The COVID-19 pandemic was a terrifying event that had an impact on every sector of society. The sudden rise in the number of affected people had the biggest impact on the healthcare sector. The situation was significantly worse at one point when there were more patients suffering from the coronavirus and the same number of beds or even medical staff was available. Covid-19 helped the healthcare industry to step up its game and implement technologies that could help them to save as many people as possible.
The pandemic undoubtedly accelerated technological advancement and adaptation in healthcare. Patients can now obtain medical care more quickly and easily outside of the conventional hospital setting, improving convenience and accessibility for everyone.
Telehealth has made it possible for patients to receive care without an in-person office visit. If not for the pandemic, it probably would have taken the healthcare industry another decade to reach where it is today. As an industry, healthcare still has a way to go when it comes to technology, but recent developments have set the industry in a prime position for innovation and improvement. Keep reading this article to find out the future of healthcare technology.
Deeper AI Integration
1. Artificial intelligence has been a part of healthcare technology for years, but experts believe in the next decade it will be a regular part of the industry.
A survey conducted on 200 healthcare professionals found that 37% of respondents were using AI in limited ways and 55% of them believed that due to high demand and usability, there will be widespread AI adoption in the next five years.
I agree that the adoption of AI and cloud technology in healthcare is still in its infancy, but the sector is already making some amazing strides. It is anticipated that these developments will continue and that wider adoption of applied AI will take place in areas like the clinical interpretation of complex datasets, intelligent medical images, voice integration, and real-time insights into streaming data from medical devices and sensors. As a new generation of consumer-focused services aims to merge patients’ and consumers’ journeys, applied AI will disrupt how patients engage with healthcare providers today.
2. Cloud integration with other Technologies
The cloud is widely used by healthcare organizations to host applications—nearly 90% of them. However, the healthcare industry is still using the cloud for separate functions, such as clinical apps, data hosting, and backups. A survey revealed that while cloud storage is widely used in healthcare organizations, its functionality is still constrained.
Data from various healthcare levels can now be shared thanks to cloud integration, which also enables the protection of a patient’s specific data.
3. Ever Rising Wearable Technologies
A professional in the healthcare industry is entitled to tell a patient that they need to eat better, exercise more, and provide the right guidelines to follow a healthier lifestyle. But it is not physically possible for doctors to monitor each individual patient all day, every day.
With wearable and implantable devices and applications, mobile healthcare technology currently available shows great promise for lowering healthcare costs and improving patient outcomes. Digital technology is contributing to a transformation in the mobile health era by improving healthcare and health outcomes.
Wearable and implantable technologies are designed to monitor the parameters of various diseases. These technologies can send information to a regret center, instruct the patient to carry out a particular action, or automatically carry out a task based on the sensor’s reading.
For example, cardiac patients experiencing arrhythmias can have their hearts continuously monitored or insulin could be automatically administered if blood glucose is running high.
The ability to combine data with health technologies holds the promise of giving everyone the tools they need to understand and manage their health in real time.
4. Virtual Healthcare Technology
At an unprecedented rate, there is a high demand for more flexible healthcare solutions, including mental health, that people can easily access from the safety and comfort of their homes. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, there have been more and more instances of depression, anxiety, stress, and burnout.
As a result of COVID-19, many were compelled to adapt virtual care services to cater to children and anyone in need because people were not allowed to go to a clinic to receive assistance.
Virtual assistants and emotion-based algorithms are examples of emerging technologies that can provide resources, guidance, and advice. In contrast, self-guided and assisted diagnostic support screening tools will collect information for a psychological assessment, and digital consumer experience technology will control and supervise how easily patients and caregivers can access medical data.
Closing Thoughts
It is clear that the time has come for healthcare technology companies to change in a real and lasting way that will benefit both patients and providers across the country.
This change is possible through the continued adoption of innovative technology combined with the rise of a mobile workforce. Going forward, it is crucial that the healthcare sector maintain its concentration on a single, shared objective: making sure that everyone, regardless of circumstances, has access to high-quality, highly affordable care.