Better data leads to better care.
The tremendous adoption of healthcare analytics during the pandemic is proof of that.
With the exponentially high demand for healthcare services at the time, it was the effective utilization of data and intelligence that helped calm the chaos and save lives.
As we advance into the post-pandemic era, the role of analytics in healthcare is only going to go up. And this blog post discusses the why and how of that.
Overview of the Healthcare Analytics Market
The global digital healthcare market more than doubled in the last few years. As per reports, digital healthcare revenue will reach $657 billion by 2025[i].
There are many factors driving this growth with the key ones being:
- Ongoing technological advancements
- Changing healthcare dynamics amidst COVID-19
- Rise of value-based treatment solutions
- Increased investments in healthcare digitalization
- Emergence of personalized and evidence-based medicine and healthcare tools
Different regions across the globe are embracing healthcare analytics to keep up with the dynamic healthcare ecosystem.
In the US, descriptive analysis is leading the market followed by predictive analysis. It was widely used to study patient history to track the spread of COVID-19.
In Europe, the emergence of big data due to improved collection of genomic sequencing and medical research findings is advancing the healthcare analytics industry forward in the market.
Moving to the Asia Pacific region, Japan is dominating space with its technological advancements.
However, factors like consumption volumes, price trend analysis, and import-export analysis continue to determine growth prospects for individual countries.
Impact of COVID-19 on Healthcare Analytics
From an alarming need for medical capacity to its adequacy, allocation, and management, COVID-19 brought many challenges for healthcare organizations.
To treat patients effectively, the use of digital and advanced data-driven healthcare models on a scale became a necessity.
According to a survey[ii], 88% of respondents admitted that COVID-19 impacted their need for analytics to collect more and better data to enhance operations.
Leveraging data analytics helped healthcare organizations with a range of functions, ranging from case predictions to geographical mapping, inventory tracking, and vaccine development to better respond to the pandemic and combat the health crisis.
Needless to say, in the post-pandemic era, there is an increased dependency on data and advanced analytics to manage healthcare efficiency and patient care.
Key Industry Trends and Developments 2023
Here are the top trends that are emerging in the healthcare analytics space in 2023 along with their applications.
AR/VR
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technologies facilitate a number of operations ranging from medical training to diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation. These applications make them invaluable at every step of the care cycle.
Services Segment
Providing better and more affordable care has led to increased adoption of analytics solutions. Hence, the development of new platforms is on the rise to offer better healthcare services.
Telemedicine
Hybrid healthcare models are enabling the integration of telehealth with other virtual health solutions to improve the overall patient experience and offer customized care.
Internet of Things
IoT is a budding technology that helps with a number of healthcare activities. These include activity trackers for patients, ingestible sensors, and closed-loop insulin delivery.
Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics in healthcare has various applications, including personalized healthcare, risk estimation, geo-mapping, and simulations. These help anticipate no-show appointments, prevent patient self-harm, and avoid hospital readmission.
Prescriptive Analytics
Prescriptive analytics uses historical data to predict future events. In healthcare, it helps recommend patients and healthcare practitioners the best course of action by comparing multiple ‘what if’ scenarios.
Cloud
Security is a crucial aspect since healthcare analytics deals with sensitive patient information. Cloud computing technology provides a range of secure hosting solutions to help organizations seamlessly distribute and manage resources while avoiding security risks.
Voice
Voice technology is changing the way patients and doctors respond to healthcare. It helps them find or provide the right care quickly, thus, avoiding time-consuming processes and delayed responses.
Big Data
While big data is already used extensively in EHR (electronic health records), it has other prominent uses for healthcare organizations. These include reduced medication error, preventive care over reactive care, and better personalized treatment.
Top Healthcare Analytics Predictions for 2023
Technology has proven crucial to keeping the healthcare industry resilient.
And this technology is being fueled by the enormous amounts of data sets that help actively assess care settings and provide big-picture insights.
As data keeps on getting bigger and technology keeps on evolving, the healthcare analytics sector is set to grow exponentially.
There will be an increased focus on making a permanent shift to a predominantly virtual mode to make healthcare access more convenient for all.
Deploying virtual technologies will also streamline workflows and reduce burnout among the healthcare workforce.
Providing high-quality evidence-based healthcare will become key to establishing trust and improving patient outcomes.
In addition, utilizing the existing unstructured healthcare data will be a priority to unlock crucial insights and address equity issues in healthcare.
All in all, there is going to be a seismic shift in the industry with the evolution of healthcare analytics.
Wrapping Up
Healthcare analytics is set to bring a plethora of new opportunities for healthcare organizations to improve treatments, better manage diseases, and enrich patient relationships.
The only question is are you ready to embrace it?
Want to Leverage Healthcare Analytics Capabilities in Your Organization? We Can Help.
At Grazitti, our digital analytics team has helped a slew of businesses ranging from Fortune 500 to non-profit organizations, and government agencies with their analytics needs. To know more about our services, email us at [email protected] and we’ll take it from there.
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