Introduction
Along with all the new technologies, huge changes are underway in the healthcare industry. Some technology trends in the healthcare industry are making medicine higher quality, faster, and more personal for patients.
The healthcare information systems market is a great example of this. It was worth about $296 billion in 2022, but it's expected to be worth around $641.98 billion by 2032. That's a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.10% from 2023 to 2032. These changes show how technology is changing healthcare. They show how we're trying to make healthcare better and better.
The healthcare information systems market
Source of data: precedenceresearch.com
Influence of AI on healthcare
AI is one of the major technology trends in the healthcare industry. AI's integration into healthcare is multifaceted, enhancing everything from patient data analysis to the development of new medications and the optimization of diagnostic procedures. These trends in healthcare technology are making processes more efficient and outcomes more accurate.
An Accenture study estimated that key clinical health AI applications can save $150 billion annually in the United States by 2026. Besides, AI adoption in healthcare is expected to grow at a CAGR of 41.7 percent from 2020 to 2027, according to Grand View Research.
Source of data: array.aami, grandviewresearch
Improving how we diagnose things and make things more efficient
One of the most important things AI can do in healthcare is help doctors make more efficient and accurate diagnostics. For example, during the pandemic, AI-powered systems helped doctors analyze CT scans to spot patterns of pneumonia caused by the virus. This technology helped doctors by quickly processing lots of scans, which shows how AI could help solve problems with a shortage of doctors.
The AI system achieved a sensitivity of 94.3% for benign nodules, 96.9% for primary lung cancers, and 92.0% for metastases, comparable to or better than radiologists.
Source of data: Communications Medicine
Beyond pandemic response, AI is making strides in cancer diagnostics. Traditionally, biopsies have been the primary method for diagnosing cancer, but they often fail to provide a comprehensive view of tissue samples. AI-enhanced digital imaging, such as whole-slide imaging (WSI), allows pathologists to examine larger tissue sections in greater detail. These innovations exemplify current technology trends in healthcare, demonstrating how AI is transforming medical practices and improving patient care.
Transforming Radiology and Imaging
AI's impact on radiology is profound, exemplified by projects like Microsoft’s Project InnerEye. This initiative uses AI to enhance the speed and accuracy of radiotherapy planning, making it 13 times faster than traditional methods. Such innovations not only improve the efficiency of clinical workflows but also enhance the precision of treatments, leading to better patient outcomes.
AI-driven tools also support the analysis of medical images, including X-rays, CT scans, and pathology slides. These tools can detect anomalies and provide predictive insights, assisting radiologists and clinicians in making more informed decisions. However, while AI's accuracy has improved, the ultimate responsibility for diagnosis and treatment remains with healthcare professionals, who must use AI as a supplementary tool rather than a standalone solution.
Advancing Personalized Medicine and Predictive Analytics
AI is making a big impact on personalized medicine. By crunching lots of data and genetic info, AI can suggest treatment plans that are just right for each patient. This makes therapies more effective. It also helps them spot health risks and come up with ways to keep people healthy. This proactive approach to healthcare makes patients happier and reduces the number of people with chronic diseases.
Improving Patient Experience
AI is also enhancing the patient experience through interactive tools like healthcare chatbots and digital tablets. These technologies provide patients with instant access to their medical plans, enable them to request additional information, and improve overall engagement with their healthcare providers. By making healthcare more accessible and patient-centered, AI is contributing to better health outcomes and patient satisfaction.
IoT and Wearables in Healthcare: Transforming the Industry
The IoMT market, valued at $30.5 billion in 2020, surged to $144.23 billion by 2022 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20.4% from 2023 to 2030. This growth underscores the vital role of IoT in modern healthcare and highlights new trends in healthcare technology. These technology trends in the healthcare industry demonstrate how IoT is transforming patient care, improving monitoring, and enabling more efficient management of health data.
Wearables: Enhancing Patient Monitoring
Wearables, such as smartwatches and fitness trackers or even smart rings, are revolutionizing patient monitoring. According to recent data, 3 out of 10 working-age internet users own a smart wrist device. These devices offer health metrics, such as heart rate monitoring, pedometer functions, and blood oxygen saturation measurements. Advanced technologies like Photoplethysmography (PPG) in smartwatches provide comprehensive blood vital data, aiding in accurate diagnoses and personalized healthcare advice.
Bio patches and AI-enhanced smart hearing aids also offer significant healthcare benefits. Bio patches monitor vital signs without a smartwatch, and AI improves the noise isolation of hearing aids. AI-based wearables can estimate blood glucose levels non-invasively, simplifying diabetes management.
Addressing Accuracy Challenges
While wearable technology may not always provide 100% accurate data, it is valuable for tracking trends and monitoring progress. The accuracy of health trackers depends on the algorithms and proprietary methods used by different companies. Most wearables are designed using general population data, which may not account for individual differences, affecting precision.
