7 Problems in Healthcare That Technology Can Solve

Problem #1 Absence of Remote Access 

For a long time, healthcare was associated exclusively with in-person visits. To get a consultation, urgent care, or even to receive laboratory results, patients had just one option - to visit a facility. And soon it became one of the most urgent medical problems that need to be solved.

Solution: Telehealth Explosion

Pandemic-induced telehealth boom grew as both patients and providers were looking for ways to safely access and deliver healthcare. According to McKinsey & Company, in April 2020, telehealth utilization for office visits and outpatient care was 78 times higher in comparison to February 2020. 

In the epoch of the pandemic, telehealth offered a bridge between consumers and providers that were able to meet all regulatory changes and enable much better access and reimbursement. As of July 2021, telehealth usage has ballasted at levels 38 times higher than before the pandemic outbreak. Doctors of all specialties have seen a rise in telehealth visits from 13% to 17%. Correspondingly, investment in virtual care and telehealth also increased 3 times with the level of venture capital in 2020, if compared to 2017.

By 2027, the telehealth market size is expected to reach $559.52 billion with a CAGR of 25.2%. The key factors that impact such rapid growth include:

• Established positive effects of telemedicine health control;
• Fast growth in medical expenses for government and private fields;
• Urgent need for effective need prevention and treatment of COVID-19;
• Significant physiological impact on patients of the pandemic;
• A shift to consumer-oriented delivery of medical treatment.

Problem #2: Increasing Physician Load

Clinician burnout was considered a global health crisis before the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 60% of healthcare providers reporting at least one symptom of burnout. Under significantly increased workloads, physicians faced an urgent need for digital-first models of care that could help them mitigate stress and reduce time spent on administrative tasks. 

Solution: Building Digital Solutions to Ease Physician Load

Electronic health records, or EHRs, have become a golden standard and one of the most widely-adopted technology solutions in healthcare for reducing paperwork and saving physicians’ time.

EHR stands for a system intended for medical data capture, storage, and exchange. The solution has already gone far from a single assigned physician and involves clinical and laboratory personnel, emergency facilities, pharmaceutical stores, and other parties involved in healthcare. These systems allow physicians and other healthcare providers to instantly access patients’ information, safely exchange data, facilitate diagnostics and prevent errors, cut costs, reduce paperwork, streamline the billing process, and finally, handle all these processes securely, in compliance with HIPAA law.

In 2018, 92.1% of office-based physicians in the US used EMR/EHR systems while 2.26 billion prescriptions were sent electronically in 2020. In 2023 and beyond, EHRs will continue becoming an indispensable tool not only for clinicians but the patients they serve with rates higher than ever at around 89%. Though with some significant changes strongly required. 

Problem #3 Cyber Threats 

Cyber-attacks remain a top industry risk within healthcare. According to Breach reports to the Office for Civil Rights, 225 hacking-related incidents were recorded in the timespan from January to June 2021 and affected more than 21 million people. Such attacks involve stealing valuable patient information and demanding payment from healthcare organizations to retrieve the stolen information. 

In 2015, Anthem (formerly known as WellPoint) disclosed that hackers received access to a corporate database through a phishing email. The lawbreakers stole around 79 million records that included names, medical IDs, Social Security and insurance membership numbers, and employment information. The largest healthcare cyberattack in history cost Anthem Inc $115 million and resulted in the triplication of its cybersecurity budget. 

Solution: Blockchain

The usage of blockchain technology helps mitigate such risks by securely encrypting and transferring patient data, managing the medicine supply chain, and even outbreak of harmful diseases. One of the countries with the biggest blockchain potential is Estonia. The country has been using blockchain since 2012 to secure medical information and process transactions. Today, 95% of Estonian healthcare data and 99% of prescription information is digital while all of the country’s healthcare billing is handled on the blockchain.

Problem #4 Absence of Flexible and Responsive Supply Chain Long-Term

Within the healthcare industry, the supply chain encompasses pharmaceutical products that are critical for a high standard of care for patients and provide supplies of medication for pharmacies. It is estimated that the supply chain includes 30% of operational costs for hospitals. 

