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Coronavirus has made considerable adjustments to the IT industry in 2020. There are noticeable negative effects – decreased business activity, disruption of the supply chain, cancellation of global events, and as a result, missed opportunities for cooperation. However, there are far more positive effects as well.
The increased need for remote communications will give an obvious impetus to telecommunication technologies (video conferencing platforms, accelerated implementation of 5G, remote consultations, and diagnostics in medicine). The demand for crisis management technologies will increase, investments in solutions for smart cities will grow.
So how exactly did the whole global situation have impacted the global healthcare trends that we know today? To answer that question, JetRuby has prepared a particular article on that topic and delivered it right on time.
Application of modern technologies in medicine
The worldwide practice shows that IT’s introduction in the healthcare industry provides an opportunity to improve patients’ quality of service, subsequently speeding up medical staff’s work and reducing patients’ total cost. At present, these advantages are becoming available to virtually every medical facility. Modern software products can bring a clinic to a fundamentally new level of work.
IT in healthcare allows to solve the following tasks:
- Keep patient’s data private
- Monitor patient’s condition remotely
- Control prescribed treatment
- Save and transmit examination results
- Online Сounseling
- Remote training
The use of modern IT innovations makes it possible to monitor the health status of patients closely. Maintaining electronic medical records instead of the former paper ones will help reduce the loss of time for forms, which can be spent examining patients. Patient data will be presented in a single document and available to the hospital staff. All information about examinations and the results of procedures will be entered directly into the electronic medical record. This will help other doctors evaluate the quality of treatment of a particular patient, identifying incorrect or inaccurate diagnoses in time.
Also, the use of information technologies in global healthcare trends enables doctors to consult patients online at almost any time. This should increase the accessibility of medical services to the population, especially those living in remote areas. It is already possible to receive qualified help remotely as well. This helps people with disabilities who are in a confined space or in an emergency.
Patients and doctors will no longer have to travel long distances for examinations and consultations. With IT’s help, a specialist will assess the condition of the person who consults him or her and see the results of all his or her examinations. Such ways of interaction will be helpful not only for physiological problems but also for those who need the help of a psychologist or psychiatrist. Audiovisual communication provides a convenient opportunity to establish the necessary contact between the physician and the patient and provide them with the necessary support.
Telemedicine
One of the most promising and fastest-growing global healthcare trends in the world is telemedicine. According to Global Market Insights, the global telemedicine market volume was valued at $45 billion in 2019 and will raise more than $170 billion by 2026. Telemedicine is the most vivid example of digital health, serving literally as a lifeline for millions of people who for various reasons (living in hard-to-reach areas, limited physical abilities, being in a risk group during periods of self-isolation) do not have access to face-to-face consultations at medical institutions. For patients who do not have such restrictions, telemedicine services are also essential – they save a lot of time.
Just to give you an example of how significant the impact was on the telemedicine business sphere, there is a GYANT. It is a digital product created to analyze patients’ medical history and navigate various healthcare clinics available to you in your local area. Within 2 or 3 minutes, a user can get multiple services that they inherently need.
GYANT has a fantastic user experience journey for its patience and opens up new horizons for every single patient there is. The average rating on the digital stores is kept at 4.9 stars, where 85% of all users state that they would use this service again, and re-engagement rates are at 70%.
Medical Knowledge
New medical knowledge is essential to a healthier lifestyle. To create something new, the healthcare sector invests heavily in research and development (R&D). Pharmaceutical and biotech companies and medical device manufacturers are among the world’s leading corporate R&D investors, spending more than $100 million annually.
But developing a knowledge bank is not just about R&D. Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and other technologies, people have access to specialized and personalized medical knowledge and information for the first time in history.
The iamYiam project illustrates the radical impact on people’s lives of innovations that bring scientific knowledge closer to a broader audience. The iamYiam is a digital platform that is a source of empirically-based preventive advice on leading healthier lifestyles tailored to the individual’s biological characteristics and preferences. The rapid growth of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory disease reflects global trends in work, diet, and living.
These “civilizational” diseases are the leading cause of death in developing countries; besides, they, including mental health diseases, account for 90% of public and private health care expenditures in developed countries. Nor should we forget that these diseases diminish the value of gains in life expectancy. Half of the years left to a person of retirement age are significantly marred by one or more “civilizing” illnesses, resulting in lower quality of life and higher treatment costs.
