Healthcare, which usually evolves quite slowly, is being revolutionised by the Internet, broadband access, software innovations, hardware inventions, mobile apps and wearable devices. From Internet-connected operating theaters to intelligent wearable devices, the health care industry is in the midst of massive technology-enabled transformation. Investment in information and communications technology is becoming imperative to improve not only the patient, but also the caregiver experience.
Today, across all healthcare sectors, the demand for creative uses of mobile technology, digital diagnostics, health informatics and cloud solutions is on the rise. Across the global healthcare environment, the medical technology sector is playing a unique role of bridging the distance, time and knowledge boundaries between clinicians and patients. Innovators in emerging markets are uniquely positioned to drive the pace of technological innovation.
Below are seven trends that are directly affecting the health-care industry
1. The Internet
The sight of waiting room patients reading printouts from health-related Web sites in preparation for presenting them to the doctor has become common in health care settings, a practice that some practitioners encourage and others dread.
Sufficiently educated and motivated patients can use technical information from the Internet to become more expert regarding their condition. Internet telemedicine services, disease-related chat-rooms and e-mail lists, and thousands of conventional and alternative medicine Web sites are the vanguard of a world that offers many more personal choices than are available today.
2. Health informatics and big data
Electronic records have been shown to deliver significant savings by streamlining the medical care process and increasing co-ordination between providers. The combination of improved IT systems, cloud computing and mobile access devices is ushering managed care environments into a world where stored data is becoming increasingly accessible and useable. In the process, big data is playing a vital role that cannot be ignored.
Big data refers to extremely large data sets that may be analysed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behaviour and interactions. Big data can be analysed to gain valuable insights into ways to become more cost effective, accelerate patient care, and improve individual quality of care. Enabling this requires data from multiple sources to be integrated and made accessible in multiple formats, to help provide a more complete view for patient problems, diagnosis and treatment.
Healthcare providers a realising the benefit of big data and large-scale data analysis to deliver better care at lower costs as well as more customised treatment plans.
3. Mobile access
The functionality offered by mobile technologies is fast being appreciated by the healthcare industry. A plethora of devices, apps, sensors and other increasingly miniature and mobile technologies is being developed that target chronic conditions; enable telemedicine, remote monitoring, patient data capture and e-prescribing; access electronic records and support the parallel industries of fitness and wellness.
The ability to access all types of information through mobile devices increases the relevance of mobile technology. Tablet computers can be taken into the consulting room. Internet connected smartphones, smart-watches and tracking bracelets can provide healthcare professionals and their patients with new ability to enter, monitor, track, research and review critical information.
Mobile-enabled healthcare, or mHealth, also holds promise for radical improvement and innovations along the health value chain; maximising professionals' time and productivity, improving quality, increasing access and equity, stimulating greater consumer engagement, and ultimately delivering greater value for money. Self-monitoring devices also make it easier for patients to monitor their own vital signs and report their information without having to make an appointment to see a medical care provider. Accordingly, an integrated mobile strategy should be a key component of growth strategies for health providers.
4. The Cloud and telemedicine
The struggle to get to medical facilities, doctor's offices or hospitals is being overcome by a host of new options, enabled by more affordable software and devices and powered by broadband Internet access.
Cloud services refer to services accessed via the Internet. Cloud services provide many benefits for medical providers, especially in under-developed, under-served areas. For example, video conferencing through webcams on laptops and mobile devices like tablets, allows patients to connect with their medical care providers over the Internet.
Several studies have found that using telemedicine lowers readmissions to hospitals. Post-hospitalisation, patients can check in and upload their data, and videoconference with medical staff or with other members of their healthcare team for consultations and support. Receiving 'virtual' care will continue to increase as the cost of devices and Internet access continue to fall, and as investment in supporting technical infrastructure rises.
5. Data security
Technology-enabled access to healthcare records and services has come with new challenges, not just to patient confidentiality, but to business continuity as well. Healthcare facilities must increasingly invest in internal capacity to safeguard patient data as well as mission-critical IT systems.
Often human error causes breaches, however, cyber-attacks are increasing, as are the number of attack vectors healthcare organisations need to protect. There is no room for complacency. As more records go digital and as health applications go online the risk of security breaches increases.
An Information Week report stated "Healthcare organisations are particularly vulnerable. They house both personal health and payment information, plus intellectual property; all lucrative targets for hackers. But most employees want to heal people, not become technologists, and might view technology protections as healthcare speed bumps.
As providers, payers, employees, patients, and partners become increasingly intertwined through shared data, transparency, and analytics, the opportunities for loss, error, or theft grow exponentially."
Keeping healthcare organisations safe from security threats will take planning, technical expertise, and business knowledge. Thankfully the market for health-related security products is growing rapidly. Products are constantly being released that provide secure options for e-mail, texting, data sharing, and even videoconferencing. But there is much room for improvement and much opportunity for IT security providers to emerge to tackle the security challenges that lie ahead.
6. Wearables
Wearable technology is already having a massive impact on to play a huge role in health care in years to come. The Consumer Electronics Association reports that sales of fitness trackers and smart watches will reach US$1 billion this year. But monitoring fitness is only the beginning. For instance, Intel teamed up with the Michael J. Fox Foundation to use wearables to find certain characteristics of Parkinson's disease.
Wearable devices are expected become more widespread over the next decade, together with an explosion of sensors that can monitor everything from steps to breathing to heart rate, and apps that can sense the onset of chronic illnesses or stress.
The new insight this brings has ramifications for individuals, care providers and even insurance companies. Employers can monitor data being generated by fitness trackers, holding their insured staff to account with rewards as part of a growing number of so-called corporate-wellness programs. Of course, penalties can also stem from unhealthy behavior recorded by a wearable.
7. Health hackathons
The vexing challenges of healthcare delivery that have to be addressed spells opportunity for forward thinking, entrepreneurs and companies to capitalise on the demand for more effective tools and models for health care delivery. Some of the innovations and ideas reshaping the nature and face of healthcare are now being born out of health hackathons.
Health hackathons are summits that bring together software engineers, clinicians, interface specialists industrial designers and entrepreneurs, to develop innovative solutions to health problems. The format is becoming an increasingly popular vehicle to solving some of the most challenging problems in the health care industry.
MIT held a hackathon earlier this year that drew 450 people from various backgrounds such as engineering, journalism, medicine, and IT to tackle global health, diabetes, and hospital IT.
Wired Magazine reported: "One question we're often asked is: what can hackathons accomplish that healthcare companies or academia can't? What we've learned is that bringing together radically different perspectives in a compressed timeframe, with a clear focus on unmet clinical needs, sparks innovation. Fantastic ideas come from academic institutions; however, they are often too removed from the clinical realities on the ground and fail to integrate the important business questions that are needed to get a new product to market.
Even in big companies that pride themselves on being innovative, the environments are often too rigid and siloed for cross-disciplinary teams, outside-the-box thinking, and the willingness to fail, learn and retry. Hackathons provide the neutral, safe space to do this."
In emerging markets, hackathons hold of promise of a cost-effective means of creating solutions to longstanding local problems. At the same time hackathons provide a pathway to develop solutions that can shape the future of healthcare on the global stage.
Bevil Wooding is the an Internet strategist with US-based research firm Packet Clearing House and the founder and executive director of BrightPath Foundation, an technology education non-profit organisation. Reach him on Twitter @bevilwooding or on facebook.com/bevilwooding or contact via e-mail at technologymatters@brightpathfoundation.org.