Healthy Swaps for the Big Game

Healthtech Security

Article | November 29, 2023

Over the past twenty-five years most businesses have been revolutionized by the easy availability of cloud and mobile-based computing systems. These technologies have placed power and access into the hands of employees and customers, which in turn has created huge shifts in how transactions get done. Now the companies with the highest market value are both the drivers of and beneficiaries of this transition, notably Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet (Google), as well as their international rivals like Samsung, Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba. Everyone uses their products every day, and the impact on our lives have been remarkable. Of course, this also impacts how businesses of all types are organized. Underpinning this transformation has been a change from enterprise-specific software to generic cloud-based services—sometimes called SMAC (Social/Sensors/Mobile/Analytics/Cloud). Applications such as data storage, sales management, email and the hardware they ran on were put into enterprises during the 80s and 90s in the client-server era (dominated by Intel and Microsoft). These have now migrated to cloud-based, on-demand services.

Health Technology, Digital Healthcare

Article | August 21, 2023

The recent COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has changed the way the healthcare industry has been processing. It has transformed the healthcare sector digitally. Healthcare providers have changed services with the latest healthcare technology trends in digital and virtual platforms. Every healthcare provider is updating services by adopting digital advancements in their practices to increase their capacity to engage the maximum number of patients. Still more advancements and updates are needed to address many challenges in the industry such as cybersecurity, effective payment model, telehealth, patient experience, invoicing and payment processing, and big data. Last year, wearable devices in the healthcare industry were quite popular with the patients. These devices have helped patients be aware of various healthcare metrics. Due to the introduction of the 5G internet, the wearable devices market is expected to have huge scope in 2021. Healthcare technology trends, such as the use of a digital dashboard scheduler or chatbots as a digital assistant, help hospitals and other healthcare organizations to better track appointments, contacts, demography, and make changes more efficiently as these are practical measures for modifying and monitoring patient activities. Telemedicine, using video conferencing, digital monitoring, etc. have also been very helpful in containing the spread of the pandemic. It has made healthcare accessible for everyone, especially in rural areas. For remote patient care systems, telehealth and teleradiology reporting are very important technological upgrades. Healthcare technology trends of 2020, including patient portals, mobile health applications, remote care via telehealth, and wearable devices, played a major role in tackling the global pandemic situation. Artificial intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) also played a vital part in handling the situation. All the above-mentioned are COVID-19 fueled healthcare technology trends in 2020, which are expected to continue in coming years too. Here is a detailed look into the healthcare technology trends, which are expected to address the new challenges and revolutionize the healthcare industry in 2021. Technology Trends that will Revolutionize the Medical Industry in 2021 The digital transformation of the healthcare industry has been fast-forwarded by COVID-19 in 2020. Recognizing the healthcare technology trends, many healthcare providers have readily shifted their operations to the latest trending technologies. Others are also looking forward to setting their operations according to the upcoming trends. It seems like almost all the healthcare providers genuinely wanted to transform their operating system to engage the maximum number of patients, due to the healthcare technology trends set after the hardest crisis in the healthcare industry virtual reality healthcare. So, before planning your healthcare strategy for 2021, don’t miss to include these healthcare technology trends of 2021 to achieve better healthcare outcomes and stand one step ahead of your competitors. Patient Engagement Technology One of the most competitive healthcare technology trends in 2021 will be patient engagement technology. There are countless technologies available in the market for patient engagement, evaluation, and campaigning. Due to high competition in the market, these tools are priced competitively. Many healthcare organizations have started empowering themselves by achieving consistency in patient engagement with the help of available tools in the market. This also helps them achieve increased ROI. The healthcare technology trends, including remote care via telehealth, patient portals, wearable devices, mobile health applications, and many more, empower patients and increase patient engagement. Hospitals and other healthcare organizations need to improve patient experience along with engagement. The entire road to patient satisfaction and experience can be changed with these healthcare technology trends in 2021. Telemedicine As telemedicine revolutionized the entire healthcare technology in 2020 by playing a vital role in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, it is expected to be one of the healthcare technology trends in 2021 too. Using the advancement, it possible for healthcare professionals to diagnose and treat any number of patients remotely through phone calls, mobile apps, emails, and even through video calls. Telemedicine can provide patients with better access to all healthcare services, drive up efficiency and revenue, and lower healthcare costs. