The 4 healthcare trends industry leaders are paying attention to right now

The pace of change in healthcare is something that’s long been a source of frustration for many. Historically, change has happened methodically and often largely due to legislation or continued technological innovation. However, the global pandemic was a true catalyst in bringing about real, rapid change in the industry.

Now, lessons learned from the recent past have shaped new mindsets and new outlooks that influence where the industry is headed and how it will get there. This is one of the key themes we identified in our new industry report on the future of healthcare.

As we look ahead, the following are four healthcare trends that continue to have the attention of leaders across the country.

TREND 1: DIGITAL HEALTH 

Similar to most other industries, healthcare is undergoing significant digital transformation. The pandemic accelerated the need, and the expectation, for things like virtual care and telehealth and the promise of remote patient monitoring continues to grow. 

A J.D. Power study noted that in 2019 only 7% of patients had accessed telehealth services during the past year. In 2021, that number had grown to a whopping 36%. Certainly, there is work to be done in order to ensure equitable access to telehealth services, including proper training for providers, selecting a platform that offers accessibility features and more. While there are obvious benefits for patients, telehealth may also have a role in combating physician burnout by allowing them the flexibility to see patients from home and on their own schedule. 

Similarly, remote patient monitoring capabilities continue to expand. According to a recent study, the number of health and fitness app users in the U.S. is expected to stay above 84 million through 2022, a more than 20% increase from pre-pandemic levels. Increasingly, physicians are able to capture real-time results from patients using smart thermometers, Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure cuffs, smart watches and more. The next step is working to ensure this real-time data gets automatically written into a patient’s EHR to provide a more holistic view of their overall well-being.

TREND 2: HEALTHCARE DATA INTEROPERABILITY

Data interoperability is perennially among the top trends in healthcare, and for good reason. Research from RBC Capital Markets found that approximately 30% of the world’s data volume is being generated by the healthcare industry. The problem is much of that data is not organized, integrated and able to be capitalized on in efficient ways due to the disparate, disconnected systems that exist throughout the healthcare value chain. 

Healthcare data standards, like Health Level Seven (HL7) and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR), are foundational elements in moving the industry toward a more connected state. To achieve true interoperability in healthcare the industry is deploying emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to sift through the high volume of data.

TREND 3: INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION IN HEALTHCARE

Rather than looking at one-off automations, health systems are increasingly looking to deploy intelligent automation solutions across the entire enterprise. These solutions combine robotic process automation (RPA) with technologies like artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, machine learning and data mining to optimize healthcare’s end-to-end workflows, increase interoperability and drive enterprise-wide automation. 

Using advanced machine learning algorithms to analyze both structured and unstructured data, intelligent automation solutions are able to go a step further — learning over time, sharing knowledge and formulating predictions based on that data. This helps improve clinical decision-making, reduce costs by augmenting the human workforce and improve productivity.

TREND 4: NEW AND EXPANDED IT ROLES

How can health systems make technological innovation a fundamental part of their culture? In many cases, it starts with dedicating staff solely to innovation. Titles like chief innovation officer or director of innovation are increasingly common and are more focused than ever on building, socializing and executing a strategic approach to how the future of care will be delivered.

Similarly, as data sources and volumes continue their exponential growth and intelligent automation solutions become more common, health system IT teams are exploring the need for data scientists, analysts and engineers to keep up. In an article about where healthcare CIOs are focused, Becker’s Hospital Review reported that “sophisticated data teams can help improve patient care and realize savings for the organization, an important value proposition.