Health care technology, like so many areas of the global economy, is undergoing a revolution. It comes as no surprise that global funding for it hit a new record in 2020 with a total of $80.6 billion raised across more than 5.5K+ deals.
Health care technology, also called health care tech, healthtech or health care IT, refers to any IT tools or software designed to improve the productivity and efficiency of hospitals and health care organizations, provide insights into new treatments and medicines and/or improve the overall quality of care provided.
Driven by advances in state-of-the-art technologies like artificial intelligence, automation, engineering, cloud computing and big data, healthcare technology is becoming ever more vital for meaningfully improving the agility, efficiency, and capabilities of health system operations leading to increased ROI for reinvestment, better diagnoses, and more lives saved.
A few of the key trends that are driving the health care IT revolution include:
- Using artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and analytics to help guide important healthcare decisions. Data is the most critical element in medical technology and patient care, so being able to capture, store, parse, and analyze it is critical. Using AI in conjunction with predictive analytics helps makes clinical, operational, and financial decisions more efficient and effective.
- Increasing interoperability through the integration of more sophisticated IT software and application development to streamline and unify disparate databases, teams, and systems. The most significant advancement in this area and perhaps all areas of healthtech in 2022 is in the digitization and interoperability of electronic health records (EHR) and electronic medical records (EMR).
- Catering to the rise of the “on-demand” economy and advancing health care delivery through telemedicine. This care delivery model was still in its infancy prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was forced to mature quickly. The success of telemedicine is evidenced in the rollout of new programs throughout the health care ecosystem, as well as evolving regulatory change and acceptance.
- Further extending health care accessibility and everywhere-at-once capability using real-time remote patient monitoring via technologies like wearable devices and mobile applications. Emerging capabilities in this area result in vast, unlimited potential for efficient data-tracking and patient care.
- Improving cybersecurity to defend against ransomware attacks and protect patient information. These efforts include HIPPA and GDPR compliant IT solutions as well as improvements to secure data storage and the facilitation of both cloud and distributed cloud storage for cyber defense through redundancy and decentralization.
- Using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) for professional training and skills enhancement. This type of health care technology can also be used in patient exercise rehabilitation and recovery.
- Resolving the growing health care staffing crisis. Health care as in industry — including allied, clinical, and IT staff — is facing significant staffing issues following long-term demographic trends (aging population), systems change, and significant burnout / fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. It is anticipated that there will be a shortage of 9.9 million health care workers globally in 2030 including 2.3 million in the U.S. alone. By leveraging health care technology to digitize and automate recruitment technology and transform the larger health care model through process optimization and digitization, health care organizations can minimize risks and improve outcomes for patients and providers.
As a company that operates at the intersection of health care and technology, supporting organizations through technology implementation, strategic advisory and IT consulting, process engineering, and support with both professional and health care IT staffing, we are excited about what the future holds for health care technology, and for all of us who stand to benefit from it.
Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, CSI Companies partners with organizations nationwide to deliver solutions-focused workforce services. We have the resources necessary to scale with any enterprise yet are small enough to maintain the personal service we’ve become known for over the past 27 years. To learn more, visit csicompanies.com.