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) The arrival of both AR and VR solutions has made way to witness meaningful advancements in the healthcare industry and technology. Advancements that could only be dreamt of a decade back, have become realities and been implemented. These two healthcare technology trends offer some serious promise to the world of healthcare, including educating patients before a treatment procedure. AR offers one of the latest and most spontaneous options in the healthcare industry. AR allows doctors and surgeons to experience 3D effects on real-world scenes. This healthcare technology trend permits the professionals to stay grounded on actual procedures with access to all the data through various other emerging technologies. This makes doctors compare data, in the virtual world, to understand what the patient is experiencing and make a flawless diagnosis and suggest healthcare procedures. Chatbots It is either impossible or expensive for patients to get answers from specialists for their routine queries. But, chatbots make it easier and comfortable for healthcare service providers to answer questions of patients cost-effectively. Though chatbots are currently in the experimental phase to be used in healthcare solutions, they are most likely to have the necessary access to clinical scenarios by the beginning of 2021. It is expected to be one of the progressive healthcare technology trends in 2021. As a digital assistant, chatbots allow healthcare providers to keep a track of contacts and appointments and make changes, when necessary. Chatbots are going to revolutionize the clinical processes and business, providing practical as well as clear measures for modifying and monitoring patient activities. Big Data and 5G 5G is about to sweep the world in the coming months. With the extraordinary intensification in transmission bandwidth of 5G, users will construct a huge amount of data. With 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT) will be used largely to send and receive data. In the next three years, the global wearables market is expected to reach an annual turnover of US$52 billion. This can be attributed to the introduction of 5G wireless technology, one of the healthcare technology trends. Healthcare providers will have the access to a huge amount of accurate data when data from wearable devices and other initiatives are added together. This is going to change the way providers collect data and the way doctors and patients communicate. Thus, while you plan to upgrade your healthcare technology for 2021, don’t forget that you will be receiving a huge amount of data from patients, which can be attributed to one of the important healthcare technology trends of 2021, big data and 5G. Artificial Intelligence Artificial Intelligence (AI), one of the prominent healthcare technology trends of 2021, is developed to mimic human thought processes. GNS Healthcare AI system and IBM Watson are some of the most popular examples for the active use of AI in the healthcare process. This trend is going to rule healthcare processes and revolutionize medical care in 2021. To improve healthcare professionals’ and hospitals’ care delivery to patients, Google’s DeepMind has built mobile apps and AI. The AI healthcare market is expected to reach US$7988.8 million in 2022 from US$667.1 million in 2016. This healthcare technology trend is expected to take the healthcare industry to a new realm by increasing patient engagement and experience in 2021. Cloud Computing Cloud computing is one of the major healthcare technology trends in 2021 that is going to change the industry. Attributed to the recent development of various healthcare technology trends, the cloud computing market is expected to reach US$35 billion in 2022 from US$20.2 billion in 2017. This tremendous growth is attributed to the need of storing a high volume of data for healthcare organizations at a lower cost. In the healthcare domain, the main use of big data is in Electronic Health Record systems (EHR). It allows secure storage of various digital documentation such as demographics, medical history, diagnoses, and laboratory results. Cloud computing, an important healthcare technology trend, is expected to make the healthcare process smooth and flawless in 2021. The biggest trend of 2021 in the healthcare industry is the holistic technological transformation of healthcare firms. Whether AI, ML, RPA, telemedicine, big data, chatbots, or cloud computing, almost everything related to data management and monitoring will peak in 2021. These healthcare technology trends will rule healthcare in 2021. Moreover, targeted and personalized care for critical diseases is expected to be another trend in the coming years. Frequently Asked Questions What are the technology trends in healthcare? Trending healthcare technologies are AI, ML, RPA, cloud computing, big data, chatbots, telemedicine, etc. AI, the life-changing technology is going to completely transform the healthcare industry in the coming years starting from 2021. What are the most important trends in healthcare technology? Augmented and virtual reality, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Medical Things, Machine Learning, chatbots, cloud computing, telemedicine, etc. are the most important technology trends in the healthcare industry. What are the current technological trends in healthcare? Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), Electronic Health Records (EHR), Blockchain and data security, health-tracking apps, therapeutic apps, and telehealth are the major current technological trends in the healthcare industry.

