The issues and trends in healthcare delivery are constantly changing. The COVID-19 pandemic is one recent issue that wreaked havoc on healthcare systems, causing a shortage of healthcare workers, high demand for medicines and supplies, and increased medical expenditure due to a lack of insurance. Other issues include rising healthcare costs and care fragmentation.
Cost Containment
Payment for healthcare services has historically promoted adoption of costly and often unnecessary or inefficient services. Because health insurance did not cover preventative measures in the past, healthcare primarily focused on treating illnesses rather than prevention. The third-party reimbursement structure effectively shielded patients from learning the actual cost of their treatment. Competition among hospitals has pushed the rise in healthcare expenses even more. Hospitals have spent a lot of money on technologically advanced equipment to attract patients. As new technology and more complex treatments have been created and employed, patients' expectations regarding the availability and utilization of such resources have risen. Cost-cutting support encourages hospitals to collaborate and share resources rather than compete. Other cost-cutting initiatives include reorganizing and consolidating many hospitals into a single system.
Care Fragmentation
Expanded healthcare research resulted in an upward cycle of new technologies and knowledge. Because many healthcare professionals can no longer keep up with the breakthroughs in all fields, specialization in fewer areas has become the norm rather than the exception. A general practitioner diagnoses and treats a wide range of common health conditions; however, a patient who requires diagnosis and treatment for a more difficult illness is typically referred to a specialist physician. This fragmentation of treatment can result in a loss of continuity of care, contradictory care plans, too much or too little medicine, and increased healthcare expenses.
Present trends in healthcare systems include demographic shifts, technological advancements, globalization of healthcare, educated consumers, and the effects of health policies and regulations.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is replacing traditional labor-intensive and time-consuming procedures in healthcare with quick, remotely accessible, and real-time solutions for diagnosis, treatment, and disease prevention. Health technology firms provide software platforms, application programming interfaces (APIs), and other digital goods to expand the benefits of AI. Improved surgery support, clinical workflow management, and medical diagnostics are just a few uses of artificial intelligence in healthcare.
Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)
IoMT helps create products that require little or no human involvement to offer healthcare services. Connected medical devices, equipment, and infrastructure allow various applications, including automated disinfection, smart diagnostics, and remote patient care. Cognitive IoMT (CIoMT) is a recent subtrend that merges sensory data, automated processing, and network connectivity for real-time diagnosis, monitoring, tracking, and illness management.
Telemedicine
Many governments, healthcare institutions, professionals, and patients have expedited their use of telemedicine due to the COVID-19 epidemic. To counteract the pandemic, governments devised telemedicine suggestions to decongest healthcare institutions. Telemedicine relieves the strain on facilities and reduces the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) by allowing doctors to contact their patients via telecommunication. Health technology businesses are developing telehealth services to aid public health mitigation initiatives by improving social distancing. Telemedicine also aids in the remote assistance of the elderly, decreases bed utilization, and conserves clinical resources.
3D Printing
3D printing is gaining popularity in healthcare for various applications, such as producing lightweight prostheses, bionics, and casts used to immobilize body parts to heal fractures. Utilizing low-cost, lightweight biomaterials and innovative materials improves care delivery and production time while lowering expenses. 3D printing technologies produce patient-specific organ models and surgical equipment using the patient's specific dimensions measured by medical imaging. 3D printing can also produce individualized surgical tools, which improve a surgeon's dexterity and promote better surgical results while permitting faster and less stressful treatments.
Blockchain
Blockchain's security and traceability make it suited for a wide range of applications in the healthcare business. Electronic medical records, remote patient monitoring, tracking of pharmaceutical supply chains, and processing health insurance claims are just a few examples of applications of blockchain technology. Blockchain technology also assists with EHR administration and FHIRChain (Fast Health Interoperability Records) for clinical data exchange. It is also utilized in smart contracts, combating medicine counterfeiting, storing, distributing, and retrieving remotely obtained biological data.
Genomics
In recent years, significant efforts have been made to create genomics tools for various applications. Integrating both genomic knowledge and procedures into existing clinical workflows will guarantee that clinicians follow established communication and actionable recommendations to patients through a genetic test. Because of advances in genomics, a new era of individualized medicine is now feasible. For various unmet clinical requirements, gene therapy and gene-based therapeutic options have changed clinical treatment and specialist care.
