Technology is changing the world and the world of healthcare as well. Moreover, technology is playing a leading role in making healthcare more efficient and affordable.

Digital health trends such as telemedicine, IoT devices, and virtual reality surgical training continue to attract huge investments, helping the industry improve health equity around the world.

Statista's data shows that in 2024, the total global revenue from medical technology is expected to be about $600 billion. Medical technologies are used, for example, to diagnose, monitor, or treat diseases or health conditions.

In this article, we'll look at five major trends in digital health.

Digital Trends in 2021 that Define the Future of Healthcare

Recent trends in health care have pushed the world to increase investment in new innovative technologies. Here are some of the digital health trends that will reshape the future of medicine:

1. Telehealth

Telehealth uses digital technology that connects the patient and the doctor through computers, mobile phones, and tablets to provide medical services in a remote format.

Forbes says this type of medicine is especially beneficial for communities of lower socioeconomic status and rural areas, where patients did not have access to health care before the pandemic.

Telehealth offers many benefits such as:

• Expanded access to healthcare
• Decreased contacts
• Emergency care
• Continuity of treatment

2. Employee wellness apps

This point is also related to the consequences of isolation during quarantines. IT application companies are being asked to create and implement the software testing services to help healthcare professionals have well-configured applications to track their health or attend specialized courses.

3. Internet of things and medicine

The medical Internet of Things is a rapidly evolving field that uses wearable devices, monitors, and integrated applications for healthcare needs. When we use artificial intelligence technologies, the medical Internet of Things can offer improved versions of traditional medical devices. One of them is a smart inhaler - a device that synchronizes patient use with a mobile app.

4. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)

Virtual and augmented reality technologies can undoubtedly make a significant contribution to the development of medicine. The easiest way to imagine them is in the training of surgeons. VR training allows healthcare professionals to practice and improve their skills without the need for a hospital presence.

VR technology is also a good and proven method for educating healthcare professionals.

Virtual reality and augmented reality, with their wide range of applications, are rapidly gaining traction. It makes sense for businesses that an industry like healthcare would invest in it to be more efficient.

5. Big data and health analytics

Scientists can use vast amounts of data (anonymous) to elucidate medical patterns and trends, allowing scientists to discover new correlations between demography, ecology, economics, and many other factors, on the one hand, and the health status of the population, on the other.

When enough space is available to scientists, they can treat the data like big data; it can be fed into artificial intelligence or machine learning algorithms for analysis and interpretation to provide humanity with medical knowledge that was never available before. This analytics opens up opportunities for chronic disease prevention and long-term treatment plans.

Conclusion

The technologies underlying telemedicine have not emerged recently - they have been in development and use for many years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on technology in the field of medicine: it pushed for the development infusion of investments in technologies for treatment.

Many software development companies such as MLSDev receive more orders to develop applications and software equipment for medicine. Funding for this area is in full swing, and the medical world is changing thanks to the latest technology rapidly.