From a blockchain toothbrush that rewards you with digital coins for taking proper care of your dental health to a portable urinalysis tool to measure various processes in your body, healthcare IT trends seem to leave no stone unturned for the traditional industry. Healthcare tech is transforming our approach to diagnostics, disease treatment, prevention, and prediction. It remodels processes management in hospitals and clinics, brings quality care to wider audiences, and empowers customers with efficient healthcare products, gadgets, and services.
We will not try to predict the future of healthcare but would like to take a glimpse at the twelve most promising tendencies for 2023.
First, let us turn to the official definition from the WHO which describes healthcare technology as a practical application of skills and knowledge to solve health problems and make the quality of life better by implementing a range of innovations like medicines, vaccines, treatment procedures, devices, and software solutions. It also refers to digital tools that boost administrative productivity and integration capabilities of healthcare organizations.
The report by Global Newswire estimated the healthcare market size reached $7,548.52 billion in 2022. It is projected to hit $9,816.85 billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 5.3% at a slower pace than in previous years. It takes into account all the latest issues with commodity prices, supply chain disruptions, and inflation in many countries all over the world.
No wonder new technologies in healthcare will fuel advantageous patient outcomes and business development of the industry.
So, let’s encompass what healthcare technology trends will be all the rage in the nearest future.
According to a report by Juniper Research, RPM solutions are among the most promising healthcare technology current trends in the world.
Healthcare providers are facing greater pressure now: staff shortages, limited hospital space, and skyrocketing expenses urge the need for innovative healthcare solutions. Meanwhile, Remote Patient Monitoring moves care outside of overloaded hospitals and clinics, releases personnel overload, and optimizes costs.
No surprise that the number of patients who will rely on RPM solutions is projected to grow by 67% from 2023 to 2027 (from 75 million to 115.5 million).
The largest rate of adoption is expected among patients with cardiac conditions (90 million in 2027). For instance, cardiac patients using RPM solutions can control their heart rate and blood pressure at home 24/7 and get necessary support as fast as possible.
For a healthcare business, an advanced RPM platform designed and delivered by a reliable custom web development company can become the core of the organization. It will enrich the organization with tech functionality for health data tracking, EHR/EMR management, embedded video calls, chats and notification systems, integration solutions, billing systems, and customer support.
A recent report by Globe Newswire predicts that the global market size of electronic medical records will reach $17.6 billion in 2023. It will almost double by 2033 and is expected to be $32 billion. So EMR/EHR management, integration, and security technologies will get hold of one of the healthcare tech trends for the nearest decade.
The fuel for this position will be defined by the rising rate of adoption of EHR/EMR software solutions by governmental and non-governmental healthcare providers. Cloud-based EMR and EHR SaaS solutions are among the top growth drivers of this trend.
Business Process Automation has big potential for many industries. But it promises even greater profits for healthcare and medical services. BPA is an efficient means for overcoming regulatory complexity, cost constraints, staff overloads, and shifting patient expectations.
BPA and RPA solutions remove the burden of tedious manual tasks, streamline clinical processes, promote compliance excellence, and create a unified ecosystem of a healthcare business providing specialists to focus more on patient care and support.
According to the World Health Organization, a fairly large patient stream will be anticipated all over the world. The harsh statistics show that the main factor of its expansion will be caused by the increase in cardiovascular diseases and related fatalities. The WHO reports that noncommunicable illnesses were responsible for 71% of fatalities worldwide in 2021.
For that reason, the healthcare system is in urgent need of productive technological solutions to face the inevitable challenges.
An ERP platform can become a game changer for a hospital or clinic as it enables the efficacious arrangement of processes in patient care and treatment, administration, staff management, logistics, and supply chain.
Research Nester estimated the ERP market size of about $6.5 billion in 2022 and projects it to generate $12.43 billion by 2033.
To provide value, healthcare technologies need to work together. So, among the upcoming trendy technologies in healthcare, one of the substantial roles is placed on robust, productive, and protected integration solutions.
As an illustration, we can take the integration of healthcare and insurance providers. The pandemic outbreak enlightened the vital importance of prompt healthcare provision. Meanwhile, traditional claim approval may take up to three days and that leads to a large amount of non- or partly-paid claims.
Integration solutions, like X12 EDI, can empower healthcare businesses with full integration with insurance companies' capabilities: the claims are submitted day by day; payment and transaction details are prepared for analysis and utilization; the billing lag is not more than just one day.
