When you go to the doctor, you receive a diagnosis and a treatment plan. However, with the continued use of technology in healthcare, the process of diagnosing and treating patients has changed by becoming more efficient and precise, providing better care for patients.
The future of healthcare is becoming shaped by the new technologies that are to be used in the diagnoses and treatments of patients. By 2018, 30 percent of providers will be incorporating technology into their practice of medicine. Multiple technology companies are beginning to develop the technology that will be used to improve medical care, including IBM, AiCare, NextIT and Lumiata.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help doctors diagnose a problem and provide the best course of treatment. Robots and computers are helping doctors analyze a patient’s symptoms and create a treatment plan. Technology is expanding healthcare and is quickly becoming the future of the medical field. With new advancements in medical technology, it makes receiving medical care faster, more accurate, and free of error.
In addition to using AI to improve diagnosis and treatment, technology companies provide the data analytics tools that are necessary to analyze the efficiency of the healthcare system. This makes the care that hospitals provide to patients better and more efficient and improves the quality of care. Technology is also being used to help patients achieve their health and wellness goals as well as help patients when healthcare professionals are not present. Patients can rely on apps, trackers, and programs to remind them to take medications, help them track their symptoms, or call for help.
In the United States, the creation of AI technologies has surpassed that of other countries. However, compared to countries like China and Canada, the United States has failed in incorporating AI into its healthcare system. Although the United States has the access to healthcare technologies, the reality is that AI is not used in medical care because of the high costs and insurance barriers.
The high costs of healthcare have caused the United States to fall behind in many other aspects of healthcare including insurance and overall access to care, which has created disparities for a large percentage of the population. Higher costs and technological advancements does not necessarily mean better care. Although the United States leads the world in the development of AI, the high costs of this technology makes it hard to provide this technology for all those who need it.
The United States is still falling behind in incorporating AI and other technologies in the health care system due to the structure of insurance in the United States. It is the private healthcare system that puts all the costs on consumers of healthcare, while the government does little to fund the new AI technology to support efficiency and medical advancements. Instead, it is up to consumers of healthcare to pay for this technology to be used in their care.
Still, incorporating more technology into healthcare can be better for the healthcare system. It can boost efficiency, limit errors, and cut down wait times. But the high cost of creating this technology can make it difficult to provide services in every hospital and healthcare clinic in the United States.
Incorporating more technology in the medical field also changes the practice of medicine, making it less personal and more about the technology. Now, doctors wouldn’t have to rely on their own knowledge and skill but could turn to robots and computers equipped with AI to help them diagnose a patient or use highly specialized surgical equipment like the da Vinci to help them perform a procedure.
As the medical field continues to change, so will the technology that is used in the medical field, making receiving medical care a highly computerized process that could improve the health of the population.
