The Future of Healthcare Shaped By Digital Transformation

Healthcare in 2030: Key Trends And Tech Evolutions

All good things come to an end and this extremely resourceful Digital Transformation in Healthcare series is no exception. Over the last few episodes, you have learnt a lot about how digital healthcare is rewriting conventions and paving the way for better, simpler and optimized patient care.

This is the last post from our end, where we will be talking about the future of healthcare that is shaped by digital transformation. In our previous posts, we did touch upon the future of several tech concepts and their impact on the diverse healthcare wings. But the insights weren’t as elaborate and part of a larger discussion.

That’s why we felt it was important to address this in a separate write up.

Now you know the various technologies your healthcare venture should integrate and incorporate. From blockchain and artificial intelligence to connected devices and wearable tech, there are tons of digital options available for upgrade.

But apart from solving crucial problems in healthcare today, what does the implementation of these technologies mean for your business’ future? How future-proof and sustainable are these tech concepts for your healthcare venture?

Well, let’s find out.

If we’re discussing a future-proof concept, we need to start the list with blockchain. Like you know, these are tamper-proof ledgers that are designed and developed for security and privacy. Enough has already been said about how they are helpful in the protection of electronic health records that contain some of the most confidential insights about patients.

In simple words, blockchain is a futuristic technology that is decentralized and devoid of a central authority. It’s a distributed network, where all the members in it are aware of all transactions and interactions. This absence of a central authority is what makes blockchain completely reliable, transparent and secure.

• Electronic health records that are vulnerable to exposure and unauthorized access
• Confidential details on clinical trials unsecured from modifications and amendments
• Lack of authenticity in medications on whether they are genuine or counterfeit
• Insurance claims and donations that could be fraudulent and more

But as far as the future of blockchain is concerned, experts believe that the applications are beyond making electronic health records fool-proof. Let’s look at some of their futuristic applications.

Clinical trials are some of the crucial phases in drug and treatment development. They decide which medication or drug would be the most effective to certain ailments and diseases, their dosage, side effects, allergic reactions and more.

The data and insights stemming out of it are crucial and companies cannot afford to compromise on its confidentiality. Any slight breach or modification of data could change the course of medications under trials and make the entire process futile. That’s exactly where blockchain comes in.

Big Pharma can conveniently develop blockchain frameworks and store extensive details about their clinical trials in them to prevent any unauthorized access and amendments.

Matthew Sinderbrand, the Cofounder and CEO of BetterPath also shares that blockchain would bring about significant changes in clinical trials and research sectors. According to him, over $1.5bn is incurred by companies over a span of ten years to research and roll out a drug into the market. But with blockchain, several processes can be eliminated and it can also substantially improve clinical research through real-world evidence and post-market safety studies.

They say our genes carry some of the most crucial pieces of information about our traits, attributes, physical conditions and more. With blockchain technology and its future applications (not too distant), we would be able to learn the mysteries of our past and unlock the answers to our future through a complete analysis of our DNA. We would be able to store billions of genetic data and yet make it secure and accessible for studies and analyses. Such studies will help us understand what diseases we are more likely to develop, legacy syndromes, emotional quotients and states of minds, virtues and more.

Blockchain will also allow us to completely safeguard our health information, which are collections of crucial details about us and our health. Currently, there are several black markets operating to make the most of our health records and with blockchain, we can completely seal off such practices.

One of the most plaguing concerns in the healthcare sector is the availability of counterfeit medications. Reports from the World Health Organizations reveal that at least 10% of all the drugs and medications in the world is counterfeit.

Something that is so crucial for the sustainability of life is being tampered with and blockchain could seamlessly solve this intrusion of counterfeit medicines. By creating a record of all the medications and drugs produced, companies could couple their blockchain networks with QR codes on their medications’ covers. These covers can then be verified by patients and consumers by quickly scanning them. Those that are recorded under the blockchain network will be verified for authenticity and those that aren’t can instantly be verified as counterfeit medicines.

The foundations for this are already being laid by several companies like DrugSafe. By implementing a similar framework, the ventures are ensuring what patients use as lifesavers are authentic.

Insurance companies have been facing losses in the form of settlements on fraudulent claims and over and undertreatment of medical donations. With no proper documentation to track the charitable records, there is a state of lack of transparency prevailing in the medical insurance scenario. In such cases, blockchain ledgers could be developed by insurance companies to keep a record of all transactions pertaining to medical donations and claims. This not only makes the entire process transparent but allows insurance companies to save millions on fraudulent settlements.

