How Strategic Innovation is Changing Healthcare
When’s the last time you or someone close to you sought medical attention? Chances are, you’ve interacted with a healthcare institution recently. Addressing needs from routine examinations to urgent emergencies and everything in between, the reality is that our well-being is highly dependent on healthcare providers.
After all, health is wealth – and this applies to everybody. As our senior population continues to age, innovative solutions must fill the void left by depleted resource and labour sources.
Need for Disruption in Healthcare
Historically, healthcare systems have been plagued by fragmented services and bureaucratic inefficiencies, as illustrated by worsening statistical trends in wait times, overcrowding, and affordability. In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic, systemic flaws in staffing, infrastructure, wait times, and expenses were especially underscored.
This status quo is no longer sustainable. Over the next 20 years, Canada's senior population — those age 65 and older — is expected to grow by 68%. As this segment ages, they will require more and more medical attention even as a strained healthcare system recovers from a backlog of pandemic-induced delays. As the Canadian population continues to age, the demand for more accessible, patient-centric care is likely to increase significantly.
To accommodate these growing needs, recent technologies have emerged as potential solutions. Within the last decade, venture funding in healthtech solutions has skyrocketed from $1.1B in 2011 to $29.1B in 2021. Driven by advancements in technology, investors are telegraphing interest in digital platforms as the current ecosystem undergoes a rapid transformation.
Remote Patient Monitoring
Collecting patient data through remote monitoring has become a prominent component of these evolving trends. Just as wearable devices, which record exercise activity, sleep patterns, and heart rates have quickly become prevalent in our daily livelihoods, technology capable of deriving personalized insights into each consumer’s health is expected to accelerate. Through collecting and synthesizing vast amounts of information, consumers can receive real-time alerts and address any potential problem earlier.
Currently, individuals typically seek health assistance when ill or injured. However, because novel technology can detect risks and encourage micro-interventions, the focus of healthcare can be shifted towards preventive care rather than reactive treatment. Proactive identification will decrease the rate of severe conditions, helping relieve the burden on active care. If a serious infection, for instance, is detected before symptoms arise, treatment can begin much earlier and direct care may not be necessary. Whereas, without this technology, cases may progress to the point where visits to urgent care are made, thereby consuming corresponding resources and placing patient health in greater jeopardy.
How exactly is this remote monitoring made possible? At the centre of data collection and interpretation is developments in artificial intelligence, which allow for automated tracking and computational analysis. These digital platforms also allow for quick and easy diagnostic tests, such as a finger prick, while interpreting results with minimal labour needs. As AI and digital technology continues to advance and grow, there are limitless possibilities for how healthtech can disrupt current systems moving forward, further addressing inefficiencies in current infrastructure.
Technology for Facilities
Consumer usage is only part of the solution. New technology also brings immense potential to fundamentally change the way clinics facilitate the patient care experience.
Telehealth Channels
Telehealth and virtual care options became widespread as pandemic restrictions limited in-person care possibilities. Though the outbreak posed many challenges, this form of digital innovation was able to adapt to accommodate such adverse circumstances and has remained a critical part of healthcare channels, even in a post-Covid world. In directing certain care requests to be conducted online, a host of benefits are introduced. Not only are infectious diseases better controlled, but doctors can see more patients in less time, and rural communities can be easily reached, accessing virtual healthcare with only a few taps. Though telehealth platforms are still seeing gradual integration, it is a valuable channel that allows for care to be more accessible, improving clinician efficiency, and reducing in-person patient volume, in addition to overall costs. Collaboration with large tech and telemedicine companies could further improve the capacity of virtual healthcare services and integrate patient data through background tracking processes.
Streamlining Patient Data
With the value of healthcare labour made abundantly clear, greater emphasis has been put in combating administrative overload and reducing burnout in workers. Traditionally, processing patient information and cross-referencing health records has been conducted manually. However, large organizations have begun to implement new digital and IT systems to streamline information tabulation and ease the burden on workers. As electronic health records become more and more automated, healthcare staff will be able to record and obtain critical information in a matter of moments. Building these integrated care networks will connect different service providers, such as hospitals, clinics, and specialists to ensure seamless information flow and reduce fragmentation in treatment. In ERs and ICUs, where every moment matters, lives will be saved as data-driven decisions will be made based on patient history and information.
