2014 was a major year for healthcare. It marked the unveiling of the Affordable Care Act, the first year that it was actually operational; in turn, the percentage of people in the United States with health insurance rose to an unprecedented rate. Digital health also grew larger and is continuing to accelerate during 2015.
One analysis from the University of Chicago reveals that the health IT job market will experience a boom, with a 21% bump through the end of the decade. Since the future looks so bright for this industry, investors are also opening their purse strings. In 2014, more than $4 billion of venture capital was injected into health IT startups.
Here are a few trends that are key during 2015:
Wearable HIT
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year, wearables were becoming much more practical and substantive – eg, smart hearing aids and diabetes trackers.
“There’s a huge untapped opportunity that is opening up as biosensing technology advances,” explains http://www.techrepublic.com/article/6-digital-health-trends-to-watch-in-2015/ Rock Health founder Halle Tecco. “[W]e’re moving to a system where critical measurements can be taken continuously to reduce hospital stays and save lives.”
Predictive Modeling
Data analysis (often run through the healthcare cloud) is becoming so sophisticated, many have started to consider predictive modeling as a science in its own right. Underscoring the power of big data for innovation, Dr. DJ Patil was appointed by the White House as the first US Chief Data Scientist in February. The word predictive is particularly exciting for healthcare: monitoring devices could help healthcare professionals to learn about diseases and optimize prevention.
Telemedicine
Telemedicine, which is remote access to healthcare through HIPAA compliant telecom IT (typically Internet with videoconferencing applications or email, although also sometimes text messages), grew substantially in 2014. Google, for instance, is providing a Helpout service to directly connect patients with doctors.
EHR / EMR
Is your hospital or clinic compliant with HIPAA and HITECH? Then your PHI is ePHI, and your medical records are all stored digitally as electronic health records or electronic medical records (EHR / EMR). The American healthcare sector is gradually getting all these paper documents online, which is being made much more affordable and simple through the healthcare cloud.
These records are both easier to immediately comprehend and allow for greater collaboration.
Digital Health Clinics
Similar to telemedicine, the digital health clinic will be especially helpful for people who live out in the country or in a developing nation. It also helps to immediately tie people into experts so that there is less botched self-diagnosis.
“Digital health clinics can reduce the barrier to getting an early diagnosis and help prevent the onset of something worse,” says Tecco. “If you end up in the hospital, most likely something went wrong along the way.”
HIPAA Compliance as a Framework
Maintaining HIPAA compliance is critical so that you avoid fines, maintain credibility, and protect patients. In 2014, ClearDATA Networks successfully achieved Common Security Framework (CSF) Certified status from the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST).
Partner with the world’s only healthcare-exclusive cloud, proven to meet the highest standards for protecting health information.