Healthcare technology companies have undoubtedly sprung into the spotlight during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the world almost at a standstill during this ‘new normal,’ medical startups have revingorated the discussion around how modern-day health solutions should look.

Our smartphones can do more than games and social media. The rapid digitalization drive in the last few years across industries has made mHealth one of the most sought-after sectors in the market.

Healthcare is one of the most highly regulated industries in the world, and rightly so – standards are necessary to keep people safe and healthy. Yet for startups it means that entering the market and competing with incumbents can be exceptionally difficult, and innovation has suffered as a result. 

In recent years, it became obvious that the current healthcare ecosystem is not sustainable.

The pandemic outbreak has put the healthcare sector to a real test and pushed its innovation and operational capabilities to the limit. The whole world counts on healthcare businesses to come up with solutions that will ease the serious health consequences caused by COVID-19. While some companies focus on developing diagnostic measures to help the pandemic spread, others focus on vaccine development. 

The use of chatbots has exploded in recent years. Companies are taking advantage of these AI-powered virtual agents to automate routine processes and give consumers round the clock attention in areas like customer service, payments, and marketing. And now, chatbots are set to make a mark on the healthcare industry.  According to analysis by Crunchbase, more than $800 million has been invested across at least 14 known startups developing a health chatbot offering.

The key to the successful implementation of digital healthcare solutions is patient engagement. Without mutual trust between healthcare providers and patients, even the most sophisticated technological solutions won’t improve patients’ medical outcomes. We gathered experts from across digital healthcare – both from dynamic startups like Keto-Mojo, as well as enterprises like Roche – and with this patient-centered approach in mind, discussed the essential aspects of patient engagement:

Healthcare software solutions development in 2020 and beyond The digital healthcare market is booming – in its 2019 report, Acumen anticipates that the market will reach a whopping $511 billion by the year 2026. Hence, it’s not an exaggeration to say that the future for digital medicine and remote healthcare looks bright.

Current healthcare trends (described in detail in our previous article) suggest several paths that telemedicine may take in the long term. New developments in AI technology and big data analysis allow for automation and improvement in areas such as:

The global healthcare market is changing, along with healthcare costs and patient demographics. The overall healthcare spending is expected to rise at a CAGR of 5% between 2019 and 2023 and the market’s predicted value for 2020 is more than $2 trillion. Because of this growth and a number of emerging challenges, healthcare needs to leverage innovative solutions to meet the needs of patients. Let’s take a look at the major technological trends shaping the industry in 2020.