Finally, due to a COVID-19 virus outbreak, entrepreneurs designed a system that works for patients, instead of providers and health insurance companies.
Nearly a decade passed since the industry shifted towards being more “patient-centered.”
But only after increasing demand for COVID-19 made it possible.
According to Ian McCrae, CEO of Orion Health, there will be a dramatic shift in health IT. It will move far away from extensive, monolithic hospital upgrades, towards digital front doors into healthcare.
This could bring various outcomes, including data sharing, a universal rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine, operationalized machine learning, and other health improvement options.
There are several opinions about how new technology will shape health care in 2021
Demands for telemedicine
This year, many telemedicine barriers became dismantled, after decades of work from many specialists in entrepreneurs and physicians. The COVID-19 virus increased demand. Which has provided motivation to solve regulatory and infrastructure demands that had previously been insuperable.
Danish Nagda, founder and CEO of Resilient Health, indicates that the reimbursement of policy changes reduced a lot of friction associated with getting telehealth up and running. Seeing patients during the lockdowns had financial motivation also.
Improved Wi-Fi and 5G
Wireless networks became even more crucial this year. Particularly, as patients used their electronic devices to communicate with their relatives and loved ones during hospitalization due to COVID-19.
Roger Sands, CEO and co-founder of Wyebot expects that in 2021 healthcare will rely on wireless devices more heavily than ever before. They will help cover everything from life-saving patient monitoring, to communication, to security systems.
Remote patient monitoring
If more people use telemedicine visits, it is vital that physicians should be able to collect vital signs and other data points from a remote location. In this case, remote patient monitoring (RPM) plays a major role. It provides doctors with real-time patient data. The Blood Oxygen sensor in the Apple Watch, IoT glucose meters, IoT thermometers can provide data for RPM.
Technology for mental health care
Sheena Pirbhai, CEO and founder of SPHERE, implied that pandemic led to a massive realization about the importance of technology in remotely coping with stress and anxiety.
SPHERE is a therapy app designed to address emotional stability and stress resistance using neurofeedback.
Katherine Grill, CEO and co-founder of Neolth, predicts that a majority of schools will use digital health solutions. That is as a part of their ecosystem of mental health resources within the subsequent five years.