Optimizing Facility Operations
Technology and AI have proven utility in resource allocation and optimizing patient flow within facilities. Machine learning programs, which are trained with past information and will continually improve as used, can predict potential bottlenecks and optimize labour and bed usage depending on demand.
At Humber River Hospital in Toronto, among the busiest emergency departments in Ontario, AI technology has allowed the facility to also have some of the shortest wait times, relative to other hospitals in the province. To improve patient flow, so that sick ER patients wouldn’t be stuck waiting for beds to be vacated by longer-tenured patients, they adopted a digital interface displaying actual bed occupancy times in relation to expected times. Furthermore, the length of stay for patients in nursing homes or complex-continuing-care facilities was tracked to alert staff if patients were in danger of losing their long-term care beds for staying in hospital for more days than allowed, as per provincial regulations. The warnings prompted staff to put extra effort into getting those patients discharged back to their nursing homes quickly, if possible. Further, these tools can advise hospital staff on which areas are experiencing heavy traffic, alerting them where to clean first. Given their use of such technologies, Humber is well-equipped to optimize resource use.
In the coming months, Humber is planning to debut an AI addition to project upcoming traffic and allow patients to book spots on a digital kiosk. For example, If there is a major accident on the 401, the prediction will change and adapt based on evolving circumstances.
Humber River Hospital is only one example of many healthcare institutions looking to modernize operations through digital transformation. As technology becomes more developed, and use cases become more apparent, the responsibility will be care centres to integrate AI as a key component of the patient experience.
Business Implications
Businesses in healthcare are moving towards platform-based ecosystems to develop opportunities for digital transformation. Instead of the end product being a pill or injection, as was typical in previous decades, the focus is now on enabling positive health outcomes by positioning patients at the forefront of the product. As technology evolves, new business models will sprout across different stakeholder groups (health product manufacturers, healthcare providers, insurers and financiers, enterprise connectors, etc.) as strategic investments are made in preparation for a paradigm shift.
These stakeholder groups, replacing old segments such as clinicians, biopharmaceutical companies, and medical device manufacturers, can be categorized into three emerging groups: 1) data and platforms, 2) care delivery, and 3) care enablement.
Platforms that handle data will play an integral role due to the reliance on data collection, verification, and synthesization. Serving as the backbone of new healthcare ecosystems, builders of data collection, storage, and processing algorithms will capture additional profit opportunities.
Care delivery stakeholders will include a wide array of businesses, ranging from virtual communities to health product developers. These products will expand to include smart devices, software, and sensors – such as a smart mirror equipped with facial recognition capable of distinguishing moles from melanoma. These stakeholders should embrace unprecedented channels of proactive care as technology evolves to make these realities very much possible.
Finally, care enablement stakeholders are primarily insurers and financiers, which oversee payment processes and supply chain networks. These organizations will offer more personalized, client-specific products to facilitate the logistics behind care. Driven by advanced analytics, competition within this area is primed to reduce expenses.
These implications may look different depending on region, as different countries operate under different systems. Privatized structures, found in nations such as Switzerland and the Netherlands, may see quicker integration as competition between firms spurs innovation. On the other hand, countries with universal healthcare, including Canada, may see more gradual adoption due to the bureaucracy and jurisdiction throughout federal, provincial, and municipal healthcare authorities.
What’s Next?
As healthcare infrastructure recovers and adopts these technologies, many questions still remain. While hospitals may sport a new look, with monitors and algorithmic systems in place, funding is still a big obstacle to widespread integration. These systems are still in early-stages of development, and although proven to be effective, carry financial and integrational challenges. Additionally, staffing remains a large challenge as shortages in qualified healthcare talent remain, especially in Canada. Technology and digital optimization won’t solve labour issues entirely, but can maximize the incremental value attributed to each shift.
To support large-scale change, healthcare authorities must embrace strategic innovation by integrating technology into care delivery. Ultimately, as technology drives innovation in care centres across Canada, we can expect to see a revamped patient experience in the coming years, with providers leveraging data-driven advancements to improve efficiency.