» Top Healthcare Trends to come in 2023

Whether you are ready for it or not, the new year is coming and coming quickly. Below are major quick hitters you as an employer, advisor, or everyday Joe should be expecting in healthcare this coming year.

1. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used in healthcare to create systems that can accurately diagnose and treat patients, as well as to help analyze large data sets for better decision making. AI can be used to improve existing healthcare processes and to develop new ones to provide better patient care. AI can also be used to automate tasks that are too tedious or complex for humans to do. AI applications in healthcare can help detect diseases earlier and with more accuracy, reduce medical errors, and accelerate the development of new treatments. AI can also help provide personalized care by analyzing patient data and providing tailored advice and recommendations. The market for Artificial intelligence (AI) – specifically, machine learning (ML) tools in healthcare is forecast to top $20 million in 2023.

2. Retail Healthcare

According to Forbes, the increase in retail healthcare will double by the end of 2023, the plan is for long term growth strategies. Retailers: Amazon, CVS, and Walmart are increasing accessibility because it provides a more streamlined process for consumers. Typically, retailers provide better value, speed, and convenience; for example, most do not require appointments to be booked. However, each retailer is a little bit different for example, Walmart’s venture into the space will be more like a full-service primary care office staffed by nurse practitioners with PCP backup. They are also less affected by the shortages of trained clinical staff that many countries are currently experiencing, this is also predicted to only get worse within the next year.

3. Wearable Medical Devices

The increase in wearable medical devices has rapidly expanded because of the accessibility and broad, new updates they provide. There is a wide variety of devices from strictly workout to monitoring your heart rate, sleeping pattern, and activity so it can detect when an individual may be at risk for depression. In 2023, there is expected to see an even greater increase because of the security and data privacy now provided and many companies are now implementing them into their workforce.

4.Personalized Healthcare

Personalized healthcare refers to patients having more choices for their care path and precision medicine. Precision medicine is where drugs and other treatments are specifically tailored to a group of patients – based on factors such as age, genetics, or risk factors – rather than administered on a one-size-fits-all approach. The most advanced and precise forms of personalized healthcare consider a person’s genetic information or genome and can help healthcare practitioners predict how effective specific drugs will be or whether they are likely to suffer from side effects. This has become more advanced and has increased in accessibility because of the immense amount of improvement in technology such as AI and ML algorithms.

5.Investing in Mental Health

Since the pandemic, about 21% of adults were experiencing a mental illness, this is equivalent to over 50 million Americans. Another statistic states that the stress alone from the pandemic increased the global prevalence of anxiety and depression by 25% (MHA). The issues keep going when you see that there are an estimated 350 individuals for every one mental health provider. However, these figures may be an overestimate of active mental health professionals, as it may include providers who are no longer practicing or accepting new patients. One of the ways the 2023 health budget is addressing this issue is by providing additional investments to expand access to mental healthcare and it intends to bring changes to the longstanding Medicare policy coverage of psychiatric services. Moreover, telemedicine will be a continued trend; however, most telemedicine solutions are now providing a mental health platform as well. This will again be tailored to the user experience, telemedicine provides shorter wait lines, lower costs, medical access to more people virtually, and more.

Happy Holidays!

Feel free to reach out and schedule a meeting with me.

Schedule a meeting with me.

– Eleanor Schroeder

Posted by John Hansbrough in Digital Health, Employee Benefits, Health Insurance, Healthcare Innovation, Human Resources