The world’s most influential technology trade show, CES 2022, welcomed over 2,300 exhibitors in Las Vegas in early January. Hosted by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the line-up included 900 start-ups launching innovative products in digital health, artificial intelligence (AI), automotive, NFT, and digital assets.

The focus on healthcare technology and digital health

“Technology is allowing (global citizens) to take control of their health…We’re creating a future that will bring you and your loved ones care that’s more precise, more personal…a future where people can proactively manage their health.”

Robert Ford, CEO of Abbott

Taking center stage for the first time since its inception, over 100 health companies offered presentations, panel discussions, and exhibits spotlighting how technology can transform the healthcare industry. In a keynote presentation, Abbott CEO and Board Chairman, Robert Ford, highlighted not only the importance of technology in healthcare but the remarkable acceleration of advancements brought about by the COVID pandemic.

From hybrid working to newly launched telehealth programs, the pandemic forced hospitals and health systems to reimagine traditional modes of operation and embrace technological solutions to deliver the care their patients required. And healthcare providers, who were once wary of consumer-facing technology, have begun to realize the value in tools and platforms that catalyze greater healthcare access, engagement, and control.

Facilitating the development of new medicines, discovering vital vaccines, and advanced ways to screen, diagnose, and treat patients – technology has been the starting point for advances in healthcare and continues to do so in new ways.

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What could the future of healthcare look like?

Some key topics discussed at the convention and their potential for the healthcare industry, included:

1. Technology and health equity
2. Data and AI in healthcare
3. Wearable and implantable devices
4. Mental health and virtual care

1. Health equity through technology

The future of healthcare rides on breaking down healthcare disparities and sharing a common language between healthcare providers and patients to ensure a better understanding of our health. The recent convergence of health and technology is allowing more individuals to achieve health equity by digitizing, decentralizing, and democratizing healthcare.

For the first time, patients and doctors can have an equal stake in treatment, diagnosis, and ongoing care. Digital communication is enabling healthcare control to shift from what was once solely in the hands of a doctor to an equal platform shared with a patient. And taking it a step further, telehealth solutions, accelerated during the pandemic, have demonstrated their potential impact for both health systems and patient outcomes.

On the individual level, as consumers are becoming increasingly connected to an ever-expanding network of apps, devices, and services, the emergence of health-focused solutions give them more options and ways to manage their health actively.

2. The potential for data and AI in healthcare

The management of human health is developing at an astounding pace due to technology’s ability to bring together the vast quantities of data that penetrate every aspect of healthcare. This is becoming clear.

From pharmaceutical innovators to the development of surgical robotics to virtual healthcare, the potential of deep learning is enhanced with the collection and analysis of data. And it’s quite feasible for AI-enhanced diagnostics to become a critical component of healthcare, helping informed decision-making among the sector’s key players.

However, as problems with AI in healthcare come to light – and rightfully require further development such as bias within AI – its integration is met with mixed emotions. Over time, however, machine learning, with its ability to draw from enormous data sets, is likely to continue to evolve and potentially inform clinician decision-making in an ever-wider sphere.

3. Empowerment through wearable and implantable technology

A healthcare provider can tell a patient that they need to eat better, exercise more, and supply the guidelines to follow a healthier lifestyle. But it’s not physically possible for doctors to monitor each individual patient all day, every day.

Mobile health technologies offer great promise for reducing healthcare costs and improving patient outcomes with wearable and implantable devices and applications. Digital technology is contributing to a transformation in the mobile health era by improving healthcare and health outcomes.

Wearable and implantable technologies are designed to monitor the parameters of various diseases. These technologies can transfer data to a remote center, direct the patient to take a specific action, or automatically perform a function based on what the sensors are reading.

For example, insulin could be automatically administered if blood glucose is running high. Or cardiac patients experiencing arrhythmias can have their hearts continuously monitored.

This type of advanced healthcare technology can make the process of managing our health more personal and impactful. Health technologies have the power to bring together personalized data with the promise of empowering everyone with the means to understand and manage their health in real-time.

4. Mental healthcare goes virtual

The demand for more flexible health care solutions, including mental health, that people can access from the safety of their homes is driving innovation at unprecedented rates. Since the onset of COVID, mental health clinicians, for example, have seen a surge in depression, anxiety, stress, and burnout. They had to rapidly adopt virtual-care services to children, adolescents, and their families, as healthcare systems that rely on in-person therapy became untenable.

Through virtual care platforms, new delivery models focus on triaging individuals based on their therapy history, condition, preferences, functioning, and readiness to engage with therapy instead of only the diagnosis of symptom severity.

• Emerging technology to enable new delivery models within the behavioral health ecosystem include:
• Virtual assistants and emotion-based algorithms to provide psychological support, information, and resources
• Digital consumer experience technologies to manage and monitor health information between caregiver and patient
• Diagnostic support screening tools, both self-guided and assisted, to gather data for psychological assessment

Human-powered health driven by technology

Powered by data and cutting-edge science and technological innovation, today’s healthcare is human-powered health, driven by technological innovation.

“The fundamental promise of technology is that it allows us to live a better life. This is where health and technology come together with incredible power. The future of health and technology is a future where healthcare consumers, and all of us are less confused and more certain. We’re less hesitant and more empowered. Less self-conscious, more capable and confident. Cutting-edge science is paving the way for new treatments that we could barely imagine just a few years ago. (It means) improved health for individuals and for society”

Robert Ford, CEO, Abbott

As technology becomes further embedded in health systems and services, it’s imperative that all components of the ecosystem are themselves healthy and optimized for long-term high performance. Performance management, both internal and patient-facing, is vital not only for optimizing currently adopted solutions, but for preparing and positioning hospitals and health systems to be able to embrace new technologies in the future.

For example, communication systems between patients and healthcare providers and within hospital staff are becoming more complex and diverse. Any breakdown in communication and collaboration can have a major impact for hospital and health system operations, efficiencies, and patient outcomes.

But performance management is more than monitoring and troubleshooting your technology and systems. Full visibility into your entire network and communication ecosystem, immediate access to data, and real-time analytics and alerts from a single pane of glass empower your operations to take full advantage of your technological investments.

Or conversely, without a robust monitoring and performance management solution in place, your entire network and communications system is in an unknown state, despite being the backbone of your organization.

Supporting some of the largest health and hospital systems, IR Collaborate can provide real-time insights into the key health indicators of your entire network, and address problems before they become seriously disruptive.

^{Source: IR}