Top 5 Healthcare Technology Trends for 2023

Do you know that Artificial Intelligence in healthcare is growing at a CAGR of 37% in the forecast period of 2022 to 2030 globally? As we all know, in the past few years, the world underwent a major change. The world witnessed the pandemic which ravaged globally, followed by a financial plunge. There was also a bloom in the adoption of technology and digitization in every field specially healthcare. Adoption of technology in healthcare has efficaciously changed the scenario for everyone- whether they are patients or health practitioners or the health systems. In this blog we will walk you through the top 5 healthcare technology trends for 2023.

What can we expect in 2023?

According to the 2022 Future of Healthcare Report, it predicts further ascend in digital innovations and higher expectations from patients along with emerging flexible healthcare delivery systems. Not only that, but the report also predicts increasing competition when it comes to healthcare delivery. Payer organisations are seeking for digital transformation and make healthcare more affordable and personalised.

Why is it important to understand the healthcare trends?

Healthcare is a constantly changing and a rapidly evolving realm. Whether it is for professionals or otherwise, it is important to stay updated on the latest trends and be aware of the developments. So many factors are at play – the challenges, the changing lifestyle, increased lifespan, evolving healthcare system, and digitization. Everything has resulted in a dynamically advancing healthcare landscape. Thus, finding out about upcoming trends will help organisations to analyse, identify inconsistencies and gaps and solve those issues. Also, we can predict what the top players in the healthcare industry are inclined to do this year. The healthcare technology trends have the potential to revolutionize the industry in a meaningful way.

Top 5 Healthcare Technology Trends

Let us see what these top 5 healthcare technology trends are, and how will they affect the healthcare industry this year.

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

The use of Artificial Intelligence specially machine learning tools will cross over $20 million in 2023. Not just ML (Machine Learning), various AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies such as Natural language processing, computer vision, pattern recognition algorithms, predictive analysis which are already functioning, will continue to be embraced all throughout 2023 as their usability and value keep on testifying themselves. Once AI is adopted, there is no looking back further.

1. Clinical use cases:

Amongst the many implications of Artificial Intelligence, the clinical and medical benefits such as diagnostics, detection and streamlining medical processes benefit the healthcare industry immensely.

• Discovery of drugs- AI can predict the results of clinical trials, conclude on possible side effects.
• Analyse medical imagery- Use computer vision to find out early warning signs in reports such as X rays and CT scan.
• Use AI to detect and also treat neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease.
• Use AI and predictive analytics to find out the priority medical cases and give more accurate diagnoses.
• Analyse huge data silos fast and accurately to identify patterns and provide helpful information much faster to the healthcare staff.
• Use AI to make a complete digital patient profile. It can comprise of lab reports, past medical procedures, diagnostics, and more to allow medical practitioners easy access. This will allow them to provide faster and personalised treatment plans.
• Medical records are often unstructured and huge. We can use AI to arrange and set the data in a standardised format for easy interpretation.

2. Management of hospital services:

Other than clinical work, AI has applications in management and clerical processes. As we know, hospitals deal with a lot of patient data as well as billing, insurance, invoice processing and more.

• Process insurance claims, pre-authorization of insurance
• Management of medical data and analysis.
• Analyse data from wearables and in-home sensors (with virtual medical settings)
• Better patient engagement with online portals as more patients use smartphones/laptops. They can book appointments or request services/prescription etc. via these portals and have a more seamless service.
• Use AI to detect and stop patient data breaches and provide data security solutions.

Remote healthcare

The pandemic has resulted in remodelling the healthcare scenario as healthcare started to get delivered remotely in a substantial manner. Though it is always desirable and safer to have physical appointments rather than virtual ones, but considering many factors, both practitioners and patients have recognised that for a wide range of conditions, arranging healthcare from a distance is economical and effective.

There are various categories of remote healthcare facilities.

1. Home-based care– Research shows that patients show positive outcomes when they are in a comfortable and familiar setting along with the presence of family members. The added advantage of home-based care is cost efficiency in comparison with inpatient care.
2. Tele medicine – The severe shortage of doctors and medical staff in several places along with the rising costs of in-person healthcare calls for some changes. Remotely providing medical services is a thriving trend in 2023.
   • Video consultation -Consultation with the doctor via video call
   • Tele surgery/ Remote surgery– The surgeon performs a surgery on a patient in a remote location via robotic technology.
   • Virtual hospital ward– It is the creation of a virtual hospital ward at home. The patient gets monitored and medically cared at home. The medical practitioners work in a central location. They tend to the patients remotely allowing them to complete their treatments and procedures prior to hospitalisation. Compared to hospitalisation, virtual hospital ward is highly cost-saving and will also ease the pressures of hospitals.
   • Growth of online medical communities– Primarily patient-led and related to particular illnesses or conditions, members share their experiences, advice, and support.

Wearable devices

Already popular, the use of wearable devices will bloom in 2023 even more. Not just patients tracking their physical activities, but the doctors too can also track the real-time data and monitor the patients remotely. Wearable devices have a motivating effect on choosing healthier lifestyle choices. It also allows practitioners to build custom and realistic health goals. The ‘Internet of medical things’ (IoMT) is rapidly blooming at a CAGR of 20.41% and forecast to reach 960.2 $ by 2030 according to Precedence Research.

IoMT is developing speedily to detect a variety of medical conditions such as depression, mental illnesses, risk of heart attacks as well as conduct ECGs and blood pressure apart from finding the vital signs of heart rate and oxygen level in blood.

Wearable medical devices in 2023 will further advance with analytics which will process the real time data and analyse it. It will have the capability of detecting and warning serious conditions real-time. Furthermore, it will also enhance the privacy of the data.

Personalised healthcare

Rather than the same-medicine-for-all attitude, we predict healthcare to take a personalised approach with the upcoming concept of precision medicine. We can expect tailor-made treatment plans and drugs. It will take a wide range of factors based on age, risk factors, genetics and more.

The use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to predict the effect and side-effects of particular drugs based on genetic information of the patient will start.

This approach will empower the patients as they can decide on the choice of treatment plan and delivery. Patients can consider their own circumstances and point of view to decide how and where to execute the treatment. Apart from healthcare, personalisation in every field is a leading trend of 2023.

Cloud technology for Outsourced Billing

A major pain point for the medicine industry is acute shortage of staff. Specially after the Covid 19 pandemic, labour force has been plummeting, as people either retire or shift bases. Among the many effects of staff shortage, one of them is prompt and competent billing. The medical billing outsourcing market is expected to bloom and grow at 12.5% CAGR by 2023. It reduces the staffing crunch faced by healthcare providers.

Healthcare organisations trust third parties and process the billing timely and effectively. They streamline the workflows, operations and as a result receive the reimbursement fast optimizing revenue. Some of the benefits are:

• Optimize the claim submissions, collect reimbursements in shortest period. Reduce billing errors
• Reduce manual labour.
• Staff can focus on medical duties better.

How to get started?

At Saxon, we provide a wide range of solutions which are tailored for your expertise. Contact our experts to find out more about our healthcare solutions and adapt these trends in 2023.