One of the major problems in healthcare that technology can solve in 2023 and rolling over into 2024 was the understanding that supply chains became inflexible and were built on outdated frameworks. 

Therefore it’s vital for healthcare providers to manage supply chains efficiently and meet the cost objectives, facing the following problems in medicine that need to be solved:

Solution: Investing in Powerful Data Management System

Investing in a robust data management system can be a game-changer for healthcare organizations. Here are a few ways it can help:

1. Enhanced Inventory Management. A data management system provides accurate real-time information about inventory levels and usage patterns. Healthcare organizations can leverage this data to optimize inventory levels, minimize waste, and ensure that critical supplies are always available.
2. Improved Visibility. The whole process of goods’ movement from manufacturer to end-user becomes transparent so it’s easy to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement.
3. Minimized Errors. Paper-based systems and manual data entry are prone to errors which leads to serious consequences in healthcare. A data management system automates data collection and processing, giving real-time feedback on its quality.
4. Better Demand Forecasting. By analyzing historical data, a system predicts demand patterns and adjusts inventory levels accordingly which helps to prevent stockouts and overstocking.
5. Improved Compliance. The healthcare industry is heavily regulated and non-compliance results in large fines and long trials. A data management system provides a centralized solution for tracking and managing compliance-related data.

Problem #5 Misdiagnosis

Solution: Artificial Intelligence

Over the past couple of years, AI has substantially expanded in the fields of diagnostics and medical imaging, enabling medical researchers and doctors to deliver flawless clinical practice. Speeding up standardization and quantification, deep learning not only helps to prevent errors and improve test outcomes, it also improves the assessment in medical imaging to detect malignancy and Diabetic Retinopathy (DR).

Enlitic, the 5th smartest AI company in the world, develops deep-learning medical tools to streamline radiology diagnosis. By analyzing unstructured medical data such as radiology images, EKGs, blood tests, etc, the platform gives doctors better insights into a patient's current state.

Problem #6 Diseases Prediction

Predicting diseases requires analyzing vast amounts of data such as medical records, lifestyle habits, genetic information, and environmental factors. Doing this manually is literally impossible though the technology has a perfect solution to healthcare problems like this.

Solution: Machine Learning

Using machine learning tools to store and analyze the data, healthcare providers can address a large number of diseases before their occurrence. Currently, data mining is one of the solutions for healthcare problems as it serves as a basis for the development of early detection systems. 

For example, Freenome leverages AI in screening, blood work, and diagnostic tests to examine for cancer. This allows it to detect cancer in its earliest stages and afterward develop new treatments.

Problem #7 Personnel Training

Training of personnel in healthcare organizations can be challenging due to a big list of reasons such as big length and intensity of training, new techniques and technologies being developed all the time, and the complexity of medical knowledge. Medical professionals are responsible for the health and well-being of other people therefore must have a vast array of knowledge and skills to diagnose and treat patients effectively. However, this is one of the medical problems that can be solved with technology.

Solution: VR & AR

Surgeons can use VR & AR solutions before performing an operation to walk through the organs or view 3D models of challenging surgical cases. What is more, such 3D organ models can serve illustrative purposes in the learning process or explain to patients the whole surgery process. 

According to a Harvard Business Review study, surgeons that trained with VR solutions had a 230% boost in their performance in comparison to their traditionally trained colleagues.

Such software programs provided by Osso VR and Immersive Touch are already in active use and give promising results. 

Conclusion

All the aforementioned medical problems that need solving will be actively addressed by healthcare providers in 2023 through the implementation of technology solutions in healthcare.

E-procurement systems will significantly reduce purchasing costs by the consolidation of supplier networks, ERP systems will provide an automated and paperless format for information to communicate through organizations, blockchain will ensure the security of sensitive patient data, and AI will help to improve diagnostics and disease prediction.