Navigating the Healthcare Horizon: Trends and Transformations in 2024

BY QDegreesPUBLISHED
Dec. 22, 2023

Healthcare is an industry where technological advancements are tried to be implemented as soon as possible. It is the major reason why we get news regularly about the implementation of AI, ML, AR, and VR in healthcare. So, it will not be a shocker if you get to see a lot of new technologies coming up in the healthcare industry in 2024.

Many implementations are already up as a prototype or a full-fledged developed model. So, let's look at the transformation of the healthcare industry that you'll see in 2024. Moreover, we will also understand how customer satisfaction will play a great role in streamlining the transformation process.

Today's Healthcare Sector's Scenario

First, you should be aware of what has already been achieved in the world of healthcare. Let's look at what the new tech implementations are and their potential to make a positive change. Additionally, the downsides of these new technologies will be looked at as well.

Remote Checkups

It is for sure something not new, as in India, taking prescriptions over phone calls isn't a new thing. However, it has developed a lot with the implementation of the latest technology. Many well-known companies are working to acquire this model with more and more accuracy. But as of today, it still needs to be developed if compared to traditional checkups.

Internet of Medical Things

Just like IoT, the IoMT has started to emerge. These hardware devices enabled with internet connectivity are set to help collect data of patients more efficiently. There are already a lot of IoMT devices available today which tolls to around 500,000 as per the report by Deloitte. It includes smart wearable devices, smart beds, and many more. But what about the accuracy? Yes, IoMT isn't too accurate to be implemented in what is planned for the future. Smart robot nurses will be among the IoMTs of the future. But with the current tech, it's a little far to achieve.

Medicine Delivery

Medical eCommerce in India has developed a lot. Moreover, it's beating up a very big problem which is the unavailability of the right medicines. With the traditional medical shops, you can't make sure the availability of every medicine. But with online delivery of medicines, it has become a lot easier. However, the only downfall of this model is time. Buying medicines from a medical shop is a 2-minute task, whereas it takes at least one day to get medicines delivered. So, it is yet to be tackled.

What Are the Future Trends in the Healthcare Industry?

The adoption rate of AI in 2022-23 is 82%, which was around 75% in 2021-22. So. In 2024, there will be an important role of Gen AI as well. Almost every new healthcare trend in 2024 will be powered by AI and other related technologies. Here are four trends that you'll see in 2024, either fully developed or developing.

Generative AI and Digital Transformation

With the drastic adoption of Gen AI in almost every field, there should be no confusion that AI will be there in the healthcare sector, too. Moreover, the digital transformation of the healthcare industry will also include many other technologies like Natural Language Processing, image recognition, cloud computing, data analysis, and many more. With the help of AI and data science, sections like radiology will be fastened up, which is today in great need of a speedy process.

Virtual Healthcare Assistants

As of now, the chatbots are here that can guide you and connect you to a doctor based on what problems you are facing. Moreover, they can also transmit data to the doctor to speed up the process. But in 2024, virtual assistance and chatbots are set to do a lot more. It includes booking appointments with doctors at the right time based on data, of course. Also, there will be a development of models which will help patients to get the answers to their questions in real time. This will cut the need for a doctor or a nurse to be present every time.

Preventive Healthcare

Taking "Prevention is better than cure" to a new level, there will be immense development of preventive healthcare. With AI-enabled devices like smartwatches, rings, and fit bands, every aspect of a person will be tracked at every moment. It will basically help to take action at the initial stage. In wearables, heart monitoring and SPO2 monitoring are already there, but the accuracy will be fixed in the near future with the implementation of AI.

Outsourcing and Offshoring

Tight margins are always a problem for the healthcare industry, due to which these organizations book losses while providing their services. So, for 2024, it will be a trend not only to outsource but if needed there will be offshoring of many services. It will include most parts of the administration like finance, HR, billing, claims, and many more.

These services, when outsourced, will significantly decrease the cost of healthcare organizations' operations. In conclusion, the organizations will be able to make profits. It is very important to do so, as even Deloitte has advised.

How Customer Satisfaction Will Be at the Center of the Transformation of the Healthcare Industry?

According to our study, 84% of people think that AI drives better customer experience. It is directly pointing out how customer experience is important for any Industry to survive. Moreover, 58% of people think that AI is good at making decisions. These are also the reasons why AI will be a trend in 2024.

But, we should not neglect that AI needs a lot of data to make itself more and more precise. So, to make it optimized to deliver the best customer or patient experience, capturing customers' reviews at multiple points will be a must. You will have to take timely reviews and responses from the patients about how satisfied they are to make these new techs better.

The chatbot resolutions will also be important to rate after every attempt. For example, if someone interacts with a chatbot, then a rating or response should be taken to know if the resolution was accurate or not.

Net Promoter Score can be a great way of doing that, and it is already being implemented in the chatbot. In NPS there's a simple question asked with a scale of ratings from 1-10. As the responses come, it will help you determine whether or not your chatbot is working well. Also, by providing this data to AI, it will be able to identify all the major issues from the queries where customers gave it a lower rating.

The same can be done with online doctor checkups. You can take reviews from the patient about the service to know if there are any problems they come through during the process, which can help you make your process more streamlined with each passing day.

Final Words

To sum up, 2024 will be the year of introduction to a lot of new things in the healthcare industry. However, patient experience and satisfaction will be at the center. You will have to make sure that regular changes to the new technologies are done based on the data captured around CX.