Digital Transformation in healthcare will accelerate investments in new technologies and R&D

The performance of almost all industries is significantly impacted by digital transformation, and healthcare is no exception. Today, it is crucial for the healthcare sector to offer better patient care digitally, irrespective of where the patient is located. Generally speaking, the adoption of cutting-edge technologies targeted at enhancing work efficiency in hospitals and elevating patient care to a whole new level is what digital transformation in the healthcare business is all about.

In fact, there are a growing number of opportunities that appear today in the branch of digital transformation in the healthcare industry and in diagnostics. The increased digitization of healthcare in India is being stimulated by government initiatives, cost savings and innovations in technology. It is also being propelled by the need to enhance clinical outcomes and efficiency and improve communications among healthcare providers, patients and payers. Cloud-enabled data management platforms, Telemedicine, artificial intelligence (AI) assisted medical devices and Blockchain for electronic health records are some examples of digital transformation in healthcare.

Healthcare Providers Accelerating Digital Investments to Meet Improve Operational Efficiencies and Patient Experience

According to a recent analysis by Frost & Sullivan, the healthcare sector’s enhanced focus on meeting the ‘Quadruple Aim’ of amplifying patient experience,  improving health outcomes, reducing costs and improving clinician experience has encouraged healthcare providers to invest heavily in digital health solutions.

According to this recent survey, more than 50% of hospitals are stepping up their information technology (IT) spending in order to meet the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 349 IT decision-makers from hospitals, medical practices and residential care facilities participated in the survey. The survey revealed that increasing operational effectiveness and customer experience (CX) are healthcare organisations’ top priorities, which they want to achieve through using digital health technologies.

Using cloud-based IT has become a priority for healthcare providers to capitalise on the massive new resources of clinical, socioeconomic, financial and other data generated across the healthcare ecosystem and captured by connected medical devices, electronic health records (EHR), smartphones and wearables. Healthcare organisations can employ substantial data sets to generate new insights that can enhance the effectiveness and quality of healthcare delivery and result in new, creative IT solutions that appeal to customers.

The top disruptive technologies in use today and those with the highest investment priority over the next 2 years are data visualisation tools. In a similar manner, enterprise communications and contact centre capabilities within organisations will be greatly improved by artificial intelligence (AI). In contrast, dealing with security issues remains a top barrier for IT departments, making it an important component to take into account when buying any solution over the next couple of years.

The following growth possibilities should be the attention of market participants given the booming investments in digital healthcare solutions:

Every hospital must create an optimal balance between AI equation vs humans: Investing in AI technology will assist the business in achieving its key objectives of enhancing customer experience and increasing operational effectiveness.

Over the next two years, digital technologies that monitor healthcare personnel and patients will gain traction: Patients will be evaluated, treated, and monitored through virtual visits and remote patient monitoring (RPM), helping to keep them out of the hospital. Also, predictive analytics will anticipate hotspots before they develop.

Hospitals’ need for medical technologies will increase: Chronic disease cases and a backlog of elective procedures will allow original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to partner with healthcare providers on innovative patient management models.

Unprecedented demand for telemedicine is driven by on-demand access to care: With a strong emphasis on “whole health” wellness, the emphasis on behavioural health will increase.

Road Ahead

The digital transformation of healthcare would hasten India’s progress toward universal health coverage and create numerous commercial opportunities for all parties involved. All participants must come together and make concerted changes for this to become a reality in order to gain from it.

The pandemic has increased the importance of digitisation in healthcare and while many would like to see the healthcare industry return to how it was before the pandemic, the “new normal” will continue to exist as the shift from digital health (data gathering) to data-driven healthcare (actions based on the data) becomes even more pronounced in the coming years. Healthcare organisations on their part must show how this will increase service quality, accessibility and efficiency. The digital transformation of healthcare will be key to achieving these objectives.

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