Real-World Applications
Heart Rate Monitoring: Apple Watch and Fitbit track heart rates, alerting users to potential issues.
Blood Oxygen Measurement: Garmin smartwatches detect low blood oxygen levels for timely interventions.
Remote Patient Monitoring: Philips’ IntelliVue Guardian provides real-time vital sign data to healthcare providers.
Smart Hearing Aids: ReSound LiNX Quattro enhances sound quality and reduces background noise using AI.
Diabetes Management: Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre offers continuous glucose monitoring.
Telehealth Integration: Teladoc uses IoT devices for remote consultations and real-time health data sharing.
As wearable and IoT technologies evolve, their applications in healthcare will continue to expand, offering more sophisticated tools for monitoring, diagnosing, and treating patients. These advancements promise to enhance the quality of care, making healthcare more efficient and patient-centric.
The latest in VR, augmented, and mixed reality in healthcare
The applications of VR, AR, and MR in healthcare are revolutionizing the method by which medical professionals learn or offer treatment and have a positive socio-economic impact. These immersive technologies are used in medical training, allowing students and professionals to practice procedures in a risk-free environment. They are also employed in patient treatment, providing innovative ways to manage pain, rehabilitate injuries, and improve mental health. Such advancements exemplify a significant technology trend in healthcare. Additionally, the integration of VR, AR, and MR into healthcare practices showcases how technology trends in healthcare are continuously evolving to enhance both the quality of care and the efficiency of medical services.
Augmented Medical Education and Decision-Making
Virtual reality immerses individuals in computer-rendered or fully simulated environments, enabling medical students to practice skills in realistic, yet controlled, settings. This hands-on experience is invaluable, allowing students to hone their abilities without the need to visit hospitals or interact with actual patients.
Augmented reality, on the other hand, overlays additional information or virtual objects onto the real world. This technology allows students and healthcare providers to access information and reports while working with patients, without interrupting their current tasks. AR can be used hands-free, via voice command, or with automatic data displays, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of medical education and decision-making.
Digital Twin Technology in Healthcare
Mixed reality combines virtual and real-world objects, enabling simultaneous manipulation of both. This approach, known as digital twin technology, involves creating virtual replicas of real-life objects to test and refine them in a simulated environment. Digital twins are particularly useful for developing and testing medical devices, biocompatible materials, and prostheses.
By using digital twin technology, medical engineers can create accurate virtual models and conduct tests without the need for physical prototypes. This method accelerates the prototyping process, reduces costs, and enhances the precision of medical device design. Additionally, it supports remote surgeries and distant operations, allowing medical professionals to perform complex procedures with remotely managed equipment.
Digital twin technology not only saves time and resources but also improves the time-to-market metric for new medical products. By predicting and addressing potential issues in a virtual environment, healthcare innovators can deliver safer and more effective solutions more quickly.
Real-World Applications
Medical Education: VR simulations provide immersive training experiences for medical students, allowing them to practice surgeries, emergency responses, and other procedures in a risk-free environment.
Surgical Planning: AR can overlay important data during surgery, such as patient vital signs and anatomical landmarks, to help surgeons make precise decisions in real time.
Remote Consultations: Mixed reality enables remote consultations, where specialists can guide local medical staff through complex procedures using digital twin models and real-time data sharing.
Patient Rehabilitation: VR and AR are used in physical therapy and rehabilitation, offering interactive exercises that motivate patients and track their progress.
Prototyping Medical Devices: Digital twins allow for the virtual testing of new medical devices, reducing the need for physical prototypes and accelerating the development process.
Emergency Response Training: VR scenarios help train first responders and medical personnel in handling emergency situations, improving their preparedness and response times.
Using technology trends in healthcare. Sunmait's cases
At Sunmait Technologies, we're always looking for new ways to shake up the health sector and make some amazing innovations. Here are just a few examples of what we've done:
Staff Audits & Management Application
As the hospital’s workforce grew, it became increasingly challenging to monitor the progress of individual employees and maintain effective communication across departments. This lack of oversight led to inefficiencies in staff development and communication, which ultimately impacted the hospital's overall performance.
To address these challenges, Sunmait developed a web application designed to foster a corporate feedback culture by establishing regular and seamless feedback exchange between management and employees. The application utilizes historical user data and learning algorithms to provide proactive recommendations and predictive analysis for both individual and organizational development specialists. This system encourages employees to further develop their skills and take an active part in the hospital's growth and improvement.
As a result of implementing this application, the staff turnover rate decreased by 18%, and doctors' schedules became more stable and predictable. Additionally, the incidence of schedule overruns and the need for overtime payments significantly decreased.
