By Iain Scholnick, CEO of Braidio
Global healthcare spending is expected to reach $8.7 trillion this year, up from $7 trillion in 2015. This market is ripe for disruption and new opportunities, with an aging population, as well as slow population growth that creates a high demand for caregiving. Long-term care services are more expensive than ever, and providers will need to be united across a patient’s journey to create a smarter ecosystem, allowing healthcare providers to deliver a more agile, connected, and tailored approach to patient care.
Giants like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and even Apple are jumping into the mix, teaming up with healthcare companies to make it easier for consumers to gather their health information. This includes helping consumers get access to their medical claims information via an app of their choosing, as well as fraud detection and helping consumers avoid paying inaccurate bills. These companies have sold software and hardware, and have even entertained the idea of providing healthcare on their own. NYU Stern professor and Gartner L2 founder Scott Galloway says that Amazon will soon be the fastest-growing healthcare company in the world, as the company has data on consumer’s eating habits, relationship status, and whether they have kids, all of which can be used to determine healthcare needs.
While healthcare’s digital transformation is slowly gaining traction, the future of the industry will be highlighted by productivity applications, greater collaboration, machine learning and AI to enhance efficiencies. While digital healthcare represents an important opportunity, it also brings significant challenges. These businesses are trapped with overly complex systems that take too long to implement or change, and are burdened with monolithic legacy technologies that were often designed for specialized needs and typically lack interoperability. Forescout researchers determined 39% of IoT devices and 53% of common medical devices are still operating on traditional, legacy platforms, which poses a patient safety risk. The current pace of innovation requires a dynamic approach that leverages third-party platform services to add value and drive improved patient outcomes.
Braidio offers Concierge mobile applications designed to increase patient and healthcare provider engagement and improve visibility between patients, families, and providers. These applications include telemedicine, remote patient monitoring, AI triggered alerts and notifications, quicker responses to customer inquiries, and increased staff productivity and revenue. On the patient side, Braidio helps to reduce unneeded office visits and provide faster access to healthcare providers.
The future of the healthcare industry is moving closer and closer to using an omnichannel approach to patient care. The digitization of healthcare and a growing abundance of wearables and sensors are priming the industry for transformation. In order to be truly transformational, organizations will need to create a 360 degree view of patient care, connect people using real time communications, shape patient behaviors to improve care, and simplify linear and more complex workflows.