Medical Technology Adoption is on the rise in 2017

In recent years there has been a significant rise in medical technology adoption.  As the tech industry becomes more geared towards healthcare, we have see medical technology adoption grow alongside it.

Medical tech solutions offer convenient, fast, and seamless healthcare solutions for patients. In 2017, many medical patients are now leveraging different forms of Medtech devices.

Consumer health technologies, such as wearables and smartphones, are now common accessories not only to patients in the hospital but also to health-conscious individuals. Mobile devices offer patients an easier way of managing their health virtually through the built in sensors on the handset or band that monitor their heart rate, stress level, sleeping patterns and more.

Here are three ways medical technology adoption is increasing:

 

Acute Care

Cost-efficiency and performance drives the development and adoption of healthcare solutions in hospitals. The introduction of value-based healthcare requires transparency and accountability. This incentivizes doctors to keep their patients healthy, rather than to cure them.

Medical technology adoption of solutions such as Electronic Health Records are growing each year. The EHR provides a digital patient chart with full medical and treatment history.

Already widely used in various industries, the medical sector is also expected to benefit from the use of 3D printing technology. Innovations in this field are expected to help make the practice of organ transplant operations more scalable in the near future.

Another key medical technology area on the rise is robotic surgery, with a focus on minimal access (keyhole) surgeries carried out via telemedicine solutions. This technology has the potential to bring effective healthcare to patients in remote areas.

Ambulatory Care

In terms of medical devices, portability, affordability and patient comfort are expected to become increasingly important, with a focus on early diagnostics and real-time monitoring.

Telemedicine adoption is one key area here: remote patient monitoring allows doctors to check up on their patients’ health status via IoT-enabled solutions (e.g. smartphone apps, wearable devices, etc) to cut their time spent in doctor’s offices.

This medical technology adoption trend adds a further level of integration to connect patients with doctors. Not only does this help support patients’ need to remain independent, but it also helps prevent re-hospitalization and thus contributes to the industry’s efforts to make healthcare more affordable.

Home-Based Care

Healthcare is gradually moving away from the traditional models, and analysts report that patients are increasingly taking ownership of their healthcare needs. Remote and virtual healthcare are gaining importance.

Adding to this trend is the convergence of lifestyle consumer electronics products and healthcare devices. Smartphones with activity trackers, sports apps, wearables, and other products connected to the Internet of Health Things not only allow users to keep an eye on their health stats in a personalized way, but may also help the remote monitoring of patient behavior and health status for patients with chronic diseases.

This medical technology adoption is great news for both patients and doctors. These examples of integrating medical research with device and software development, electronics, and data analytics in 2017 are just the start of a new phase of healthcare.


Report by JenB Technology for liveClinic.