Karel's HealthTech Chronicles #9 "Reflections and Predictions: Navigating the Digital Healthcare Revolution from 2023 to 2024", my personal notes

Dear readers, the year 2023 is almost at its end. Let me describe on a semi-personal note how I see its development in digital healthcare and what to expect in the coming year.

First, what happened in 2023. I write this article from the perspective of the Czech Republic, and for us, it meant a lot because digital healthcare finally made it. It all started this year. After all the struggles, we can fully declare a breakthrough. People started to care about digital solutions and opened doors and windows for them.

Why did people start to like digital solutions in healthcare? Of course, the answer to this question needs proper analysis, but let me be quick. People simply started to believe that digital solutions bring benefits. And that is true. They bring better care, less workload, better efficiency. And exactly such solutions we, as a hospital innovation unit, bring to our hospitals.

Let's talk about real steps forward. The reality is a result of the vectors of wishes and dreams of innovators and medical staff. Where did we find an equilibrium? In four areas:

1. Virtual Reality: Slowly getting there. Innovations take time, and VR has been with us for quite a long time, but finally, it pays off. It is a new world for our senses, for treatments, a new world for healing our wounds. I will probably write an article about all the use cases we have already seen for VR. It is really stunning. I personally recommend following this technology in healthcare. It is going to be a real game-changer. And do not forget to follow its sister, AR.

2. AI: What to add? It is everywhere. This technology will penetrate so fast and rapidly. It is going to be soon part of each and every mobile phone. Use it not to lose some competitiveness. It is also going to be another article, but let me mention two great areas of AI use. Diagnostics! Wow, what a great moment. Many things will be done automatically, for instance in Radiology. But it is not only about automation, it is about a whole new world of diagnostics. We will be able to combine the best knowledge of the best doctors and patterns found by AI in millions of patients' data. Amazing. And the second area is predictive medicine. We are going to know and be alerted about threats in early stages. Better care on the horizon.

3. Tech for Less Administrative Work: Finally, after years of gradual rise of workload for medical staff in terms of administrative work, we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Tech can help us reduce it. How? Let's start with some automation. Let's transfer some data automatically to Hospital Information Systems. Let's work more with voice-to-text solutions. Let's search for more interesting use cases.

4. Communication between Patients and Hospitals: The Uberization of healthcare is finally here. Let's open our apps on cells and find the nearest doctor. Find the best one. Find the best offer. Let's organize a meeting within seconds, let's see our lab results on our cells. Do we need a companion for our chronic disease? Oh yeah, let's have it. What a visit. I will fully recommend you, dear doctor. And the stars are on the way. It is being brutally simplified by myself, but this is exactly the future.

So, that's a wrap for the priorities for 2023. Now, let's talk about 2024. What trend do I predict in healthcare for 2024?

1. New People Coming to Healthcare: So far, there were only doctors, nurses, managers, and patients. Be ready! New people in town! Tech wizards. People who are the best in tech found a way to approach healthcare. And they learn quickly. They will bring know-how they applied in other industries. And as always, that means good news and bad. Healthcare will be definitely better with tech, but also definitely a bit more expensive. But overall, we are all going to benefit from it. To be more concrete, I have already met some of these people. They are business-oriented and look after processes. Healthcare is in many cases too rigid, and these guys and madams will bring some disruption. My prediction is that this phenomenon will be one of the leading changes in the whole industry.

2. Rapid Growth of AI Solutions: AI and ML will be everywhere. Diagnostics. Predictive medicine. Communication. My prediction? I see two major changes in the paradigm. Diagnostics and treatment plans will be suggested by machines. And it never happened in the past. That is why it is so revolutionary. Imagine that we can use the facts the machines learned by analyzing millions of cases, not only concerning diagnostics but also concerning therapy. And as a cherry on top add humans' opinions. The best treatment plan ever. And I believe it means the best outcomes ever.

3. Hunt for Efficiency: Many healthcare systems are on the brink of their funding. The solution is not further significant growth of funds, but higher efficiency. People in healthcare have already started to talk about this topic. We will soon see many initiatives in this field. Those mentioned new people coming to town will definitely help us with that. The crucial question is, how to treat patients in the best, fastest, and most cost-efficient way?

4. New Department in Organizational Structure: As I work for a medical corporate as a manager, let me mention an expected change in organizational structure. Current structures are not ready for such a big change in healthcare. More and more tech innovations are coming. The creation of hospital innovation units will not be a sufficient step. Close collaboration of many people is needed. From my personal perspective, I can imagine a certain merge of hospital innovation units with biomedical engineers and IT people. I am a part of this change, so expect some fresh news from me in this area.

5. Uncertainty about Patients: For me the most important topic. How will all these changes affect patients? Will they change their behavior? And how? I am one of them and so I say we are going to need some time to adapt and adopt all these new possibilities. There is no doubt that a new era has come. We have not only the chance to redefine the whole industry, it will simply happen.

There are so many people involved in healthcare, there are so many funds. It will not be easy or fast, but the change is coming. I will contribute personally in at least two things. By my profound activity in corporate trying to bring the best of the best solutions into our hospitals and by writing articles about digital innovations and the revolution in healthcare that is happening right now!

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