The healthcare industry is anticipated to move forward by adopting three major technologies in 2021

The healthcare industry has evolved beyond recognition in 2020. The search for medicine and acceleration of vaccine creation due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has fast-tracked the adoption of technology. 2020 has been a year of unprecedented changes. Remarkably, 2021 is expected to take the lead from the previous year and move by promoting three big technologies that will help healthcare streamline on a massive scale.

The years 2018 and 2019 were unexpectedly slow because of economic downturns and geopolitical tensions. But 2020 took us on a roller-coaster ride to experience the intrusion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) trends that aided healthcare industry. Innovation was the need of the hour when the pandemic broke out. AI and its applications played a pivotal role in resolving the crisis and generating future growths. Let us take a moment to look back at what changes 2020 brought into the radar. Digital transformation of healthcare is a pivotal event that happened in 2020. Medical professionals also faced the crisis of dealing with people's preferences and expectations of digital health technologies. Rapid advancements in technology were deployed and incorporated into the clinical ecosystem.

The advent of technology in healthcare is proving to be of tremendous benefit to the patients, healthcare technology developers as well as healthcare providers. Healthcare technology is a promising premise which has the potential to drive healthcare forward, make it accessible, improve interoperability, enhance patient experience through patient engagement solutions and reduce the overall cost of healthcare delivery in the long run by making it more efficient and data-driven. With Covid-19 vaccines already in the market, patients' expectations for 2021 are at its peak. Henceforth, Analytics Insight brings you three big technologies streamlining healthcare in 2021.

Augmented and Virtual reality 

The potential of augmented and virtual reality is not just present in hospitals. The technologies are even impacting the way medical students get educated at institutions. Virtual and augmented realities are the front running trends that might take healthcare industry towards unprecedented growth.

Virtual reality is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike traditional user interfaces, VR places the user inside an experience. Meanwhile, augmented reality lets us see the real-life environment right in front of us with a digital augmentation overlaid on it. Applications of AR and VR technology in healthcare are devising profitable use cases to many diseases. The technology can help stroke victims overcome motor deficiencies. Stroke patients are obliged to be put under a robust environment to help regain motor control. However, the simulated environment powered by AR and VR can provide more flexibility beneath physical therapy. VR headsets are also used to treat individuals suffering from dementia and cognitive impairments.

Augmented reality avails its features in critical places like a surgery room. Doctors performing risky surgeries can get a 3D view of hectic spots with the help of augmented reality. This can also allow students to learn about procedures through overlays, and doctors can quickly compare data to help them make a diagnosis.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity in healthcare involves the protection of electronic information and assets from unauthorised access, use and disclosure. The healthcare industry came to know about the importance of medical data they hold only during the pandemic. Hackers laundering the dark web showed much interest in stealing high-priority medical information to make money out of it. The act spiked during the Covid-19 outbreak as patient data was highly valued at the time. Ransomware attacks, especially, during the second half of 2020 shut down IT systems and slowed operations at hospitals and healthcare facilities across the United States. As a precautious stand, even healthcare institutions that didn't face security breach resumed external emails and increased screening of incoming emails in October.

The sudden need for cybersecurity made organisations invest large amounts of money on healthcare cybersecurity. Hospitals also sensitised workers on good cyber hygiene. In 2021, healthcare will further show importance to cybersecurity and bring cybersecurity masterminds into their premises to encrypt grave data.

Data analytics and Interoperability

During the second half of 2020, the stock market saw unprecedented growth contemplating to the slow or plummeting share prices in the first half that brought a black cloud over the economy. The reason behind this rapid change was the announcement on the vaccine and its successful efficacy, which can shield humans against the coronavirus. As 2021 began, the massive scale of inoculation drives started across the globe. However, many vaccines that cracked the emergency approval have to be injected twice. This involves governments' initiative to track the patients who took the first dose and making them come over for another shot. Data analytics and interoperability can help in these hectic situations.

Data interoperability will play a critical role in tracking who has been vaccinated. This will be a key for general public health as it ensures accurate record-keeping on individuals' relocation or changes provided before the second dose of vaccination. New federal interoperability rules designed to improve customers' to access their own health data will likely aid these efforts, but organisations will be required to adopt new technologies and data-sharing standards to make it happen.