Healthcare priorities for the year
The ongoing technological revolution in healthcare has hugely affected practically every corner of the industry, including data collection, ailment research, health monitoring, and post-surgery care. Technological advancements have contributed to expanding access to healthcare for people worldwide and could not be restricted by place and time.
Medical professionals are quite open to trying new technologies like AI and IoT and are increasing their usage of digital tools like remote care technology. In the end, doctors want to do right by their patients, and they realize that the tools at their disposal, both now and in the future, will allow them to offer more comprehensive care to those in need.
What tech-enabled solutions do healthcare IT leaders have in mind to help them deal with any new or existing adversity? Here are their priorities for 2023.
1. Expanding the use of "zero-trust" security:
The White House's early 2022 mandate that all federal agencies implement zero-trust security by 2024 foreshadowed widespread government adoption and served as a model for other sectors to follow. According to this, healthcare businesses must move beyond perimeter-based security and adopt a zero-trust approach to accommodate the rise of remote work and the usage of mobile and cloud computing.
2. Evidence-based practice in the area of socioeconomic determinants of health:
With the help of data analytics, healthcare professionals can better understand their business and clinical operations, allowing them to enhance their population health initiatives and cut expenses. There is a growing expectation from patients that their healthcare professionals will gather information on Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), conduct analyses of how factors like housing, food insecurity, and income affect patients' health, and then offer resources to individuals who are struggling with these difficulties.
3. Using automation to prioritize clinician health:
Clinician burnout is a major problem in healthcare today, and health organizations need help filling vacancies across specialties. As part of their efforts to meet the Quadruple Aim's goal of boosting employee happiness, health organizations are increasingly turning to automation to reduce clinicians' time spent on paperwork.
With the areas mentioned above of focus in the healthcare industry, the analysts and IT experts have articulated that the following healthcare technology trends will dominate the coming year.
Trending Healthcare Technologies
Trend 1: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence is one of the exciting developments in healthcare technology, with the potential to revolutionize patient care by enhancing diagnosis, therapy, and treatments. Even though AI has many potential applications in healthcare (from AI-guided surgery to workflow analysis), it is in medical imaging that it truly shines. AI gives doctors a "guide" that can help them figure out anatomy and landmarks to take better pictures of complex things like the heart. AI can more accurately look for disease by combining past data sets into its knowledge base. It has been shown that AI can minimize false positives by 37% compared to scans that don't employ AI for diagnosis.
Trending uses of AI in healthcare
- Artificial medical intelligence can aid the analysis of medical pictures such as X-rays, MRIs, and other structural image sequences.
- Clinical research and drug discovery can be run up with the help of AI, particularly in areas like side effect detection and determining the most effective drug combinations.
- In the case of neurological conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, MRI scans can be analyzed by AI-powered medical equipment to aid in diagnosis and treatment.
- The use of AI-enhanced predictive analytics in preventative medicine has the potential to greatly improve the quality of medical care provided to each patient. With this information, doctors can take preventive measures.
Do you know
By 2026, it is predicted that the healthcare industry will benefit from AI applications worth $150 billion.
Trend 2: Healthcare Marketplaces
Healthcare marketplaces are also on the rise, providing an environment conducive to greater innovation and collaboration among healthcare technology providers. Market locations where patients can shop around for healthcare providers and policies are familiar to patients. However, more healthcare-related goods, services, and innovations will be sold in the future through online marketplaces. These marketplaces may facilitate open-source integration or educate physicians on using new technology to enhance diagnosis, workflow, and reporting, making it easier for various enterprises to develop digital solutions. The long-term objective of these exchanges is to foster a community of tech-focused businesses committed to realizing healthcare technology's full potential through collaborative efforts.
Trend 3: Patient Experience
Improving the patient experience is a constant area of effort in healthcare. In addition to enhancing the patient experience through innovations like virtual patient visits and personalization, today's technology and advancements have essentially put the reins of that experience in the hands of the patient. Recent research on the patient experience has revealed that most people (78%) want to communicate with healthcare providers using their preferred method. Additionally, 75% stated they are more loyal to healthcare providers that focus on enhancing the patient experience, and 84% said their "customer service issues must be treated swiftly and accurately" with their healthcare provider. The ability of consumers to choose their doctors means that many clinics will have to concentrate on providing more high-quality and technologically advanced services to retain their current clientele and attract new ones.
Read to know why IoT is the king of healthcare.
Advanced innovations for better healthcare facilities with IoT and its use-case
Trend 4: The Rise of Telemedicine
The pandemic also hastened the rise of telemedicine and online doctor appointments. Telemedicine use among adults has increased from 2% before the pandemic to 37% in the past year. Seniors who have trouble getting around or people who live in rural areas can benefit greatly from remote visit options, which let patients get care in the comfort of their homes. Knowing that technology enabling secure video conferencing and remote vital sign monitoring is rapidly emerging each day, doctors striving to improve the patient experience can provide telemedical choices.
Trend 5: Handheld Devices
Specialized hardware and smartphone applications that interface with this equipment are increasingly utilized in healthcare settings. Once cumbersome and immobile diagnostic instruments, such as portable ultrasound machines, are now incorporated in transportable, handheld gadgets, to the great benefit of medical practitioners. With the introduction of handheld systems, physicians can affordably bring the benefits of larger machines inside their offices and to their patients. Doctors can make more timely diagnoses since they have immediate access to patient data. Utilizing well-designed handheld devices in conjunction with smartphone apps can further simplify problems, and research indicates that medical apps that mirror the user interface and experience of popular apps can simplify matters by up to 80%. In conclusion, handheld technology release physicians from hospital-based systems, enabling them to provide superior patient care in outpatient clinics.
Are you ready for the trend?
Current trends indicate that technology is boosting healthcare and enhancing the patient experience. However, technical advancements do not come out of thin air. Rather, dedicated companies and partners, including physicians willing to be early adopters, are developing and collaborating to create the future of healthcare technology. With an emphasis on enhancing the patient experience, maintaining current patients, and attracting new ones, healthcare practitioners will continue to increase their adoption of these technologies, especially among specialists.
