Trends which will drive the healthcare industry in 2020

The healthcare industry is transforming itself according to the new world. A new world where population and disease continue to grow and technology can be the savior. Thus, the healthcare industry is transforming into a new version of healthcare upgraded with the latest technology and methods of treatments. For efficient results, the healthcare industry has to stay up to date with the latest trends that can be a lot helpful for developing better and effective healthcare. We are going to look over some trends that will drive the healthcare industry in 2020.
1. Artificial intelligence 
In the haste of growing world population and disease, artificial intelligence offers better ways to identify disease, create appointment plans, better diagnoses, treatment methods, research accuracy, better report generating, better data management and many more. Artificial intelligence can save a lot of precious time. Artificial intelligence with the latest technology can improve the rate of conquering a clinical problem. Also, everyone is nowaday more attracted to healthcare that is more digitized. Artificial intelligence systems can help in decision making almost as good as a human does which makes artificial intelligence the most important trend for the healthcare industry in 2020.
Also Read: AI and Cybersecurity in Digital Healthcare
2. Telemedicine

When we talk about time-saving, resource-saving and reach of the healthcare industry then this is the best way for healthcare to deal with such problems. Telemedicine allows the healthcare industry to provide its service by means of telecommunications technologies. By using telemedicine healthcare industry can reach their long-distance patients and can provide their services where the patient is comfortable most. Telemedicine involves services like consulting with doctors on call, taking appointments, regular health diagnoses on call and video conferences. This makes it easy for both doctors and their patients to stay connected and up to date with their reports and medical data. Telemedicine has increased from 0.38 million to 7 million since 2013.
Also Read: TELEMEDICINE: THE JOURNEY SO FAR…
3. Cloud computing 
An increase in population makes it very hard for the healthcare industry to maintain and manage all the private and secure health-related information and data of all patients. Healthcare systems try to create systems to take care of this kind of data and its management. Here the cloud computing comes into play, cloud computing provides a secure method by which both patients and their related doctor and healthcare providers can access the information related to their case anytime anywhere with better-organized records and reports by using simple user credentials provided only to the patient and doctor. Cloud computing also makes sure that the data related to a patient is crash proof and cybersecurity. The healthcare industry tends to have a better experience with their patients and for that Integrating the healthcare system with cloud computing is best.
4. IoMT (Internet Of Medical Things).
90% of people want to wear or want to at least have a wearable device. The Internet of medical things is a new IoT developing rapidly and everyone wants to be connected and keep themselves updated with their health. Devices like watches and bands are working as health analytics tools, they are not just for calculating footsteps. Some new wearable devices can even calculate blood pressure and blood sugar calories and even heartbeat rate. Not just that they even can update the data collected to your doctor directly as real-time status. I can even connect you directly with your doctor if something is off balance with the help of IoMT. This is a trend that will grow every day in the healthcare industry.
Also Read: IoMT: Protection against cyber-threats
5. Extended Reality 
You must be familiar with AR and VR technology. If not, then a simple definition for extended reality is a technology which allows you to combine real and virtual world environment. The best example for you to understand AR is pokemon go game which allows you to see virtual things in the real world through your smartphone but AR and VR are not for entertainment only. This technology can be used for the healthcare industry as VR allows doctors and students to work in an environment that is not available for them or is out of their reach.
It allows the practitioners to learn and view body parts and images without using any intrusive method. VR also saves a lot of money and makes diagnosis easy for patients. Extended reality is a revolutionary technology for the healthcare industry which makes it an important trend that will drive the healthcare industry in 2020.
6. 3D printing 
3D printing is a process of printing a 3D model of digital design by using actual solid materials. Every innovation directly affects the healthcare industry, either by providing new methods of treating people or by improving previous ones. 3D printing has provided many new possibilities to the doctors and healthcare industry in many ways like creating 3D models of the organs allows the doctor to take a better look at the situation.
Also, 3D printing allows a doctor to make a better plan for the operation. It also helps the doctors in personalized Prosthetics. Doctors were even able to print living cells that can be used in patching damaged tissues with the new 3D printing technology. 3D printing can also help in minimizing theater time and increasing the possibilities of an operation to be successful by giving a better plan created using the 3D model. 3D printing can help in saving lives, Thus makes it a vital trend that will drive the healthcare industry in 2020.
7. Blockchain 
The Blockchain technology is a unique and unignorable invention because of its properties. Blockchain technology was first used for cryptocurrencies only but now blockchain can be used for many grater things and areas. Blockchain is very helpful for the healthcare industry as it allows the data to be shared with many users immutably, which means data can be shared but can not be copied. Making the important data of patients ore secure as a patient can share the data like reports and details only with the healthcare providers and doctors. Blockchain works as a backbone of patient data security using cryptography of data, where “block” represents the important data of patients and “chain” represents the users and divided systems where the data can be accessed. This technology of sharing data without being copied makes blockchain a unique trend for healthcare in 2020.
Also Read: Digital Health: Mobile, IoT, Blockchain & AI