#3 Digitization and its role in the healthcare industry

Without the utilization of digitization, healthcare companies would not survive in a post COVID society

Healthcare IT is one of the most competitive industries in the world. In order to stay on top of their competition and maintain their platform, these companies must adapt to digitization. In fact, the total digital health industry funding worldwide as of 2020 is a whopping 13.9 billion USD. While this may not be a new trend for healthcare, COVID-19 has played a massive role in how important digitization is in this industry and will continue to affect how professionals complete research. 

During COVID-19, healthcare companies faced the massive challenge of being unable to participate in the partnerships, mergers, and technical collaborations that provide major opportunities to grow their business outreach. Typically, these items were the main focus of a healthcare company’s outreach. In order to make a comeback from facing these challenges, healthcare IT companies need to hone their efforts on big data. This allows these companies to gain insights from the healthcare world that allow them to maintain the best practices possible. Topics such as prices, patient behavior, and rather than having an in-person collaboration, these organizations can review online digital data about the top industry trends. 

Utilizing digitization also makes the process of staying updated on trends much more efficient. If hospitals and doctors only learned about trends through in-person seminars, they would have to wait months to find potential life-saving knowledge. With digitization, other experts update information in real-time for professionals to use in their daily practices. This not only allows doctors to make more informed decisions for their patients but can also increase general sales within the healthcare IT industry. 

Digitization has also become a necessity for healthcare organizations to maintain their everyday practices during COVID-19. At times when patients had to stay in their homes and could not come in direct contact with their doctors, being able to utilize digital services was crucial. According to BioSpace, “remote patient monitoring, and the precise and rapid sharing of patient health information. In this aspect, healthcare IT is a powerful instrument that provides a secure structure for sharing, exchanging, and retrieving electronic health information.” 

As technology has evolved and become more advanced, digitization has become vital in various industries. The healthcare industry has reached an essential time where if they are not staying up to date with the latest digitization trends, then they will fall behind their competitors and fail their patients. This trend was already on the rise, but once COVID-19 hit it became an essential aspect of the healthcare industry. Any individual who works in this field must make a point to ensure their hospital is using digitization to their advantage in order to give their patients the best care possible and increase their general knowledge about the advancements and trends that are occurring. Any global companies within the healthcare industry need to ensure that they are staying on top of any digitization trends, as it is clear it will be a key asset for those who want to succeed. 

Sources:

https://www.biospace.com/article/healthcare-it-market-2031-increasing-trend-of-digitization-in-healthcare-and-high-demand-for-preventative-care-solutions/ 

https://digitise.ai/use-cases-for-ocr-in-healthcare/ https://www.statista.com/topics/2409/digital-health/#dossierKeyfigures

https://ideadrop.co/innovation-culture/6-ways-create-collaborative-workplace/