Electronic Health Reporter

Technology has changed a dramatic amount over the last ten years alone, and digital health is now ever-present. From telemedicine and health-related wearables to online medical providers and health resources, digital health is growing faster than ever.

Consumers are using digital resources to better manage their health levels, and medical facilities are using digital technology to track, manage, and improve the health of their patients. Now, patients do not even have to meet in person to get the treatments or advice they need.

Putting power back into the hands of the patient while giving doctors and medical professionals access to the tools and data they need; the rise of digital healthcare is something that cannot be ignored.

Digital Healthcare for the Individual

Consumers have access to more technology than ever before, and that’s good news for those in the healthcare sector. Now that consumers can easily buy a wide range of wearable technologies, they can monitor their health levels from anywhere, and provide their doctors with detailed information. Going further than external wearables like fitness trackers, we have also seen pacemakers with their own dedicated monitoring apps.

This unprecedented level of data gathering is proving vital for catching early signs of health issues. The health industry is being forced to keep up the pace of tech innovation simply because of the wide range of benefits that those new technologies bring.

New Names and Players

Before the rise of digital technology, it was large pharmaceutical companies that dominated healthcare. That leads to pricing issues. Now, patients can do research and read reviews on any subject, and that is increasingly being used to research their healthcare options. Big tech names are slowly entering the healthcare sector, and those previously untouchable pharmaceutical companies are under pressure. When patients can find their own ways to boost immune system strength, they no longer have to rely on what they are told. Instead, they can look for their own solutions, no matter the medical condition.

Data and AI

No industry has not been impacted by the emergence of big data and machine learning. Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way that data can be collected, stored, analyzed, and put to use. By using statistics from either an individual or an entire population, new treatments can be tested more quickly, costs can be cut, and many health issues can be prevented before they become a problem.

Now, medical professionals no longer have to rely on their experience, and judgment calls are a thing of the past. By using AI and big data, the healthcare sector is taking significant steps forward that will affect every patient in the world.

Healthcare is transforming, driven by advances in technology and a shift in the power of the individual patient. As the technologies that we use continue to be able to do more while costing less, the medical community has little choice but to look at the advantages provided by emerging tech.

From providing doctors with more personal healthcare data to using treatment options that would not have been accessible even a decade ago, digital healthcare could be one of the biggest and most important tech trends the world has ever seen.