Why is the future of healthcare digital?

Traditional healthcare is not enough to satisfy demanding customers in the digital age. Healthcare services are heading toward a customer-centric ecosystem where the services are accessible from anywhere and anytime. Extending the already existing familiar experiences to end-to-end digital healthcare services will help create a patient-centric healthcare system and save costs.

Where is the healthcare industry headed?

‍According to the European Commissions Expert Panel, the impact of digitalisation of health services has been profound and expected to be even more profound. Deloitte’s research indicates that digital transformation is essential to improving health care and strengthening customer relationships. The survey concludes that the healthcare system's primary desired digital transformation outcomes are customer satisfaction and engagement, improved care quality, following outcome expectations like competitive advantage, revenue growth, cost-effectiveness etc.

When asked how they plan to achieve the outcome, they pointed out various possibilities. However, most respondents intend to deliver the outcomes through analytics and virtual health services investments.

Desirable outcomes of digital healthcare

‍Desirably, patient care will go beyond the healthcare centres and hospital walls thanks to digitalisation. Virtual healthcare services can make it happen - mobile appointments enable both patients and hospitals to save time and optimise costs.

Of course, the journey to make it all happen will not be easy or fast. Still, you can start creating an impact with each milestone, for example, creating a mobile application that will allow patients to have easier access to healthcare services and improve the speed and personalisation of the care delivery. Analytics and virtual health services are the keys to unlocking the digital transformation barriers in the healthcare sector.

Imagine if, in a few years, we would be able to monitor your health problems with your mobile device, which will exchange the data already with your doctor. Then, maybe even before the doctor sees the information, the mobile application you are using will notify you about the urgency of the issue, considering your health history.

It would eliminate (at least to some extent) the need to google every health issue and worry about having the worst possible scenarios of any illness. It sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

What is the why?

So why is healthcare’s future digital? One might say we are already there, and others say we have just started. The key takeaways are that the healthcare sector’s challenges lie in patient satisfaction and engagement, service quality and cost optimisation. For overcoming these challenges, one common nominator in the answers is digitalisation. And this is why healthcare’s future is digital.

In most cases, one-size-fits-all solutions might not fix the challenges. To gain a competitive advantage, tailored digital solutions for each healthcare service provider can deliver the results, considering the analytics and goals. The most effective solutions for most healthcare industry problems in today's digital world are digital solutions. Therefore, investing in virtual healthcare solutions can help the healthcare sector tackle the challenges in patient satisfaction and engagement, service quality, accessibility and beyond.

Mobi Lab’s experience in creating an impact on digital healthcare

Making an impact on the healthcare sector is very close to Mobi Lab’s heart. For example, having worked together with the Estonian government and other Estonian digital trailblazers, we developed the Estonian coronavirus contact notification app. Our software engineer Harri has written an insightful story about creating the HOIA app, which you can read here.

Let us know what you think about the future of healthcare. Will it be digital? Is it already digital? We would love to hear from you!