3 top trends to look out for in digital health technologies

The pandemic paved the way for a new age of automation. And while we see technological advancements everywhere we turn, the digitization of healthcare has become more important than ever, not only to keep pace with an evolving threat landscape, but to stay competitive in a new economic environment. While we were forced to adjust to remote work and distance learning, healthcare technology still had, and continues to have, a long way to go. That’s where the importance of collaboration comes in.

This year digital health leaders from around the globe came together at ViVE 2023 to discuss healthcare IT innovation. After an exciting few days with industry peers discussing advancements in the business of healthcare, we identified the top three trends in healthcare technology to look out for in 2023 and beyond.

1. Equal access to services with digital health solutions

Telehealth, or telemedicine, was created to facilitate virtual healthcare through digital communication technologies, regardless of location. This practice greatly expanded during the pandemic to allow for safer access to care for both doctors and their patients and has since evolved. Through telehealth, doctors are able to conduct appointments via phone or video chat, send secure messages through HIPAA-compliant portals, and utilize remote monitoring to stay up to date on patient progress. Patients are now able to take charge of their own health, promoting patient autonomy and revolutionizing how individuals manage their personal care outcomes.

2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is automating care

AI technology has played a huge role in healthcare since the 1960s, when machine learning was used to consider diagnosis outcomes for patients using categorization applications. And while that may seem complex, it’s nothing compared to what AI is capable of today. Machine learning (ML) has advanced so much over the last few years that this technology is able to detect clinically relevant features from an image and help doctors diagnose patients, accelerating disease identification. Even physical robots now incorporate AI capabilities that can be leveraged to perform common surgical procedures. And while these advancements have been in the works for some time, the newest and fastest-growing form of AI is a chatbot.

Is generative AI the next big thing in healthcare?

After launching in November 2022, ChatGPT, an AI-enabled chatbot, has taken the world by storm, disrupting numerous industries with its potential. ChatGPT works by gathering data from the internet to assist with a variety of tasks, such as writing essays and emails – and now, interpreting medical information. In recent months, the AI tool has been tested for healthcare usage, with astonishing results. The chatbot offers evidence-based recommendations to clinicians in less than a second and translates technical terminology to ensure patients can fully understand their diagnoses. While its full capabilities are still being tested, generative AI has the potential to assist physicians with key duties to speed up the treatment process.

3. Prioritize cyber threat prevention

With the digitization of healthcare information comes increased risks for patient data through a larger attack surface. Healthcare organizations are already one of the most targeted groups when it comes to cyberattacks due to the high value of protected health information (PHI) and personal identification information (PII). A patient’s financial records, social security numbers, and intellectual property are all highly sought after information on the dark web. Not only do hospitals need to physically secure their devices to avoid compromise, legacy systems need to be updated to the latest and greatest. Many hospitals are combatting cyberattacks by adopting new technologies including email protection, encryption, DLP, and data backups, as well as fully leveraging the features of their current technology applications. Creating a healthy cybersecurity posture is vital in defending your organization from attacks and maintaining a positive reputation.

CHIME at ViVE 2023: The state of security

As a premier member of The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), SHI collaborates with leaders from around the country to exchange ideas on how to improve care throughout communities around the world. We conducted a focus group of CHIME members at ViVE 2023 to discuss how prioritizing skilled talent and impactful managed services can help advance an organization’s cyber maturity. Choosing the right partner to help identify potential threats, protect data, respond to breaches, and recover information can help you mitigate cyber risk and focus on what matters most – your patients.

Elevate and optimize your healthcare IT environment

The healthcare industry has seen tremendous growth over the last few years. Thanks to technology, individuals have more options than ever for their health journeys, creating a patient-first mentality that extends the point of care beyond the hospital. With the help of AI, doctors can be proactive with treatment and offer jargon-free diagnoses so patients without medical degrees fully understand what’s next. And hospitals are prioritizing holistic cybersecurity strategies as the threat landscape continues to evolve. SHI can help your organization maximize potential with technology so you in turn can enhance patient experience and increase operational efficiencies.

Think of SHI Healthcare as your personal technology guardian.

We enable America’s healthcare providers to solve what’s next by employing technology to deliver innovative, equitable, and secure patient-centric solutions that improve care.

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Karen Perry, Chief Healthcare Solution Architect – Intel, contributed to this article.