The digital healthcare market is expected to reach $206 billion by 2020, as a joint study by SAP and Oxford Economics found that nearly 70% of healthcare companies plan to digitally transform their operations, while almost 61% believe this will increase patient satisfaction.

Most of today’s healthcare providers have strong plans for digital transformation, and their efforts are changing the way they deliver healthcare through new and innovative methods. Today, hospitals provide outpatient, inpatient, outpatient, and day surgery services; access to patient records; and telemedicine in different ways through its revamped processes and technology-enabled execution. Even as providers are creating and delivering new digital products and services to improve clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction, they are also finding entirely new business models capable of driving value through new business models. Players like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Apple are also pushing for market share, with varying levels of success.

As the healthcare industry compulsively resorts to adopting a digital strategy, let’s take a look at how they are reinventing the way they perform through digitization:

1. Using healthcare interoperability to enable sharing of patient data throughout the care continuum of healthcare providers and stakeholders to deliver coordinated collaborative care for all.
2. The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is here, at a confluence of IoT, telemedicine and telehealth technologies, putting wearable devices like ECG and EKG monitors to use and playing a critical role in tracking vital medical statistics to prevent or manage chronic diseases and to provide virtual care to patients, increasing customer satisfaction in the process.
3. Portable devices are making it possible to monitor patients in real time, avoiding the need to physically admit them to the hospital. Virtual care is set to allow seniors to stay at home, even as their health is monitored for signs of deterioration.
4. Countries with large populations with limited access to providers are turning to telemedicine, even as wait times for medical appointments and Medicaid acceptance rates continue to increase year on year. Telemedicine is an important tool that allows even patients located in remote locations to access specialists, as technology makes it possible to connect the right healthcare professional with the right patient, either face-to-face or through virtual care portals. .
5. Automation, AI and chatbots are making it possible for patients to reduce costs as they avoid visiting a doctor and getting self-care instructions as we use healthcare data and analytics to enable better treatment plans and outcomes for the patients.
   1. Chatbots make it possible to handle routine medical inquiries using AI-powered voice and messaging systems, while machine learning enhances the chatbot’s capabilities with every interaction. They also make appointments, test prescriptions, run lab tests, provide a smooth billing procedure, and keep track of health data.
   2. AI can replicate a human’s abilities to process information and make decisions, increasing the speed and accuracy of diagnosis. AI-enabled body scans detect cancer early and save lives. AI is being used to explore chemical and biological interactions and to improve formulations of old drugs and test the efficacy of new drugs without the need for expensive clinical trials.
   3. Big data analytics is harnessing health data and tracking epidemics by merging population data, health statistics, and migration to help prevent epidemics, reduce costs, and cure diseases. It is also being used to detect identity theft and health care fraud.
   4. Robots that assist a surgeon or perform surgeries themselves are now a reality, while others provide support to people with sensory, cognitive and motor disabilities (representing almost 20% of the world’s population) or their caregivers. AI-enabled humanoid robots are helping lonely humans stay independent longer with their company and conversations.
6. To allow healthcare providers and patients the required access to sensitive patient data under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the industry is rapidly turning to cloud computing.
7. The digital health industry is also working to improve its digital marketing strategies by focusing on the quality of its content and its ability to convert visitors into patients as it increases engagement and provides the vital and relevant information it needs to share. with the consumer.

Digital healthcare is undoubtedly disrupting the healthcare landscape in a number of ways, requiring a complete revamp of processes before newer and more efficient ways of delivering healthcare can take effect. Even the insurance sector is turning to digital transformation using innovative projects in health insurance, which take a care value approach instead of focusing on volumes. For all these innovative new approaches to take root and become the norm rather than the exception, organizations must not only embrace and exploit the benefits offered by the digital transformation of healthcare, but also engage and motivate their workforce. to gain the necessary skills to do your best. use of these facilities.