How Healthcare Technologies Are Emerging In 202X

Digital technology over the years has helped in transforming unsustainable healthcare systems into sustainable ones, providing cheaper and more effective solutions for diseases, and at present, it is helping us win the battle against Covid-19.

Digital transformation in healthcare aims to:

• Create more customer-centric and effective solutions
• Streamline physicians work and increase hospital efficiencies
• Remotely treat patients and improve patient engagement
• Reduce human errors and overcome security issues

Unfortunately, the healthcare industry is trailing behind when it comes to implementing digital strategies. But there is still time for you to get familiar with digital technology and use it to bring in more business.

In this article, we have pulled together technology trends in Healthcare that will reshape the industry in 2020 and beyond.

Telemedicine

Evolution in telehealth solutions is one of the significant sources of rapid change in the healthcare system. It has enabled thousands of people in remote areas to get medical aid which they couldn’t otherwise access and also freed urban citizens from hours in waiting rooms caused by the unavailability of healthcare providers. Telemedicine is expected to deliver timely care leading to better user engagement and customer experience.

The rise in Covid-19 cases globally has caused an enormous strain on medical center resources. Hence, concerns about the management and reduction of Covid-19 are on the rise, as there is a need to provide treatment, diagnosis, and follow-ups during the pandemic. In this scenario, telemedicine platforms turned out to be effective and fastest, way to bridge the gap between healthcare providers and receivers.

Various healthcare organizations and health tech-startups are responding to Covid-19 through the rapid adoption of telemedicine solutions which aids in delivering healthcare services digitally using Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for the treatment of patients.

Channelize.io offers a secure, scalable, and customizable, real-time communication platform that can be easily integrated into any health-tech system to build an effective healthcare messaging solution, and can prove immensely useful. Apart from offering rich and engaging real-time text chat, video, and voice calling experiences, Channelize.io chat API and SDKs also ensure security and privacy of the sensitive PHI information exchanged between the healthcare providers and receivers.

Healthcare Trackers & Wearables

             “Gone are the days when all medical information was under the lock”

In this digital era, people focus more on prevention and maintenance rather than treatment and medication hence they demand information about their health more frequently. This led to the adoption of tech-fuelled devices usually called healthcare trackers and wearables. 

With the ability to monitor one’s health at home and share the results remotely with the doctors, these wearables are becoming more prominent in the day-to-day management of chronic conditions and illness. Furthermore, this technology is empowering people to take control of their health and make more informed decisions.

No matter whether you would like to manage your stress level, your weight, or you would like to reach an overall fit and energetic state, there is a device for all of these needs and more! 

Let us look at some of the most used healthcare devices

• Wearable ECG Monitors
• Oximeter
• Exercise trackers
• Smartwatches

The increasing demand for wearable technology has generated a booming market thus healthcare and health tech-startups are being proactive in investing in wearable technology devices.

Artificial Intelligence

                            “AI represents the epitome of medical innovation”

Artificial intelligence offers innovative means to diagnose diseases, do medical research, create treatment plans, monitor and predict epidemic outbreaks, etc

It is predicted that by 2030, AI-powered systems will be widely used in personalized medicine, and by the year 2035, autonomous AI will begin replacing human doctors. 

By setting up the right AI technology, your healthcare business may gain an ability to:

• Save time and funds by automating routine processes and tasks
• Prevent mistakes and human errors
• Offer patients better and personalized experience
• Enhance revenues by identifying and maximizing sales opportunities
• Grow expertise by enabling analysis 

Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality

Advances in healthcare technologies that could only be imagined a decade ago are now being implemented with the arrival of virtual and augmented reality solutions. From educating medical students to prepare for real-life operations to enabling surgeons to enhance their capabilities, the field of AR and VR in healthcare offers serious promise.

Below are some of the aspects of healthcare that can notably be improved by innovative technologies.

• Medical staff training
• Pain management
• Post-surgery recovery 
• Collaboration between surgeons and radiologists

Augmented and Virtual reality development is something on which many different companies are focusing because apart from the ease that it provides to patients, it is also the source of profitability for many different businesses.

Chatbots

Chatbots are already transforming the business world, and they are a big part of the digital transformation in healthcare, too. The adoption of RPA bots in healthcare organizations and health tech startups has grown exponentially in the last decade and today, we can see various organizations of all sizes using bots for a variety of use cases and functions. Robots have proven especially helpful in telemedicine as they show up in several healthcare scenarios :

• Surgical Assistance
• Remote clinical encounters
• Patient engagement
• Medication & follow-up alerts

Healthcare bots can be created with popular bot-building platforms like Amazon Lex and Google DialogFlow. Telemedicine Solutions also support bot integration for effective patient care delivery.

The Bottom Line

Technology can help healthcare organizations and technical service providers to meet growing healthcare demands and efficiently operate to deliver better patient care. Hence getting familiar with emerging medical technologies puts tech leaders in a winning position when they are strategizing the future. The technologies mentioned in this article can be leveraged by the various health tech startups, technical service providers, or healthcare organizations to strategize the future of their business and hence attain success.