The healthcare industry is the leader in producing data: about 30% of the global data in 2022 was generated by healthcare sources. They include administrative, clinical, insurance data, EHR/EMR, monitoring devices, technology, and also patient surveys and reviews.
The amount of data is projected to occupy an even larger portion of valuable data which can provide valuable insights for the vendors and businesses.
Here is why big data analytics is included in our healthcare IT trends. Its benefits will empower organizations with improved functionality, reinvented service delivery, and new advanced solutions and products.
Patient engagement and mHealth technologies are evolving and expanding at an exponential rate. Telemedicine, wearables, and a range of applications make patients not only recipients of healthcare support. They are active participants and 61% of them want to enhance patient engagement experience, as was shown by the survey conducted by Actium in 2022.
On patient engagement platforms or apps, healthcare providers can tune their scheduling, reminding, and EHR systems. They can improve patient outcomes, grow patient bases, and increase audience loyalty and retention rate.
Responsive cooperation with customers will be one of the important elements of sustaining in competitive markets.
The core idea of this approach in healthcare is that patient audiences can be carefully segmented according to a broad range of parameters like lifestyle, environmental data, or genetics. It can help create more personalized treatment plans compared to the traditional one-size-fits-all procedures.
Precision medicine is based on technological insights and analytical software. It is an emerging health IT trend for 2023.
The global healthcare market is expected to see new implant-related choices and techs. The demand and application field of smart implants cannot be underestimated. Modern patient rehabilitation, regenerative medicine, and curing of various types of disabilities are being transformed by advanced implants worldwide.
One of the most futuristic types of them — 3D Bioprinting — has already proved its efficiency. The major focus for the developers in 2023 will be concentrated on making 3D-printed implants more reliable and accessible to bring the change to wider audiences.
In 2022, the bioprinting market size reached $182 million, as stated in the latest SmartTech Analysis report. But in 2028 this segment is projected to hit $1.2 billion with the main proportion of revenue generated from applications and services.
Though this trend appeared several years ago, it is still a future medical technology as we do not have any successful use cases of wide practical application.
Despite that fact, there are several promising prototypes. For example, “xenobots” is a project of Harvard University, Tufts University, and the University of Vermont. It introduced an AI-driven simulation of tiny self-replicating organisms. The invention can be useful for cancer research advances.
In 2023, there is a possibility that we will have more discoveries in nanomedicine for the diagnosis and treatment of oncologic, autoimmune, or genetic diseases.
Manufacturers, developers, and suppliers introduce a plethora of innovative consumer healthcare technological hardware. There is a wide choice of patient health wearables, solutions for logistics and supplies, and also clinical-grade devices.
For example, at CES 2023 the Singaporean medical technology firm introduced a smart wearable stethoscope for doctors and patients. It is powered by AI and can detect abnormal lung sounds. The data can be analyzed and sent to an RPM platform. The device empowers professionals with advanced diagnostic capabilities and can also provide patients with a continuum of individual medical care from the comfort of their homes.
What is essential for such future medical technology developments is that IoMT puts any new device on the next level and makes it an integral part of the health ecosystem.
Skyrocketing healthcare digitization also has a dark side. The number of ransomware attacks on hospitals and clinics has more than doubled from 2016 to 2021. More than 42 million patient data files were exposed, according to a study published in Jama Network.
That is why healthcare businesses can’t avoid increasing budgets on cybersecurity. For 2023 it can reach up to 15% compared to the previous year, as predicted by Bowen.
Thus, one of this year’s digital trends in healthcare will be in ensuring patient data is kept safe. All the players in the healthcare market will have to enhance privacy and security protocols. So, it is essential to work with trusted healthcare software development services companies.
The cutting-edge healthcare market is already proving to be an exciting field of innovations, original technological approaches, and discoveries. It will also pose new challenges and demands on medical businesses.
At the same time, no technological solution can replace human touch, doctor experience, and careful support of professionals. But technology will not leave behind companies that embrace digital transformation.
If your organization or practice is interested in enhancing its existing medical software or building a new solution, consider CleverDev Software as your reliable software development partner. Take advantage of future healthcare technology trends with us.
IT Expert at CleverDev Software
With a tech leadership spanning from 2008, Julia lives by the motto of diving deep into the innovation ocean. Her writing prowess, research acumen, and interviewing expertise enable her to share invaluable insights into IT trends.
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