Digital Healthcare

Article | November 29, 2023

Workers in the healthcare industry are among the most burned out demographics following the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, a report by Medscape on physician burnout and depression in 2022 calculated a five-percentage point increase in burnout overall, from 42% in 2020 to 47% in 2021. Critical care physician burnout was also found to increase from 44% to 51% last year, placing them at the top of Maryville University’s list of physician specialties with the highest cases of burnout. This is closely followed by rheumatology physician burnout, which was 50% in 2021. At the bottom of the list, emergency medicine physician burnout still came in close at a rate of 44%. Burnout can result in, among other things, exhaustion and a loss of concentration, which can be dangerous in healthcare. With that, advancements in technology have been made to help mitigate stress and reduce the chances of burnout in healthcare. Maximum Tasks, Minimum Efficiency Reports show that many technological advancements in the healthcare industry actually aren’t appropriate for managing physician workloads. This is due to the range of tasks physicians need to perform, from creating treatment plans to managing EHRs. Our previous discussion on EHR-Generated Messages highlighted how the misapplication of this algorithm had actually led to these inboxes getting clogged. This has primary care physicians spending more than half their workday interacting with EHRs that only remind physicians to order certain tests, instead of dealing with critical messages from patients or colleagues. This has been counterproductive in terms of efficiency, leading to more burnout symptoms and the tendency to reduce clinical work hours. It is therefore important that technology integrations consistently consider the broader picture of the tasks of physicians. Tech Developments for Reducing Burnout Shifts in the industry have thus begun to focus on the quality of efficiency and physician assistance, rather than the quantity of technology available. Here are some notable examples of technology that has become finely integrated within the healthcare industry. Ambient Technology in Clinical Documentation Ambient computing streamlines the clinical documentation process by using artificial intelligence to respond to human behavior and needs. This provides front-end speech and computer-assisted documentation, reducing the time needed for physicians to work on admin tasks, and thereby minimizing burnout. Smart hospitals have started leveraging this through sensor-based solutions, and experts from Michigan University believe usage must be made easier and simpler to use for the provider if the healthcare industry is to further leverage ambient computing for CDI. As of 2021, adoption has only started to take off, especially in the revenue cycle. Computer Modeling in Vaccine Development The traditional process of designing novel vaccines usually lasts 10 to 15 years and can cost between $200 million and $500 million. However, a feature by News Medical highlights the recent development of COVID-19 vaccines, which uncovered the capabilities of computational modeling systems. This showed an ability to predict which parts of a pathogen may be recognized by the immune system’s B cells and T cells. This allows rapid identification of vaccine targets from a genetic sequence, which reduces the years required for preclinical research. Physicians are thus able to respond faster to vaccine developments, and reduce the overload of health systems during any future pandemics or epidemics in the long term. Patient Placement Technology The shortage of physicians is a common setback in the industry, one that staff at the Rice County District Hospital in Lyons, Kansas mitigated using patient placement technology. Patient placement technology coordinated care for patients inside the 25-bed, level 4 hospital, as well as those needing to be transferred to another facility. By integrating local EMS and other transport services with health systems, manual telephone calls were no longer necessary. Hence, physicians were able to quickly and effectively get patients the care they needed while managing time-critical diagnoses. This maximizes the limited resources available without stretching out the workforce. Physicians are able to focus solely on their patients, knowing that the time-consuming logistics are being efficiently handled by technology. The industry needs to continue to look into the practices of reducing burnout among physicians, more so as we continue to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. By emphasizing physician wellness and efficient technology, we can continue to assure the health and productivity of healthcare workers into the future.