To summarize the impact of blockchain, here are the essential takeaways. Blockchain will allow us to:

• Tighten medical data integrity
• Make healthcare data more interoperable
• Manage permissions and access to these data sets
• Manage payments in the form of customized payments, gamifications, rewarding strategies and more

One of the best aspects of wearable devices is the fact that they record and monitor data and information in real time. Evolving from smart fitness devices, wearable electrocardiograms will roll out commercially in the coming months and years. They will allow patients to monitor their ECG in real-time and even send notifications to registered doctors for immediate care. These will also detect and notify atrial fibrillation.

One of the first vitals that we are checked for in clinics is our blood pressure level. But with smart wearable devices, clinics and diagnostic centres should simply have to look at our updated health records or look at the wearable for precise information. From assessing the blood pressure levels in patients to diagnose hypertension to predicting the risk of cardiovascular diseases and more, these devices can offer all sorts of information.

Fitness devices can offer loads of resourceful insights on our everyday life and the associated activities. They can tell:

• The number of steps we take everyday
• The calorie we burn
• The amount of calorie we intake
• The risk of development of lifestyle-related diseases
• Hydration levels and electrolytes compositions and more

These information also sync on the app and can be stored as part of our health records for instant retrieval and analysis.

To understand better, let’s look at them individually.

Augmented reality is a technology that works with your reality to present you information in creative and immersive ways. This technology makes use of your device’s camera to present you an augmented illusion (which is computer generated) to present you advanced options and information.

If you have ever used Snapchat or Instagram filters, you are already aware of augmented reality technology.

As far as healthcare is concerned, the future of augmented reality is all about bridging the gap between doctor and patient relationships and imparting immersive education in medical science. Let’s look at some of the futuristic applications of this technology.

• Augmented reality will allow doctors to clearly explain the physical conditions, diagnosis and treatment procedures to patients for their better understanding.
• They will allow practicing doctors get more used to their everyday duties and responsibilities better. For instance, a service called AccuVein allows doctors to use augmented reality to locate nerves and veins for the first time.
• They allow for the better diagnosis of symptoms.
• They will help train the next generation doctors and physicians through immersive learning and teaching methodologies through 3D holograms of the human body and more.
• They can be used to show the closest defibrillators to patients.
• Pharma companies can make use of this tech to better educate patients about their OTC drugs, their working and their interactions with bodies.

Unlike augmented reality, virtual reality does not combine elements of graphics into your reality. Instead, they completely take you through graphical visuals and scenarios with the help of wearable devices. All the instances in virtual reality are computer generated, where you are put right at the spot of action.

In healthcare, virtual reality would dictate future by:

• Assisting surgeons during complicated neural surgeries
• Simultaneously allow practicing surgeons and doctors to view the surgery in real-time
• Assist patients dealing with chronic ailments in treating their conditions
• Work towards suppressing pain and instances of PTSD
• Bring back memories in patients by putting them at the centre of episodes from their lives
• Assist in the fitness and wellbeing of people through gamification and immersive experiences. Runners being chased by zombies for instance.

For most of us, the role of artificial intelligence in today’s healthcare scenario by itself appears futuristic. Going forward, we could only imagine the changes and improvements artificial intelligence along with its allied technologies like Big Data, Machine Learning and more could bring into the segment.

Currently, there are tons of loopholes in operations such as:

• Lack of clinical decision support
• Poor information management
• Generic medications
• Stagnated development in cancer detection and treatment and more

Artificial intelligence with its medical analytics implementations will allow doctors, physicians and clinicians to take swifter and more accurate clinical decisions. Their decisions will be data-driven and be powered by algorithms that can precisely detect patterns, recognize health complications, predict outbreaks and more.

This tech concept will also optimize telehealth and its processes in the future. As of now, we have only scratched the surface of this technology’s potential and we have a long way to go.

• In the coming months and years, we could see artificial intelligence automating data interoperability, updating of health records and more.
• Virtual assistants will also be deployed to treat specific conditions such as mental illnesses. They would act as a company to patients suffering from Alzheimer’s, trauma, memory loss, anxiety and more and share their conditions without inhibitions to autonomous bots.
• Robots will also join surgeons and doctors in assisting them in surgeries and ER procedures. From robotic arms to real-time software applications like IBM’s Watson, surgical outcomes could be optimized.
• Hospitals and clinics would be connected and integrated services and patient care would be delivered.
• A lot of diseases and outbreaks would be prevented through predictive analytics.

So, what do you think? The future does sound promising, right?

We are all excited for the coming years as we would get to experience better healthcare and treatment procedures with humans and technology coming together for a common cause. If you are equally excited and intend to be part of this revolution, we recommend you get in touch with us today.

We are pioneers in the development of artificial intelligence, blockchain, virtual reality, augmented reality and other technologies. From developing advanced apps and solutions to completely introducing digital transformation in your venture, we would help it scale and standout.

If you are ready for the future of digital healthcare, get started with us today.