Why healthcare can be slow to adopt technological innovations
Dr Risa Ravitz, founder of telehealth startup Modern Migraine MD, offers some tips for how both solution providers and healthcare professionals can overcome the disparities between traditional healthcare processes and healthtech adoption.
Healthtech is advancing fast. The 2020s are expected to bring innovations such as drone-delivered medical supplies, mind-reading wristbands, and pocket ultrasound devices. In theory, healthcare practitioners and patients alike should be preparing to not just adopt - but embrace - these futuristic solutions.
However, that’s not what is happening. While technology can ease the path to wellbeing for both doctor and patient, there is reluctance on both sides to fully adopt it, both in digital care and in brick-and-mortar practices.
Tech cannot simply “disrupt” the healthcare infrastructure in ways we see elsewhere. What could be the reasons behind the slow adoption of tech across the healthcare sector?
People want to be treated by people
While experts predict that 85% of customer interactions in 2020 will be handled without a human across industries, a survey by Invoca found that only 20% would trust AI-generated advice for healthcare.
Consumers don’t seem to be wholly convinced about interacting with healthcare providers through digital-only touchpoints. Since the stakes can be as high as life or death, the value for human support remains high.
Despite the promise of tech solutions, it’s difficult for patients to opt for innovation over traditional, in-person care. Patients still seek the human over the digital since traditional methods often involve more compassion.
Risk aversion is rife
Doctors and patients are aware that a software fail in a hospital leads to much worse outcomes than in other workplaces. An unfriendly user-interface or a faulty Electronic Health Record (EHR) can delay treatment or even spell danger. In 2013, a horrific incident occurred where a patient was given 38x the dose of their regular medication, due to faulty EHR information.
The 2019 RSA Digital Risk Report highlights the major risks emerging from digital transformation in the healthcare sector. Cyberattack is a crucial one. The increased use of medical devices that make up the internet of medical things (IoMT), such as wearables, mobile devices, apps, sensors, robotics, monitors, medical equipment, and implants, increase the risk of cyberattacks.
Another one is the dynamic workforce risk, which emanates from the fact that that technology is enabling the hiring of a diverse workforce in healthcare, including third parties, gig workers and others across dozens of IoMT devices. This creates the risk of improper worker access and authentication.
The third one is workforce and data privacy risk. Since there are several ways to collect and store personal health information, and because of its existence in so many applications and systems, it has become quite difficult to protect and determine who is responsible for protecting it.
These risks can lead to misaligned financial incentives and a change-averse culture among health providers as well as patients.
Hospitals have unique needs
Many hospitals’ requirements might not be addressed by the generic solutions available. For example, wearable devices, such as wristbands, sensors, headsets, and smart clothes that collect data like heart beat and blood pressure are hot property in the healthcare market. However, none of these devices solve any health problems. Certain healthcare sectors will require very specific solutions, which might not be available right now.
Another reason why hospitals and healthcare organisations are wary of investing in new technology is that unless they feel 100% sure that the technology will work, they don’t want to take the risk.
Also, within health systems, there are inconsistencies between the concerns of the healthcare providers and other hospital staff. For example, a hospital’s administrators will prioritise differently from doctors. But for the hospital to adopt a particular technology, all parties have to be on board.
Data compliance
The digital health revolution is creating crucial regulatory, compliance, and legal challenges for the healthcare sector. Going digital means complying with complicated legislations like HIPAA - and extra work for the healthcare workers involved. This can discourage them from adopting technology, and they feel more satisfied with the current systems.
Policy making can often slow down digital development. Often innovations are waiting to revolutionise a certain section in healthcare, but waiting for proper regulations discourages healthcare providers from opting for it. By the time the innovation is ready to be used, a newer better innovation would be knocking at the door. This leads to avoidance of changes to digitalisation.
Healthcare sector data breaches affect sensitive patient data. This fact is prompting regulators to establish compliance rules for current information technology and security standards. The HIPAA Journal’s healthcare data breach statistics clearly show a rising trend in data breaches over the past 10 years, with more data breaches reported in 2019 than any other year since records first started being published. In addition to an increase in fines and settlements, the level of fines has also increased substantially in recent years. Multi-million-dollar fines for HIPAA violations are now common. Healthcare organisations want to avoid such situations and thus only adopt technologies when it’s necessary.
Technology must have that human touch
The healthcare sector is slower to adopt technology than its counterparts in e-commerce or fintech, but innovation is still happening at a formidable speed. This creates a change and competition that will eventually force the sector to adopt innovation. And when patients start seeing faster and better results with technology, they will soon warm to the latest changes. However, whatever technology this sector adopts, it’s important that the human touch of medicine still remains throughout any medical process.