Article | February 4, 2021

It is not an easy task to engage decision-makers in hospitals, insurance providers, health systems, and private practices. These high-powered directors, managers, and executives are busier than ever. This makes the process of health tech marketing difficult. Apart from overwhelming job responsibilities, these healthcare professionals are also inundated with ads, emails, and phone calls. So rather than sending them messages randomly, it is important to help your prospects when they are free from their daily disruptions and have time. Inbound marketing, a new form of marketing, lays out various effective healthcare marketing techniques, tricks, or tactics. These health tech marketing techniques or methodologies are helpful in the three stages of your health tech client journey: Awareness Stage: This is the stage where they do not know they have a problem, but you make them aware of the fact that they have a problem. Consideration Stage: In this stage, they are aware that they have a problem and consider finding a solution from you or your competitor. Decision Stage: This is the final stage, where prospects make a decision. Here are some effective health tech marketing techniques to engage new health tech marketing prospects online all through these stages. Offer Entertaining and Informative Blog Content Content is king. Roper Public Affairs, in their research report, say that around 80% of B2B decision-makers prefer to gather information from articles and blogs over ads. According to the research done by HubSpot, companies that publish blogs frequently get 4.5x more leads. Engage your health tech prospects with regular content that can address their interests and the problems they face. However, it is a mistake to focus only on your health tech company’s benefits, features, or sales pitches in your blogs. This may make your prospects think you are just after their money. One of the best health tech marketing techniques to engage your prospects online is to provide answers to the challenges they face. You can even ask and encourage your clients to contribute success stories or guest posts. These posts will have more value and the chances of them being shared are high. It is also better to create a strategy to make sure the health tech marketing content you make is valuable and relevant to your potential clients. Encourage Social Media Feedback and Blog Comments Providing great and prospect oriented health tech marketing content is just the beginning. You can solicit reactions from your audience. Asking questions at the end of blogs and social media health tech messages is a great way to collect reactions from the audience. It is good to thank them for responding when they leave a comment. Also, give them a comprehensive answer. This will help build your credibility and make the clients come back. Sometimes, you may get spam comments, which are not connected to your post. Weed them out to make all comments relevant to the post. This health tech marketing technique will make your potential clients stay engaged in what you post online. Host Google Hangouts or Webinars People love being visually engaged. So, webinars or Google Hangouts are powerful tools that allow real-time interaction with your customers. This helps you to establish a personal connection with your potential clients through video or audio. Various visual aspects, including slides, graphics, and live videos, make it easier for you to share your content with customers. Being an interactive health tech marketing technique, at the end of webinar sessions or Google hangout, you can have a Q and A session to clarify any questions from the clients. Compared to merely writing blog posts and articles, this, as a two-way dialogue, and will help you a lot in building a strong relationship with your clients. Create a Group or Community One of the best health tech marketing techniques to engage new customers is to interact in online forums and communities. Your buyers can get added to your members-only group automatically and then these members can socialize with each other and discuss healthcare technology. These forums can be used to share content that is not available to the public. To the members, you can also offer various discounts and special pricing. Your customers, being part of such a group, will feel special and increase the possibility of a repeat purchase. Co-Create with Existing Customers If you are planning to write an e-book, improve your website, or launch a new product, involve your existing customers by getting suggestions from them. For fostering loyalty, depending on the situation, it is very effective to make your customers involved in major decision-making processes. They will feel proud that they participated, at the end of the process. This health tech marketing technique may even allow you to hold a contest to select an idea from your customers for your next design and offer rewards for the one which is selected. Rewards can be a special mention on your website, a discount, or a freebie. Celebrate Together! Another great health-tech marketing technique to build stronger relationships with your customers is to celebrate milestones with them. Any achievement, small or big, can be a milestone. Even, achieving an award for attaining a certain number of followers can be a milestone. Sharing such moments of success with your customers and social media followers may make them feel like they are part of your business and success. It is also a good idea to give them a discount offer. Also, recognizing the success of your clients and featuring them will establish a good relationship with customers. Monitor Social Media The best place to engage your clients in conversations about your products and industry is social media. Selecting a topic that is trending in your industry may be a hot cake for you to have the conversation on your social media platforms. Tracking trending topics related to your industry will always give you an insight for your next blog post and social media posts. By sharing, liking, and providing answers you can also take part in conversations. This will make you an authority and customers will feel good about your credibility. As a health tech marketing technique, monitoring social media will make you gain the trust of the customers and build your brand gradually but successfully. Build a List of Leads and Nurture them Email marketing, as a health tech marketing technique, is a very effective strategy to nurture B2B customer relationships. According to HubSpot, for business communication, 86% of people prefer emails. You will be in the minds of potential customers through your value-packed and attractive emails. They will remember you when they identify a requirement. Through your emails, you can update and educate your potential customers about relevant topics and trends related to the health tech industry. A newsletter in a week will be fair enough to keep them engaged and updated about your brand and industry. Summing up The key to generating more qualified leads and increasing your brand recognition is engaging new prospects tough new and innovative health tech marketing techniques. This will make your sales team’s job easier; they can convert these leads into customers. The above-listed health tech marketing techniques to engage with your prospects can be effectively used with your well-crafted Inbound marketing strategy. Doing all of these alone can be very challenging. We, at Media7, partner with healthcare technology companies and healthcare tech marketers to offer support, strategy, and extending help to implement these activities. Through the collaboration, we help health tech companies to attract more visitors to their websites, generate leads, convert, and make them your happy customers. For more details of our services, visit our website: https://media7.com/ Frequently Asked Questions What is a health tech marketing strategy? Health tech marketing strategy is a part of an inbound marketing process for marketing healthcare tech products. It uses resources that can trace various opportunities through lead generation and branding, and overcome threats of healthcare businesses, which is highly competitive. What is the best health tech marketing technique? The best health tech marketing technique is to generate leads through various content forms. Health tech Content marketing helps create awareness about the product and attract clients to it. Different forms of content can include blogs, articles, press releases, newsletters, and much more. Where to start when creating your healthcare marketing strategy The best way to start when creating your healthcare marketing strategy is to set your goals. This is because the success of your healthcare marketing strategy depends upon the goal you set for yourself when you start the business and the marketing for it.