Industry Analysts Predict Digital Technologies Will Transform Healthcare
[Thursday, May 30, 2019] A report on the state of industry predicts that nine emerging technologies will transform the healthcare market to be more patient-centric, efficient, and economical. While the predictions may seem obvious, the report does provide a comprehensive overview of the various technologies being developed that could be useful for program planners and thought leaders. Four out of the nine technologies listed by the authors are specific to healthcare. These include internet-connected devices for health monitoring such as wearables and implantable devices, electronic devices that use electrical pulses to treat a variety of diseases, cellular and targeted therapies, and 3D printed devices. Of these four, the internet connected devices are the most developed at the time, while others are at various stages of innovation. FDA has approved very few electrical pulse devices and the technology is still in its infancy. Cellular therapies and genetic therapies are certainly hot commodities in development with hundreds of products in late-stage development, but these technologies are also extremely expensive for them to become mainstream. And 3D printing technology has established itself as the go-to technology in medical devices but its application in drug and biologics is in its infancy. The analysts also listed five technologies that have so far been used mostly in non-healthcare areas but hold great potential for healthcare. These include robotics, big data analytics, AI, blockchain and robotic process automation. All of these are being used in the healthcare sector for various purposes. The most well recognized of these technologies are big data analytics and AI. Big data analytics is expected to play a critical role in increasing the use of real-world evidence and patient-centric improvements in healthcare delivery and access. All the big silicon valley companies are heavily invested in finding ways to use the big data they control for new products and services. These efforts are closely related to AI and machine learning algorithms intended to couple the continuously generated data to ever-evolving software that learns and adapts to the new information. Robotics for surgeries and process automation also have been increasingly used over the last decade to simply and dehumanize common processes to increase efficiency and reduce cost. Blockchain is the least understood and probably most controversial. The report predicts that the technologies described above with lead to significant improvement in healthcare delivery and savings. Will these savings will get translated to reduced healthcare costs or just new ways to monetize or both, time will tell. According to the report, we should see results in about five years, ambitious may be. |
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