How Modern Tools in HealthTech Are Revolutionizing Benefits

There was a time when the epitome of convenience was that your doctor would come to your home to treat you. There are few doctors who still do that, but there are many new items that have redefined convenience and offer the potential to make receiving healthcare easier, faster, and more effective than ever before. Health Technology, also known as HealthTech, has made significant advancements to improve the practice and experience of healthcare. These improvements are transforming the benefits that people receive with their health insurance plans, as well as the way people utilize those benefits.

How Does Modern Technology Improve Healthcare?

Modern technology has changed life across the board. From cars to entertainment to clothing to “smart” homes, technology has infiltrated every aspect of human life and offers opportunities for improvements. This is no less true in healthcare. Modern technology has not only improved diagnostic tools and paved the way for innovative treatments but has also had a significant impact on the way people take care of themselves.

More and Better Access to Care

HealthTech in the form of telehealth has provided vast improvements to healthcare. Telehealth visits allow patients to avoid making the trek to an urgent care center for some types of assessment, gives access to distant providers, and provides a mechanism for patients to remain in the comfort of their own home (or office or other private location) while meeting with their provider. All these items combined have the potential to result in lower healthcare costs, which means that not only can the insurance provider save money but also that the patient can save money by paying lower premiums.

Another way that patients may soon have more and better access to care is through portable diagnostic tools. From devices that read a patient’s heart rate to portable devices to examine the eyes, these tools can allow providers to treat patients in their communities without needing to travel to the provider’s office.

Faster, More Accurate Records Access

Traditionally, patient records were handwritten, kept in a file folder in an alphabetized cabinet or shelving system, and had to be located and pulled by hand before a patient’s appointment. If one provider needed to share records with another, these records had to be mailed or faxed. All of this meant that access to patient records was time-consuming and that the records themselves could be lost, misread, or otherwise sent astray.

The advancement of Electronic Health Records (EHR) changed that drastically.  A patient’s records from an appointment at most providers are now almost instantly available to the patient in their personal online portal. Transferring or sharing records with another provider takes just a few clicks. EHR also supports automated workflows, such as flagging a patient’s file when a lab result meets certain criteria so that the provider can contact the patient for follow-up. All of this makes it easier to coordinate care between providers and reduces the likelihood of errors.

Better Diagnostics

A variety of technological advancements have been combined to help patients be diagnosed faster and more accurately than in the past. Additional technologies have also paved the way for these improved diagnostic tools to be more accessible, convenient, and affordable to all.

What Are the Benefits of Health Technology?

The improvements  brought by HealthTech can lead to significant benefits for patients, providers, and insurance companies. Some of the benefits being felt within the insurance industry include lower costs, reduced medical errors, holistic patient care, and improved patient education.  These benefits are making notable impacts to employee benefits packages and personal health.

Reduction in Medical Errors

EHR cuts down on drug interactions and the prescribing of medications that patients are allergic to. Today, patient records are kept electronically, and all providers have access to the same information within a provider network. This means providers have a better analysis of the situation or illness, which leads to a better diagnosis and thus, faster treatments or cures. The patient can also often access their own records, which allows them to be more informed and involved in their own care.

The quick ease with which EHR can be shared and the fact that it is typed into a computer rather than handwritten reduces the chances that someone may misread information. Software called the Clinical Decision Support (CDS) system filters and presents providers with medical and patient-specific information that can help improve provider decisions about what care or treatment to offer. There are other forms of HealthTech as well, one being robots, which are known to help reduce surgical errors.

More Holistic Patient Care

Wellness monitors provide more personalized information so a provider can create hyper-targeted health and wellness plans for their patients. They can also see how well the patient is adhering and reacting to the treatment plan.  An example of this would be, a patient who insists that their blood pressure is high only because they are nervous about being in the doctor’s office. With a wellness monitor, this patient may be treated for high blood pressure sooner because the doctor can see from the device’s history that the patient frequently has high blood pressure when they are not in the doctor’s office –– or that the patient can avoid overtreatment because their monitor demonstrates that their blood pressure is not high when they are not placed in a stressful environment.

Improved Patient Education

Before the internet, patients had to rely on their doctors for information about their health conditions, and if a particular doctor did not have a good bedside manner and provide that information, the patient might be left with many unanswered questions.  Since the development of the internet, patients often rush to Google their symptoms or conditions, only to be overwhelmed by information that may or may not be relevant to them.

Engagement technology can present customized health education information to patients based on their specific needs and/or conditions. This can help ensure that the patient has a better  understanding of their health and is not overwhelmed by an abundance of information. As a result, patient compliance, medical adherence, awareness, and management of their conditions increases, and their health may improve. A patient’s health may improve due to increased patient compliance, medical adherence, awareness, and increased management of their conditions.

Cost Reductions

Medical errors increase healthcare costs for providers, patients, and insurance companies. HealthTech has the potential to reduce errors in diagnoses and prescriptions, saving money for all. Switching from paper records to EHR can save money on both printer and paper expenses as well as errors from misreading poor handwriting, lost records, or the delay in receiving the required records.

How Is Technology Transforming the Future of Healthcare?

