatments and technology — from better diagnostic tests, to medical interventions, to health-centric mobile apps — have significantly advanced in recent years. These innovations have made it easier for countless individuals to manage their conditions while living full lives and even heal in ways they never thought possible.

Thriving with diabetes 

Artist Morgan Peterson recently won season 4 of “Blown Away,” Netflix’s glass blowing competition show. During a candy-themed challenge on the show, the Massachusetts native created a glass insulin syringe and shared her diabetes diagnosis with the world. 

Peterson had learned she has Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY), a rare form of diabetes caused by a gene mutation, thanks to a genetic test a few years earlier. Similar to type 1 diabetes, it limits the body’s ability to produce insulin, which can lead to high blood glucose (blood sugar) levels. 

“I thought my life was going to change so drastically,” Peterson remembers. She shared her concerns with her doctor, who suggested a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). These innovative devices, attached to the body, have become a common way for people with diabetes to track their blood sugar levels in real time. Unlike the painful and inconvenient finger prick tests, which provide limited data, these devices offer continuous monitoring.

“It just connects to my phone, so if [my blood sugar] goes high or low, it alerts me,” Peterson says. “It just makes my life a lot easier. It makes it easier to travel. It makes everything easier.” If her levels are trending high or low, she can take preventative measures against hypo and hyperglycemia, which can cause potentially life-threatening complications.

Since her diagnosis, Peterson has also made a host of healthy lifestyle changes to help manage her condition, including using the app MyFitnessPal to track her intake of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, all of which can significantly impact blood sugar levels.

“I’m super fortunate to be able, in the time that we live in, to have access to that technology that makes your life easier when you’re dealing with something like this,” Peterson says. “These are quite amazing medical advances for people that give you much more normalcy in your life.” 

Technology-assisted healing 

By age 27, Freddie Kimmel was in remission from testicular cancer. However, his cancer treatments left behind new chronic health challenges. Kimmel dealt with abdominal adhesions obstructing his small bowel, which required five emergency surgeries over ten years. He developed PTSD from these experiences and also struggled with Lyme disease and chronic fatigue syndrome. 

“When you’re so chronically fatigued and tired, you just don’t have a lot of juice, not even enough juice to read — but I could always listen to a podcast,” he says. “I got so much great information that really pointed me in the right direction.” 

Now, about 20 years later, Kimmel is free of Lyme disease and chronic fatigue syndrome and hasn’t needed surgery in almost ten years. He is a wellness technology consultant, public speaker, and host of Beautifully Broken, his own podcast about taking radical responsibility for your health.  

“I had some huge turnarounds with technology,” he says. 

In addition to prioritizing healthy lifestyle choices, Kimmel uses wellness technology to track and improve essential healthy habits like getting quality sleep. He uses a clinical-grade wearable device to measure the phases of his sleep, heart rate variability, and more. He also regularly uses cutting-edge technologies that can be found at wellness spas and functional medicine clinics, such as a lymphatic drainage suit, pulsed-electromagnetic field therapy, and red light therapy. 

Life-changing treatments 

Karolína Chorváth is a writer and chronic illness and disability patient advocate in Boston. She has had severe chronic migraines since she was 7 and Crohn’s disease since she was 10. She also dealt with sacroiliitis (a painful condition that affects the sacroiliac joints which sit where the lower spine and pelvis meet), which presented as inflammatory arthritis in and around her pelvis. Around 2019, her condition deteriorated to the point where she couldn’t walk. She was in constant pain and severely depressed. 

“I was really barely living,” she says. “I was just desperately trying to get through every hour of every day.”

Her rheumatologist referred her to a pain clinic, where, in conjunction with physical therapy, she received a regenerative therapy that helped her heal. She was soon able to  walk and exercise again. 

“It absolutely changed my life, and in some ways, I feel it saved my life,” Chorváth says.

While Peterson, Kimmel, and Chorváth have navigated very different chronic conditions, their experiences highlight the transformative potential of advanced treatments and technologies. Access to this kind of innovation is a priority echoed by leaders in health care. 

“Facilitating the discovery, development, and implementation of innovative solutions that improve health for our members and communities is always top of mind,” says Kate Wallis, vice president of clinical innovations at Point32Health, a not-for-profit health and well-being organization. “We use a data driven approach to understand how emerging solutions can benefit our health plan members and have been piloting some really exciting, progressive programs as a result.”

Since its inception, the Point32Health clinical innovation team has implemented over 20 pilot programs, many of which have focused on helping members with chronic conditions.

Helping the mind, helping the body 

Developments in mental health and trauma treatment have been just as impactful for many others. 

Chorváth joined an intensive trauma healing program at McLean’s Hill Center for Women and worked with an individual trauma therapist using methods like dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) to unravel and process her past and generational trauma. She also participated in movement therapy, somatic therapy, trauma-informed therapy massages, and muscular therapy. 

“After a year, I was a completely different person,” she says. “I really, truly believe — and I’ve spoken to my gastroenterologist and my rheumatologist about this — that a big portion of my healing has been because of my trauma treatment.”

Today, she is in remission from both her inflammatory arthritis and her Crohn’s disease, and she is in graduate school for trauma studies. Perhaps most importantly: “I’m incredibly happy. I have a really fulfilling life. I have a beautiful community of people, a lot of them who are chronically ill and disabled,” she says. “I am doing things that I really wasn’t sure I was ever going to be able to do.”

The importance of continuing to develop innovative physical and mental health treatments — and making sure the patients who need them can access them — cannot be overstated.  

“If you have access to healing, you have the potential to live a life that you could never even envision for yourself,” Chorváth says. “It might look completely different than how you had envisioned life would look for you before your illness. But honestly, for me, it’s so much better than I could have ever imagined.”

Point32Health is a not-for-profit health and well-being organization, guiding and empowering healthier lives for all. Together, our family of companies – Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan – help our members and communities navigate the health care ecosystem through a broad range of health plan offerings and tools.