Digital healthcare trends 2023

Digital healthcare trends 2023

After the push to remote care and accelerated uptake of new technologies in the past COVID-years, in 2022 we have seen a focus on improving patient centricity by optimising the patient journey and increasing the value of care delivery. Understanding how technology can help to improve the patient journey, comes down to understanding the patient’s experience in each stage of their illness process, outlining all professional and non-professional stakeholders involved in the care process and figuring out their frictions. Only when we have a deep understanding of the journey, can we start thinking of how to apply solutions that will improve accessibility, empower patients as much as possible and drive proactive care.

From investor perspectives, we learn that in 2023 the investor will be more selective when deciding where to put their money. There will be a greater focus on outstanding ROI performances and strong value propositions of digital solutions in three key segments:

• solutions that drive ‘from hospital to home’ for example by introducing remote care to reduce cost and improve patient experience;
• digital developments that will accelerate ‘drug development life cycle’ to increase the speed from molecule to market by AI driven molecule discovery, decentralised clinical trials and patient and HCP engagement;
• and in solutions that can reduce the workload of the healthcare professional or help to attract or retain the workforce.
  
  

In 2023 we expect to see major progress in the following areas:

Data science

Data science technologies have become popular in healthcare and life science, to uncover new treatments and to predict, diagnose, monitor and treat patients more effectively. The usefulness of AI, ML, RL will grow further in 2023 to deliver greater effectiveness and better, more accurate, patient care. Data driven decisions improve processes, compliance and reduce costs. A returning challenge is that the vast amounts of healthcare data generated is often siloed and difficult to access and analyse. Companies will further increase their effort to unlock this data alone and in partnership. Those that succeed will be able to leverage data science technologies and provide healthcare professionals with the ability to turn data into actionable insights. By analysing data from various sources, healthcare professionals can identify trends and patterns, thus making better decisions in the patient journey. Start with our recommended approach.

Remote healthcare

Before covid it was almost impossible to request a video consultation with your general practitioner. Many patients and healthcare professionals have now realised that for many conditions, care can be provided with a better experience at a distance. With the costs of delivering face-to-face healthcare continuing to rise and the labour shortage, we will see more remote healthcare solutions such as telemedicine, patient monitoring and tracking being adopted in 2023. Healthcare is coming home.

Consumerization of healthcare

Growing patient demand for proactive, personalised experiences as offered in other industries. As patients are increasingly comfortable with digital communications they want to interact with healthcare professionals in a similar way. Healthcare companies need to pay close attention to consumers’ digital expectations, understanding these with data science technologies and creating consistent omnichannel experiences, while collecting and analysing data. How to start? Request a friction report.

Wearable devices

Wearables are no longer only about connecting patients to information technology, more interconnected parts of healthcare, including supply chain and financial services are implemented. The “Internet of Medical Things” has expanded fast from simple tracking to more smart devices capable of various sophisticated scans. In 2023 we will see more development in wearable devices, for instance devices that can monitor multiple biomarkers to give a full overview of someone’s health. And the trend of healthcare coming home will rely mostly on smart devices that will continuously collect data. Data science technologies can connect the dots from various sources to get actionable insights for both patient and healthcare professionals.

Personalised medicine

In 2023 we will see a focus on patient engagement and self-advocacy to improve the patient journey that leads to better outcomes. Healthcare stakeholders must work together and take a pro-active approach in reducing friction points to better patient experiences, so that patients stay engaged with their treatment. Data science technologies are useful to drill down to the personalised treatment.

Boosting cloud technologies

The use of rapidly evolving technologies like AI/ML, IoT, augmented and virtual reality, digital twins, and remote monitoring devices, will increase significantly in healthcare. These new technologies bring a considerable shift in the consumption, storage, and sharing of medical data. Cloud computing in healthcare will provide a solution, opening new channels for patient outreach and accelerate personalised care to improve outcomes consistently. Cloud technology will boost businesses by reducing IT costs, improving scalability, flexibility and collaboration, while ensuring privacy and security.