The outbreak of COVID-19 has helped people gain awareness about health and created a necessity for the rapid growth of healthcare technologies backed by AI & ML services. It has revolutionized the way doctors diagnose a disease and treat it. Taking on the situation, the global tech giants are gearing up to integrate more health-related equipment in daily used gadgets for us.
As the healthtech trends bloom into a promising decade with 2021, Deloitte Center for Health Solutions releases a report stating the benefits of integrating technology into healthcare environments. It stresses using mobility solutions in the diagnosis and monitoring of patients at hospitals. At the core of this implementation of technology into healthcare lies the evolution of AI and Virtual/Augmented Reality with the success rate of almost 97% of satisfaction to patients, 62% of increased confidence in doctors, and 94% of better treatment compliance, as per the Deloitte’s report.
In a recent report about AI and healthcare, Accenture says that the existence of growth opportunities in the healthcare AI technologies is good for futuristic economies. The Compound Annual Growth Rate of companies registering in the healthcare AI tech has increased to 40%.
Keeping in mind the patients’ comfort and simplifying the complex tasks of the healthcare workers in their day-to-day responsibilities, the growth of healthcare technologies is moving towards the following five verticals in 2021.
Delivering healthcare technological solutions through Internet and communication has never been easier than in 2021. The fully evolved telecommunications through high gigabit-speed Internet have led healthcare professionals to lean towards remote diagnosis and treatment through virtual consultation during the pandemic.
According to a report by CDC, virtual consultations have increased by 154% in March 2020 compared with the same time a year before. As the adoption of communication technology is evident by these statistics, we can project a fair growth in the telemedicine industry in 2021. The governments waiving licensure requirements in countries like the United States vouches for the same.
3D Bioprinting technology changes the way we see artificial body parts implanted through intense medical procedures. The tissue regeneration technology assures the precision fit of the implants for the patient during the surgery. It uses the living cells as a printing material for the digital models designed on computers according to the size variations required for the patient.
The significance of 3D Bioprinting can also be seen in the medical education sector. The study of human anatomy can be made easier and practical for students in medical fields. As the outbreak of COVID-19 has already shifted focus of the entire world towards the healthcare sector, the advent of 3D Bioprinting machinery in hospitals around the world is not so far. With low competition and high demand for the 3D Bioprinting tech, no company that can afford to invest in this market would like to miss the opportunity to make a fortune.
The invention of wearable technologies has contributed a lot to the healthcare industry. The personalization of healthcare has become a reality with the adoption of wearable technologies in people’s lifestyles. These autonomous devices can be worn as smartwatches, smart rings, smart jackets, VR headsets, and so on. They capture and analyze the physiological data in the form of temperature, heart rate, blood oxygen level, and blood pressure. The involvement of AI even detects emergencies and notifies the emergency services through SOS calls.
Tech companies are looking forward to making their own devices as people have grown much more conscious about their health in the wake of COVID-19. According to the GlobalData survey, the wearable tech market was rising to $23 billion in 2018 and is projected to grow to $54 billion by 2023. This was the statistical record before COVID-19. With the pandemic and the ensuing increase in market demand, it is surely to grow even higher. The 14.1% market growth of wearable tech by the second quarter of 2020 guarantees the same.
Artificial Intelligence in medical diagnosis is aimed to overcome the limitations in the existing pathophysiological process. AI is used in radiology to characterize a disease through intelligent Machine Learning programs. The increasing demand for doctors around the globe due to the pandemic seeds the necessity of AI and ML to finish the medical processes in possibly less time. As AI and ML blend in together, they reduce the error rate by accessing the big data analytics about the human body.
AI is also used in pathology to record large volumes of data that can be analyzed and used against predictive patterns. It can be used to automate time-consuming tasks like personalizing treatment based on the patient’s medical history. Its main application is in diagnosing patients with cancer-oriented cognitive systems. The ML algorithms synthesize large amounts of information in making decisions for further medical procedures in this regard.
COVID-19 has made integration of AI and ML in healthtech a top priority. It can likely help detect future viruses and abnormalities before they get out of control.
Virtual Reality has been adopted into healthcare not just to diagnose but also to train doctors through simulated virtual environments. VR is already used in virtual robotic surgeries to avoid human risks and complications. This technology recreates the virtual human response system to learn about any likely impediments in a surgical procedure. When it comes to diagnostics, VR helps in creating the model of a scanned subject for a better visual presentation for doctors to identify problems and underlying risks.
It is reported that the VR market in the healthcare sector is to grow up to $2.2 billion by 2027 compared to 2020’s market size of $336.9 million. The growth rate performs at 30.7% annually for a promising 2021 and beyond.
The pandemic has shifted the focus of the world toward development of healthcare technologies. Evolving computational and data technologies are fueling the advent of new innovations in the healthcare industry. The adoption of 3D Bioprinting, AI and ML, secure telecommunication, and Internet technologies have been a great support during emergencies. The necessity to adopt more and more technology into day-to-day healthcare procedures is pretty much evident from the current successful applications. The world is opening arms to embrace more sustainable solutions in the healthtech industry in 2021.