Quality healthcare is one of the most important factors, how individuals perceive their quality of life. In most countries, alongside the economy, it is one of the major political issues. In some countries, the healthcare delivery organization is a part of the national identity. Currently, the healthcare industry is going through a transformation, and to succeed in the increasingly competitive environment, organizations need to make significant investments in processes and technologies to cut down costs, increase access to care delivery, and improve medical care. Globally, majority of economies are facing similar challenges such as rising healthcare costs, changing demographics, resource gap (i.e. even the demand is increasing, there is a global shortage of clinicians), increasing focus on quality, etc.

Driving current healthcare trends are the costs of providing care and the outcome of this care. As healthcare providers face revenue pressures, they are adopting new care delivery models and shifting to outpatient services to reduce administrative and supply costs. Global health care spending is projected to increase at an annual rate of 5.4% during the 2018-2022 period, a considerable rise of 2.9% in the 2013-2017 period. It is projected that by 2022, the global healthcare expenditure will reach US$10.1 trillion and one of the major supporting factors for the growth is “increasing life expectancy”. Currently the life expectancy continues to climb with number of people aged over 65 globally is more than 668 million, or 11.6% of the total global population as we are successful winning the fight against communicable diseases. The other factor, which is likely to drive the expenditure, would be clinical and technology advances. In this blog we would be focusing on the recent trends that would fuel these clinical and technology advances.

Emerging and lower-income countries will drive the rise in health care expenditures through 2020 as well as the expansion of services in developed countries.

Among the major trends, the healthcare industry is witnessing is technological advancement, few are mentioned below:

Telemedicine

Robotics

IoT and wearables

Blockchain

Artificial Intelligence

Telemedicine is the remote delivery of healthcare services, such as health assessments or consultations, over the telecommunications infrastructure. It allows healthcare providers to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients using common technology, such as video conferencing and smartphones, without the need for an in-person visit. A recent trend suggests that remote patients won’t be the only ones who benefit from telemedicine. An increasing number of patients who live in urban areas have also begun to take notice of this rapidly growing industry, owing to the convenience the telemedicine service provides.

Robotics is revolutionizing the medical world. The necessity to improve medical productivity and reduce routine errors increases the demand for healthcare assistance and automation robots. According to a Research and Markets report, the medical robotics market is projected to reach US$ 12.80 billion by 2021 growing at a CAGR of 21.1% from US$ 4.90 billion in 2016. In addition, as per UnivDatos Market Insights in Japan, where the population is aging rapidly, the healthcare robotics market is expected to grow at a CAGR growth rate of 8.07% during 2019-2025 period to reach a market size of US$ 3,077.0 million by 2025.

The healthcare industry has been quick to adopt connected medical devices as they can help providers offer a better standard of care while also improving efficiency and lowering operational costs. One of the biggest applications for IoT in the healthcare sphere is wearable devices that allow for remote monitoring of different vital signs and health stats. Wearable healthcare devices allow providers and facilities to stay connected to patients and consumers to gain better visibility into their health. As per UnivDatos Market Insights, the global wearable medical device market is expected to reach US$ 25.1 billion by 2025. The sector is expected to witness a CAGR growth of 18.3% during the 2019-2025 period.

Blockchain technology is getting more and more attention and can be a new approach and solution for secure patient data storage and transmission. According to the IDC, by 2020, 20% of healthcare organizations will have moved beyond pilot projects and will be using blockchain for supply-chain management and patient identity. Some vendors are already exploring blockchain technology, applying it to EMR/EHR systems like the Medicalchain platform or MedRec system. Major players like IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Google have even separate units dedicated to developing blockchain products, including for healthcare

The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing and is expected to be one of the major trends in the healthcare industry in the upcoming years. As per UnivDatos Market Insights, the global AI in the healthcare market is expected to reach a market valuation of US$ 26,599.5 Million by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 41.1% during the 2019-2025 period. The demand for precision medicine and cost reduction are the key drivers for AI in the healthcare industry. AI can transform any area of healthcare, from hospital workflow tasks to diagnosing health conditions and thereby providing process automation, improving workflow productivity, and increasing diagnostic accuracy.

Conclusion

Although the healthcare industry reacts to changes is very slowly, in the coming days we will see more and more organizations adopting new technologies and innovation to survive in a competitive field. They will have to shift to a new outcome-based care approach with a strong collaboration between all participants of the healthcare value chain to create cost-effective and patient-focused healthcare systems.

Author: Ajit Kumar Singh, Tinku Rai

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