Remote Health Monitoring - Blog Posts

The (E-) Doctor Is In: What Trends to Spot in Healthcare Technology Today

“Disruptive technologies” are the trending watchwords du jour, a catchphrase that encapsulates the displacement of existing market models with change, innovation and upheaval, and this phenomenon is as relevant as ever right now in the field of healthcare and medicine.

Earlier in the year, three behemoth corporate players, who are not traditionally associated with Healthcare— Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan Chase— forged a partnership to leverage state-of-the-art healthcare technology to provide to their employees “simplified, high-quality and transparent healthcare at a reasonable cost.”

So what is in the cards for the ever-evolving face of healthcare technology today?

Artificial Intelligence

AI has transformed the way healthcare providers render their services and how patients experience their level of care, in areas such as clinical diagnostic accuracy, acute care rehabilitation, predictive disease analysis, hospital operations, and population health.

It is an area that is teeming with possibilities for growth: by 2035, workplace productivity is projected to spike by as much as 35 percent and surpass the $6 billion mark as AI continues to play an integral part in alleviating physician shortage and patient congestion, as well as adopting more optimal and precise treatment plans.

As patients increasingly want more control over personal healthcare decisions, AI, Deep Learning and digital image content analysis can be tapped to analyze and anticipate disease, devise optimal care approaches and design methodologies of diagnosis and treatment of medical malaise. Pathology and Radiology specialties are in the early stages of AI transformation.

Augmented Reality

Immersive technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) can be a huge opportunity for advanced visualization for healthcare providers and their patients, with a projected market share of $90 billion by 2020.

 For example, images from a real-world environment such as the OR can be embedded with computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, and graphics, enabling surgeons to navigate their way around minimally invasive procedures or to develop 3D reconstructions of tumors without resorting to radiation exposure. Virtual apps have also been used to educate patients on the use of AEDs or defibrillators.

Wearables, IoT and Mobile Health Apps

The growing business of preventative care in the form of wearables—whether as part of corporate wellness programs or individual health and fitness markets—is expected to rise to $12.1 billion by 2021.

Remote health monitoring via wearables and mobile health apps could lead to a notable decrease in hospitalizations and ensure that those who need urgent care will have access to it more readily and with greater ease. For instance, the digital contact lens can be worn by diabetics to measure and maintain their blood sugar levels.

The advantages of wearables are diverse: they have user-friendly interfaces and boast of connectivity features such as wireless data transmission, real-time feedback, and alerting mechanisms, granting patients secured access to their health records and providing quicker diagnosis and treatment of conditions such as arrhythmia, asthma, and COPD.

Telemedicine

Although the words telemedicine and telehealth are likely to become obsolete within five years, the use of the latest technology advancements to provide healthcare to patients will become commonplace globally.

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