Technological advances are taking every industry by storm, and the healthcare field is a prime example. Things inconceivable even a decade ago are quickly advancing toward standard practice in some areas. One enormous frontier for medical technology advancement is the area of remote care and training.
In some instances, things like telehealth and remote diagnostics, and increased access to at-home medical technologies and hardware are bringing forth new possibilities for providing completely remote or virtual care. This will continue to shape how healthcare is provided over the coming decades.
Remote technologies help alleviate problems like limited access to healthcare for rural or remote communities, older individuals, or those who live in places where public transportation is inaccessible. They also make a much more comprehensive selection of doctors or medical professionals available than they would have been. This means those needing specialist care can access those specialists virtually, even if they live nowhere near each other.
Organization and Scheduling
Technology can make the administrative processes necessary for providing healthcare to a population much more streamlined and foolproof. Several medical apps and software platforms are already helping medical professionals mitigate the hassle associated with organizing the healthcare delivery process.
Other technological realities are also aiding in this effort. With integrations with personal calendar apps or scheduling platforms, artificial intelligence (AI) “virtual receptionists” can handle over-the-phone patient interactions to schedule appointments. These and other technologies are all aiding the effort to remove the impracticalities of administration from healthcare provision.
Increasing Capabilities for Remote Diagnostics
Technologies and services are developing across the healthcare provision landscape, making diagnostic and testing processes easier to administer virtually. These range from at-home blood test kits to by-mail sample collection and analysis offered by labs and medical facilities. The
The COVID-19 pandemic alone necessitated a variety of virtual test products and remotely monitored testing services to be developed and made consumer-ready.
The range and accuracy of consumer product biotech capabilities are also increasing to the point that the data that consumer products can collect. It can be accurate enough to aid diagnoses or care plans.
Data collected by Fitbit, Apple watches, sleep measurement apps, and more can be helpful to healthcare providers. We have more data available about our health and status than ever, which will become increasingly valuable to medical professionals and the healthcare process.
Patient Record and Information Sharing
Health record management platforms are becoming increasingly sophisticated and cross-compatible as healthcare provision develops to include more data capture and record-keeping. The average patient in America has a growing patient file that sometimes includes expansive amounts of data and medical history.
Keeping comprehensive records and establishing improved processes for sharing information, when appropriate, are essential. However, obtaining consent from patients through HIPAA forms is crucial before disclosing their medical information to other medical professionals, especially when multiple professionals are involved in the patient’s care over time.
This practice can significantly enhance the care provision process by providing better background information on the patient, saving time, avoiding redundant testing or treatment, and preventing errors, dangerous misdiagnoses, or incorrect prescriptions.
As more healthcare record-keeping is digitized and kept in formats that allow for easier sharing among medical providers, the healthcare landscape will begin to see tremendous systemic benefits of better-informed decision-making and saving time and resources.
An example is cardiology PACS systems. These systems are specialized medical imaging systems designed to diagnose and treat cardiovascular diseases. They allow cardiologists to store, access, and share digital images and patient data related to cardiac health, such as electrocardiograms (ECGs), echocardiograms, and angiograms.
Increasing Availability of At-Home Medical Technologies
Similar to having more access to consumer biotech products mentioned above, the availability of medical technologies for the average patient is rapidly increasing. Individuals at home can now purchase or be prescribed pieces of diagnostic equipment that would have been much too expensive to own a decade ago.
This makes it much more feasible to conduct more patient care. Since those individuals can self-administer the tasks or diagnostics they would have historically needed in a medical facility.
Automated Processes
Automation is one huge advantage when technologies are applied to various parts of the healthcare ecosystem, from automatically releasing medicinal doses to programming alerts delivered by email or SMS to perform routine actions or care. Technology can help regulate healthcare provision. In some cases, these processes can be accomplished without human action.
Better Telehealth Capabilities
As more and more of the world’s population gains access to high-speed internet. Having healthcare appointments and consultations over virtual video calls is an increasingly viable alternative to visiting a medical facility for an in-person visit.
Telehealth will only partially replace healthcare provision and can accommodate processes that still require in-person interaction. It is quickly becoming a superior choice over traveling to a hospital or clinic for certain types of care.
Its many advantages include saving time and resources by mitigating the need for travel and lessening the amount of time medical professionals need to wait between patients.
Increasing availability for those who would find it difficult or impossible to get to a medical facility for various reasons. The increased privacy and comfort of receiving care in your home make telehealth a valuable addition to healthcare.
Algorithmic Predictive Healthcare
As the average amount of data medical professionals can collect about patients becomes more comprehensive and algorithmic analysis continues to become more robust, using technology to generate prescriptive and predictive care alerts, or recommendations will become more commonplace in healthcare provision.
Managing an individual’s risk for chronic conditions or heart attacks based on vitals and family history is just one example of how this might become more prevalent in the coming years.
Predictive modeling is applied everywhere, from family practices to public health policymaking. Technology’s capabilities for analyzing vast amounts of data and better assessing nuances within an individual’s history (or population-wide surveys and statistics) will be used to increase measures to prevent or mitigate health problems.
These insights could be delivered electronically to patients in their everyday lives, lessening the need for patients to attend regular in-person check-ups and be monitored remotely by software tools managed by their medical care providers.