The application includes key functionalities such as a mentoring system that uses a matching algorithm to connect employees with suitable mentors, a library that provides customized learning programs, a qualification monitoring tool that notifies staff of recertification needs, and a praise system that uses gamification principles to express gratitude to employees. It also features an internal anonymous whistleblowing system for reporting misconduct, spontaneous peer-to-peer feedback at all levels, feedback on values, competencies, and skills of managers, and targeted surveys on important development measures within the organization.
Staff Audits & Management Application
AI-based prioritization and scheduling platform
The hospital was having difficulty scheduling physician appointments on its current platform. This resulted in long wait times for patients and some physicians with too much or too little work. This inconsistency affected patient satisfaction, led to burnout among overworked physicians, and resulted in inefficient use of clinic resources.
Sunmait developed a custom web platform for booking physician appointments, enhanced with advanced AI capabilities. The AI algorithms analyze historical data to recommend the ideal workload for each doctor, which is reviewed and approved by the department head to ensure a balanced and sustainable distribution of tasks among the medical staff. The system also takes into account employee preferences for days off and vacations, enabling effective vacation planning.
As a result, waiting room occupancy has decreased by 21% and physician schedules have become more stable and predictable, reducing overtime and associated costs.
AI assistant for doctors
Patients often struggle to afford expensive medications, leading to non-adherence or suboptimal treatment outcomes, and healthcare providers are challenged to stay up-to-date on all available alternatives, especially when dealing with complex conditions or rare diseases.
To address these issues, Sunmait developed an AI assistant to assist physicians by comparing their treatment plans with the current inventory in the hospital pharmacy. If any of the prescribed medications are not available, the AI immediately recommends suitable alternatives. It also provides suggestions for alternative medications in cases where the prescribed drugs are costly, enabling patients to make informed decisions about their treatment options. The AI assistant helps develop personalized treatment plans, provides guidance on dosing regimens, and integrates with the hospital's pharmacy and inventory systems to provide real-time updates on medication stock levels.
AI assistant for doctors
AI Chatbot for Healthcare
Our partner was challenged by inefficiencies and inaccuracies in the initial patient data capture and triage process, resulting in long wait times for patients seeking basic health information. This was overwhelming support staff and physicians, resulting in delayed consultations and decreased patient satisfaction.
Sunmait integrated an AI chatbot into the client's website to address these challenges, providing general health-related recommendations based on information shared by patients. In situations where more serious health issues arise, the chatbot suggests relevant specialists and gathers preliminary information about the patient's condition. The integration of the chatbot resulted in faster data processing and improved convenience, positioning the client as a leading and trusted healthcare provider.
AI Chatbot for Healthcare
IoT app for heart health monitoring
Our partner decided to create a comprehensive, accessible and easy-to-use solution for monitoring and managing heart health, as traditional methods often required multiple devices and frequent visits to healthcare providers, and lacked real-time data.
We developed a heart health monitoring app that allows users to track their heart health anytime, anywhere using a smartphone camera and their finger. The app detects and analyzes heart rate variability and generates personalized reports that provide valuable insights into their current state of wellness. This innovation reduced false alarms, reduced hospital workload, increased satisfaction with the service, and improved the quality of health monitoring.
IoT app for heart health monitoring
Mental health monitoring mobile app
A startup that connects patients with mental health specialists saw a need to improve communication and monitoring between patients and specialists to ensure better adherence to treatment plans. Traditional methods relied on sporadic patient reports or in-person consultations, making it difficult to identify and address crisis situations in a timely manner.
Sunmait developed a mobile app that allows users to log their daily experiences, such as sleep patterns, emotional well-being, eating habits, and activities. Using AI, the app analyzes this data and immediately alerts mental health professionals to critical or potentially critical situations. In these cases, doctors contact patients directly to assess their condition and schedule further appointments as needed. The app features a daily activity log, direct communication with doctors, gamification elements, and a feedback mechanism to continuously improve functionality and user experience.
These cases highlight the transformative potential of technology in healthcare, showcasing how AI, machine learning, and innovative software solutions can enhance patient care, optimize resource use, and improve overall healthcare outcomes. At Sunmait, we are committed to driving these advancements and continuously improving our solutions to meet the evolving needs of the healthcare industry. For more detailed information and additional case studies, feel free to write to us.
Conclusion
Advanced medical technology and generative AI are changing the face of healthcare. Key technology trends in healthcare (AI-driven diagnostics, IoT-enabled patient monitoring, and immersive applications of VR/AR) help change medical practices for better service delivery to patients. As the Sunmait cases illustrate, their application is leading to more customized, efficient and accurate healthcare solutions, clearly setting the stage for a future in which technology will play an indispensable role in advancing the quality and accessibility of medical services.