The iamYiam platform is designed to use the same empirically-based and outcome-oriented decision-making model in health care used in investment activities. The concept behind this development is that optimal health is primarily the result of the efficient allocation of time, effort, and nutrition to individual biological, environmental, and psychological characteristics.
The platform is based on an intelligent software agent called See Yourself Differently (Syd). This agent assesses a person’s current lifestyle status in terms of their goals and uses platform observations to select a specific counseling regimen. Syd does not diagnose disease, i.e., iamYiam remains a purely preventive tool.
More than 200,000 published scientific articles were used to establish baseline parameters for predictions, which the agent is constantly improving through its models and interaction with all platform clients. The platform tracks and reflects the dynamics of users’ movement toward healthier lifestyles, allowing the software agent to generate accurate, modifiable information.
Another feature of this system is a so-called clearinghouse, through which validated experts and food manufacturers offer users tools, treatments, classes, nutrition systems, and other resources. The user’s health information, individual recommendations, and data are accessed within a single medical account with indefinite access rights.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
According to Forbes experts, artificial intelligence and machine learning will become the drivers of global analytics development, and they bring speed, scalability, and convenience.
Gartner analysts believe that one of this year’s global healthcare trends will be the “hyper-automation,” that is, the automation of enterprises using artificial intelligence and machine learning. Meanwhile, Statista indicates that leading organizations in AI project development are expected to surpass $126 billion by 2025.
Another area of AI application – speech recognition – will also develop this year. “Alexa from Amazon and Siri from Apple seems to be little more than fun toys, but they can already recognize and execute simple commands. Thanks to Microsoft’s Conversational AI project, speech analysis will reach a new level: computer assistants will understand and maintain a conversation and recognize the nuances of emotions.
There is also another branch of development coming directly from the OpenAI – GPT 3. With it, various medical information specialists do not have to face the continuous obstacles of keeping up with the complexity and abundance of available information.
The GPT 3 has given access to a large amount of data. What is especially remarkable about this framework is that it can establish connections between the user’s words. These are just a few examples of what could be achieved using the GPT-3:
- Interpret lots of IT programming languages with an easier jargon
- Create layouts based on their description.
- Generate a real conversation between famous persons.
- Observe and learn various things from any individual.
So during the management of any medical-related information, the GPT-3 language model may be colossal.
VR/3D Technology
New medical devices, whether small endoscopic devices or medical robotics and joint endoprosthesis – are a staple of medical innovation. Moreover, this area of innovation is flourishing. Over the past few years, regulatory companies have spoken of a record number of approvals for innovative medical devices, such as mechanical heart valves, digital medical technology, and volumetric printing devices.
The Living Heart Project is an illustration of how medical devices are driving innovation in health care. When Dassault Systèmes launched the “Living Heart” project almost five years ago, it was based on the idea that any initiative in the digitalization of healthcare should put the patient’s interests first.
The company went far beyond today’s paper and electronic records. It began to actively leverage the digital world’s enormous capabilities to create personalized digital models of the human heart.
The Living Heart Project combines leading researchers worldwide to create a digital copy of a pulsating human heart. The model is already being used in various countries to replicate known heart diseases, circulatory disorders, and adverse drug reactions.
Heart models can also be used for teaching and practice, medical device design, research, scientific and technical validation. Combining 3D models with actual clinical data provides a solid foundation for creating new product designs and optimizing complex surgical procedures.
Conclusion
Even though the current situation worldwide is trying to stabilize and put everyone at complete ease, global healthcare trends are getting more attention and government support. For the past three years, the rapid shift and focus towards healthcare startups began to increase, which led many founder ideas to be implemented and accepted by hospital professionals.
The examples of medical startups and the prominent opportunities currently open towards any modern and technological products can easily demonstrate how vital a startup is for the current global healthcare trends. Even those startup projects who got rejected, postponed, or ignored during the valuable presentation of their importance, now have a bigger chance to show the whole world what they are made of!
For the past 10 years, JetRuby has already developed 150+ startup products, most of which are rapidly scaling up and growing day by day. Regarding healthcare projects, most of our clients are very sensitive and serious about their digital products. To assist them, we form an NDA policy document, implement our idea very carefully, follow their requirements, and discuss the development directions. Besides, every team member has gained HIPAA compliance experience and certificates that testify to their expertise. Contact us today and learn how your potential idea can transform into a valuable product with the free Product Development Strategy Session!