Contemporary challenges in healthcare access and patient experience are real. However, the future of healthcare has the potential to be more convenient, quicker, and a happier experience for all involved. Each new advancement in technology is paving the way for yet another advancement. Consider the changes the most recent advancements have made.

Improved Patient Care

Patient care has dramatically improved just from virtual reality (VR) and 3D printing alone. Virtual reality improves accuracy and precision in difficult or complex operations, while also offering patients the ability to improve their health, fitness, and overall mental health. Many times, VR can be used at home, so patients do not even need to leave home to benefit.

3D printing offers many device opportunities that may have been out of reach to patients financially in the past. Prosthetics, hearing aids, implants, dental devices, and much more can be 3D printed timelier and for less money. This allows patients to move forward with their lives in a faster and more cost-effective manner after facing a huge change in their health.

Streamlined Recordkeeping

EHR has already transformed healthcare and continues to do so. Most EHR contains the patient’s medical history, lab reports, blood work, medical diagnoses, previous surgeries, and prescription medication history. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists indicates the electronic nature of these records has many benefits, including:

• Faster documentation of care
• More legible records
• Reduced time and transportation costs
• Fewer medical mistakes
• Patient has easy access to their own records

Mobile Health Apps

In general, there are two types of mobile health apps: apps for a provider’s office and apps that encourage better health through their use. Apps for a provider’s office provide the patient with quick, easy access to their medical information regardless of where they are. These apps often allow the patient to get personalized care, direct message their provider, get appointment or medication reminders, and more.

Apps that encourage better health through use can help patients improve anxiety and stress, monitor sleep, get therapy without visiting a therapist in person, as well as track and monitor their diet and exercise. This allows patients to see in real time how their health is improving, while also giving them the ability to show their provider anything that concerns them, such as a lack of results or data showing the opposite result of what they would expect.

Cloud Storage and Big Data

While the thought of big data may scare some people when they think of things like social media, in the healthcare world, big data has many positives. The extremely large information pool can help further the accuracy of analytical research.  Big data, and the ability to store all this information in the cloud where it can be accessed from multiple locations, allows the healthcare industry to predict health trends and major epidemics to better prepare for them.

Concorde Career Colleges indicates that healthcare providers can also use this information for in-depth insights into factors such as correlation and risk factors to determine options for preventive treatment. This means the information in big data can speed the search for disease prevention and eradication.

Wearable Devices

Wearable devices can help transform healthcare by giving providers information about a patient’s health that they might not otherwise have known. Many wearables track the person’s vital signs and can provide real-time data to the patient’s provider. These improve patient outcomes because the provider can diagnose and treat the patient earlier due to the additional information. Additionally, some wearables encourage the patient to take a more active role in their healthcare by monitoring their daily activities, sleep patterns, exercise routines and eating habits. This can encourage the patient to make lifestyle changes to improve their health and well-being because they can see the results regularly rather than waiting for their next appointment with their provider.

Telemedicine

For patients who live in extremely rural areas or who are dealing with a condition that requires consultation with providers that may be far away, telemedicine can be a lifesaver. Telemedicine allows patients to receive medical consultations, diagnoses, and treatment information from home by phone, video chat, or other virtual communication methods. This can also be beneficial if a patient needs to travel out of state or out of the country for treatment, as they can have their consultations and initial medical treatments at home and only travel once for the treatment, rather than finding the time and money to travel multiple times for multiple appointments.

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Big data allows for faster diagnoses, predictions of healthcare trends and more. This is the result of using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. AI and machine learning can analyze enormous amounts of data and provide insights that can improve patient care. In this analysis, it can identify patterns in the patient data that humans might have missed. This can lead to earlier diagnoses and more effective treatment.

Additionally, providers may use AI chatbots to assist patients without needing to hire additional staff or take staff away from patients who are in the office. AI chatbots can:

• Answer questions
• Provide personalized information, advice, and support
• Triage patients to determine the appropriate level of care (inform patient if they need to see the doctor, go to the ER, or can be treated at home)

Robotics

Robotics is transforming the future of healthcare by making it possible to have treatments that would have been impossible in the past. Robotics can assist with surgical procedures, rehabilitation, and patient care. The assistance provided can include:

• Performing tasks that are too dangerous, repetitive, or complex for humans
• Performing more precise movements so there is less pain, scarring, and a shorter recovery time
• Monitoring vitals, delivering medications, and providing physical therapy

The use of robotics improves patient outcomes, reduces costs, and increases efficiency.

Precision Medicine

Precision medicine is targeted medicine. Instead of providing the same treatment to every patient with the same condition, precision medicine tailors medical treatment to the patient’s unique genetic makeup, environment, and lifestyle.

Precision medicine also assists with developing new drugs and therapies. Genetic testing and other HealthTech, including CRISPR, is also precision medicine and can help to identify specific genetic mutations and target them with personalized treatments.

Which Technologies Are Having the Greatest Impact on Healthcare?

There are many technologies being used in healthcare to improve patient outcomes, create better communication, reduce costs, and otherwise improve healthcare. But some are having bigger impacts than others. The technologies having the most impact on healthcare include:

• Artificial Intelligence (65%)
• Immunotherapies (15%)
• CRISPR (12%)