Where has the time gone? It seems like days ago the weather was warm, the days were long, and weekends were spent outside enjoying the sun rather than huddled in front of the fire. It’s December now, and snow has returned to many parts of the United States. It’s around this time that many individuals start thinking about the New Year: Resolutions, financial planning, and activities they want to do. Many people also like to look forward and think about how their workplace will be impacted in the coming years. Many of you may already asking yourselves what will impact the industry you work in during 2020 and beyond. Today we are going to explore some things that will be impacting the healthcare industry in the New Year.

The Internet of Things

            The name “Internet of Things” still sounds very strange to many people despite the fact that it has been becoming more prevalent in the past few years. The Internet of things is basically devices that would not normally have internet connectivity all being connected and sharing data. An example of this is Smart Fridges that have the ability to order groceries and access the Internet from them. The Internet of things is growing rapidly, and will impact many industries in the coming years. Healthcare is not excluded. The Internet of Things has the potential to make healthcare more efficient, and makes remote monitoring devices a possibility for patients. It also has the power to allow expensive medical devices to be traceable, which will cut down on misplaced and stolen medical equipment. The Internet of Things will help reduce costs and improve patient experience and health overall, making it something that will be adopted quickly in the New Year and years after.

3D Printing

            At this point, I am sure that you have heard of 3D printing. It is an absolute marvel how basically anything can be printed. The technology is still developing and improving, but its potential impacts are massive. It is also very interesting to watch; if you have not seen something 3D printed before head over to YouTube and look it up. In the healthcare industry, 3D printing has many potential uses in the New Year. 3D printing can be used for prosthetics, which gives patients a much more personalized version of the prosthetic that they are receiving. 3D printing can also print surgical tools, and replicas of different parts of the human anatomy. This is a technology that has massive potential in the healthcare industry in the New Year.

Natural Language Processing

            Natural Language Processing uses Artificial Intelligence, allowing computers to process human language. This allows computers to categorize and extract data. Natural Language Processing leads to things like organized clinical notes on computers systems, the ability to identify high-risk patients just from text, and is helping to bridge the language barrier between doctors and patients. This technology and Artificial Intelligence in general is relatively new, and has a lot of room and potential to grow into the New Year and beyond.

Machine Learning

         Machine Learning is exactly what it sounds like. It is algorithms learning from data inputs in order to predict outcomes or see trends, among other things. This is also relatively new technology, but it has massive potential in the healthcare industry and beyond. Algorithms are learning to read images from different types of scans to identify illness early. Because computers do not tire and have much better concentration than humans, this means that identifying diseases will become much more accurate once this technology is adopted on a wide scale in the coming years.

Blockchain

            Blockchain is database shared across a network of computers. It is 100% secure and cannot be changed unless a majority of the computers on the network give the green light. It also makes data sharing extremely easy and fast. It can record data in real time and transmit the data to wherever it needs to go. Blockchain can potentially make data sharing much faster and more secure, helping to enhance the patient’s experience. One part of healthcare that may be impacted by blockchain is billing. Billing has the potential to be inaccurate and fraud can occur. Blockchain helps fix this by making billing records unchangeable, therefore making fraud much harder to do. This is also technology that is very new to healthcare, but it has immense potential in the New Year and beyond.