The Next Big Thing: 3 Major Trends in Digital Healthcare Technology Right Now

Every day, amazing new technological advancements help medical providers diagnose patients faster and more accurately, provide treatment options digitally, and monitor things like patients’ sleep, steps, weight, and heart rate. Technological progress isn’t slowing down anytime soon; this year, $8.1billion was invested in the industry—up 42% from the previous year.

So with all this investment, what will be the next big innovation in digital health technology? Well, it looks like there are three major trends in the field: Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, and the greater ability to share data between healthcare providers and patients.

The 3 Biggest Trends in Digital Healthcare Technology

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere we look, from our kitchen (“Alexa, play my ‘dinner’ playlist”) to website chatbots. Every day, scientists are finding ways to use AI helps medical providers provide patients with better, faster, and more accurate care.

For instance, AI algorithms for health are being used to analyze radiology images. Currently, radiologists are overworked and overwhelmed. Because of the high number of patients, they can only spend mere seconds looking at images, which results in a high rate of misdiagnoses. AI can help by streamlining the analysis process, reducing the number of clicks radiologists need to perform a task, or by learning user preferences or habits to make diagnosis faster and more accurate. Automation helps relieve or prevent radiologist fatigue and improve diagnostic ability, so many companies are working on improving AI technology in the healthcare field.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented Reality (AR) has been helping doctors use scans and images to diagnose patients and prepare for medical procedures. But new technology aims to help doctors during surgery to provide better, more accurate care.

During surgery, surgeons and their medical team need constant access to a large amount of data, including diagnostic images and vital signs. Currently, most operating rooms have 2D screens scattered around the room, and surgeons have to look away from the patient and the surgery to check them. For delicate surgical procedures, this can be dangerous.

AU can help make increase the success rate of surgeries. AU headsets are being designed that will allow doctors to see digital images, patient data, and other important things without having to look away from the patient. This will help reduce life-threatening errors and save money by reducing outdated displays.

Data Sharing

Big Data is talked about frequently in the health field currently, because in the past decade many developments have been made to provide patients and medical providers with greater and more accurate data about things like patients’ steps, sleep, weight, heart rate, and more. This trend isn’t slowing down anytime soon, as wearables and mHealth apps continue to become more advanced and widespread.
In particular, many leading health insurance companies are looking to or already have adopted methods to track and use patients’ quantitative data to create data-driven, incentive-based health policies that simultaneously will reduce costs and provide better care to patients.

Playpal - The Next Big Health Revolution 

Playpal is on the cutting edge of this data-driven healthcare technology. The Playpal platform uses extrinsic incentives and gamified challenges to give healthcare providers and insurance companies better access to patient data while providing more accurate care and diagnoses. Exciting technological advancements like AI, AU, and data-driven digital healthcare continue to improve patient care, streamline processes, and cut costs, making healthcare more effective and efficient.