10 Healthcare IT Trends to Consider in 2023
Healthcare has gone through a lot of change in the last few years, and with Chat GPT and other AI tools making a big splash in just the last few months, information technology and tools will continue to snowball in the healthcare industry. Of course, COVID threw the industry for a loop, accelerating the adoption of tools, technologies, and resources to manage the pandemic. Still, it also introduced the need for that change and innovation to stick around. As a result, we compiled a list of the top 10 emerging trends in healthcare IT in 2023.
- The evolution of IT in healthcare
As technology aids and enhances everything in our world, healthcare is no longer the exception. As a result, CIOs and IT teams will need to evolve their strategies to keep up. Risk management, virtual care, remote work, telehealth, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, augmented reality (AR), wearable technologies, and all the security to operate these technologies safely are essential innovations we will be seeing more broadly adopted in hospitals this year.
Healthcare at home
Not only did COVID generate fear in patients, keeping them from entering healthcare facilities, but it also proved that some healthcare can be done at home. Not only can it be done, but now this convenience is a prerequisite for some patients seeking care. According to a Harris Poll conducted on behalf of Tegria, a convenient healthcare experience is more important than having a designated healthcare provider for 59 percent of consumers. Telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and even wearable devices are just a few of the technologies making this possible.
Opening the digital front door
The digital front door is becoming a more common term in healthcare IT. The proverbial front door describes the patient engagement technologies needed to access care virtually and in person quickly. These efforts improve the consumer experience and help empower patients.
Clinical support from artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning
AI and machine learning are being introduced into the clinical setting and can potentially improve productivity for clinical staff and care for patients by using predictive tools and natural language processing alert clinicians of secondary issues that may need follow-up. Clinical workflows and augmenting or automating clinical staff work enable them to be even better at their jobs. AI and machine learning have untapped potential that could lead to enormous value-adds for healthcare facilities.
Friendly robots
Over 200,000 healthcare workers left the industry in 2021 amid COVID-19, physician burnout, and staff shortages. The industry is still trying to recoup those losses, making it even more difficult for the remaining staff. Although movies like iRobot and The Terminator have made us apprehensive about the idea, robots may revolutionize healthcare in 2023, filling in some gaps for teams already spread thin by performing routine and mundane tasks.
EHR Evolution
EHRs have finally become commonplace in most healthcare facilities, but they must continue to grow wiser. They will evolve to become powerful technology with new tools and updates to help them truly be able to talk to other systems, eliminate the need for manual entry, catch and fix human and system errors, integrate with telehealth systems, the cloud, and more.
Big data management
Centralized, efficient, accurate data management is the cornerstone of decision-making in all industries, especially when dealing with valuable patient data. There is so much to learn from data. Still, with vast amounts of it, extensive data management cleanses and interprets the data for broad business areas, enabling enhanced insight, decision-making, and process automation.
Predictive analytics
Through bid data management, predictive analytics provide the technical capabilities to practice precision medicine. For example, Analytics can help identify patient populations with certain risk factors or health issues, informing providers so they can take preventative measures or create personalized treatments and care plans based on a patient’s characteristics.
A new age of cybersecurity
Each new technology brings with it more risk of cybersecurity attacks. According to a recent survey, there was a rise from 14 million total victims of healthcare attacks in 2018 to 45 million in 2021, and there is no sign of this letting up. Therefore, healthcare organizations must prioritize cybersecurity to avoid financial catastrophes and improve patient outcomes.
Rise of unlikely competitors
Providers are challenged to keep up with all these trends to compete with other providers, in addition to the rise of unlikely competitors breaking into the healthcare space like Amazon, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart. These retail competitors are striking up deals left and right to expand their primary and in-home care offerings, which could cause traditional providers to lose their younger and healthier patient population.