The executive playbook: 10 futuristic technologies changing the healthcare industry

The ability to manage and analyse large amounts of data efficiently and adapt output to changing parameters is crucial in today’s information-rich healthcare industry. Use of these platforms continues to grow, and leveraging their benefits can help companies stay on top of the ever-expanding amounts of data that power their success.

• Currently in use in more than 50% of healthcare organisations.

• Usage: Analytics and aggregation software processes large amounts of scientific, clinical and experimental data, tests hypotheses, defines trends and predicts outcomes. Additionally, these platforms enable pattern recognition along with data mining and advanced analytics.

• Benefits: Enables broader access to fast analysis of research & development (R & D) data, highlights the scientific relevance of results. Can be optimised for R & D content.

As VR and AR hardware continues to become more accessible, the applications in healthcare are expanding. From virtual doctor visits to therapeutic treatments, VR and AR are expanding access to care and delivering some of the most exciting benefits offered by healthcare technology.

• Currently in use or planned in up to 77% of healthcare organisations.

• Usage: Helping patients manage long-term chronic pain and decreasing anxiety; allowing doctors performing surgery to see digital information without looking at separate screens; helping doctors assess the severity, healing status and best treatment options for wounds.

• Benefits: Reduced pain and reduced time in hospital for patients; increased/easier access to consultations and treatment with virtual physical therapy/rehabilitation; virtual scenario recreations for mental health treatments.

Automation of repetitive/duplicative tasks and the ability of software to “understand” natural language queries and output useful information are among the most transformative products of machine learning and artificial intelligence. They provide incredible savings in time and resources for healthcare organisations, and offer convenience and improved service to patients.

• Currently in use in up to 50% of healthcare organisations.

• Usage: Automate workflows; provide contextualised automated insights on user interfaces; couple with generative AI to enable natural language explanations and collaborative exploration. 

• Benefits: Democratises advanced analytics through natural language queries; allows complex analytics with low/no code; limits human biases; accelerates insights for diverse users. Additionally, conversational inputs allow non-technical staff access to information that can help with decision-making.

Traditionally, the early stages of drug discovery and research are drawn out over months and years. This means global pharmaceutical companies commit an enormous level of resources to exploring treatments that may not move on to the next stages. Applications of AI bring efficiencies that drastically improve drug candidate analysis and testing, limit the time and resources used, and potentially save more lives faster.

• Currently in use in up to 20% of healthcare organisations.

• Usage: Applications of machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, generative AI and AI-enabled advanced analytics are combined. This combination increases efficiency in the drug discovery and preclinical stages of development by analysing, testing, and evaluating potential drug candidates.

• Benefits: Streamlined organisation and system processes; speeding up drug development and testing; reducing some processes from years to weeks or months; drastically cutting the cost of drug development through time and resource savings.

Genomics medicine is already saving lives by accelerating analysis of genetic data to identify biomarkers that indicate a predisposition to certain illnesses, or sensitivities to treatments. The promise of this technology is driving investments in research to develop reliable and actionable patient-specific insights that can improve the quality of life for millions of people. 

• Currently in use in up to 20% of healthcare organisations.

• Usage: Gene sequencing; analysis of genetic information to diagnose and treat patients; identification of genetic biomarkers that can predict an individual’s likely receptivity/sensitivity to a specific medicine; clinical decision support. 

• Benefits: Creation of targeted gene therapies for cancer and other diseases; development of patient-specific clinical diagnosis and treatments that can help heal patients faster and at lower cost; minimising potential reactions to drug treatments through genetic tests that identify sensitivities; minimising clinician errors; enabling more equitable, evidence-based treatment decisions.

All of the technologies we’ve covered are already empowering changes that lead to better care, and longer, healthier lives for people around the world. These technologies, and others just beginning to be developed, are also driving exponential growth in the healthcare industry. Patients are experiencing positive outcomes derived from applications of groundbreaking tech, and healthcare organisations are seeing the benefits of more streamlined and efficient research and development. 

All indications point to the continued expansion of investments in transformative healthcare technologies. This investment will undoubtedly lead not only to unprecedented business success, but also to increased access to high-quality, personalised care for more people, including those who traditionally have not been able to receive it.  

As enhanced care powered by technology leads to longer, healthier lives, the cycle will likely continue, feeding a positive flywheel of investment, innovation, and reinvestment.