How Tech Innovations Are Changing Healthcare in 2023

Learn about the different innovative technologies and digital solutions in the healthcare industry.

Today, many tech companies and startups are actively working on developing innovative solutions for the needs of the healthcare industry. And in this case, we can speak not only about general digitalization trends that can be observed in all industries but also about the huge social importance of such solutions that help to enhance the efficiency and quality of medical services.

In this article, we will mention the key technology and digital innovations that have the biggest impact on the development of the healthcare industry today and are likely to become a standard for many medical service providers in the future.

Internet of Things in Healthcare

The Internet of Things technologies allow engineers to unite physical objects in one network and ensure real-time data exchange between them. As for IoT in the healthcare industry (which is also called the Internet of Medical Things, or IoMT), such solutions are widely applied for continuous remote health state monitoring. 

Already today, IoMT companies can offer many reliable solutions enriched with smart sensors for tracking the vital parameters of patients. It is extremely important in the case of chronic diseases when doctors need to understand the dynamics of changes in such parameters as heart rate or level of sugar in the patient’s blood.

Another promising example of IoT application in the healthcare industry is smart pills. Such pills are small devices that can be swallowed by a patient. And while they pass via the digestive tract, they can not only deliver pharmaceuticals but also collect valuable data and record images.

Telemedicine

Remote medical services are actively gaining popularity. And the reasons for this trend are quite simple. Thanks to the possibility of getting consultations via web and mobile apps, people can save time and money as they do not need to get to a medical center by car or by public transport. Moreover, thanks to such solutions, the availability of medical services and the number of patients that can be consulted by one doctor daily are increasing.

The majority of modern telemedicine apps offer consultations in three formats. Users can have traditional voice calls with doctors, video calls, or communicate with them via online text chats with the possibility of sending files in different formats.

Though such formats cannot fully replace face-to-face examinations conducted by doctors, they can be helpful in many cases, especially when patients just need to get recommendations or a prescription for medicines. According to the data revealed by Statista, in 2022, 52% of adult Americans who took part in a survey admitted that they had live video consultations with their doctors.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Today it may seem that absolutely everyone around you is discussing the capability of AI and its role in our lives. While some people are afraid of losing their jobs due to the implementation of AI-powered systems, in the healthcare industry, AI is perceived more as a supportive tool, not as a solution that will be the reason why all doctors and medical staff were laid off.

It is expected that the size of the global healthcare AI market can reach the level of around $188 billion by 2030, while in 2011, it was worth $11 billion. It means that the CAGR over the period from 2022 to 2030 will be about 37%. Such forecasts can be viewed as additional proof of the importance of AI for the healthcare industry and for the quality of the provided services.

But how can artificial intelligence be used by medical service providers?

AI can be extremely useful in increasing the accuracy of diagnosis and the efficiency of the chosen treatment, as it has great potential in decision-making and data processing. Solutions enriched with machine learning (ML) algorithms can be successfully applied to developing new drugs for different illnesses.

But the use cases of AI are not limited to physical health only, and there are studies that demonstrate how ML solutions can be used for detecting trends in the behavior of people with mental problems. Such solutions can detect symptoms of illnesses and their deterioration much faster than humans. As a result, doctors have more time to properly react to any changes in the mental health of their patients.

Final Word

Undoubtedly, the healthcare industry can greatly benefit from modern technologies and digital solutions continuously being developed for it. Software products, in combination with innovative devices, help doctors and medical staff not only in the provision of healthcare-related services but also in administrative tasks. Medical record-keeping and automated data processing play a vital role in minimizing errors caused by human factors.

Given all the advantages modern technologies can bring to the healthcare industry, it is not surprising that the investments and the number of offered solutions are growing. But with the continuously increasing demand, there is still a lot of space for newcomers with fresh ideas.