Transformations in Health Information Technology We Can Expect in 2024

Over the past few years, we have seen unprecedented integration of technology and healthcare services, moving from advanced medical devices and robotics to predictive, prescriptive data analysis, and telemedicine. Healthcare professionals around the globe – irrespective of their medical practice – are now eagerly trying to harness the power of healthcare technology to provide high-quality, safe, and agile patient care.^[1]

The healthcare system in Canada – with its commitment to providing universal access to quality medical services – is no exception. It has been at the forefront of driving technological innovation in the healthcare sector to improve patient care and outcomes. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain, robotics, 5G, and quantum computing are revolutionizing legacy health information technology systems to support patient privacy while improving quality of care through predictive analytics, personalized treatment plans, robotic surgery, accessible telemedicine, and drug discovery. Such digital health IT applications are revolutionizing healthcare operations, services, and research to bring significant improvements to patient care through improved healthcare access, equity, outcomes, productivity, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.^[2]

Although commercial adoption of these technologies comes with significant challenges, the potential for transforming the healthcare landscape is tremendous. But what does the future of Canadian healthcare technology hold?

Current State of Canadian Healthcare Technology

Recognizing the potential of healthcare technology in transforming patient care, the Canadian healthcare sector has been focusing on enterprise innovation and digital health initiatives across the country. However, despite the increase in healthcare spending over the last 20 years, capital investment in health infrastructure has not increased. Over the last two decades, Canada’s annual healthcare capital funding has gone from 2.3 billion to 8.1 billion – with a relatively stable CAGR between 2007-2012 (5.7%) and 2012-2017 (4.2%). However, during the same time, the rate of capital investment has declined from 6.3% to -3.7%. This has resulted in healthcare institutions having to choose between updating infrastructure and providing patient care, where patient care triumphs. However, this choice has left Canadian healthcare infrastructure woefully outdated and vulnerable to damages, which, in turn, can undermine patient care.^[3]

Additionally, challenges like the human resources crisis, the aging population, lack of integration, aversion to risk, change management within siloed systems, and privacy and data security concerns are further hindering digital healthcare strategies and enterprise innovation despite their need and potential. The Canadian healthcare system has to integrate enterprise innovation with clinical innovation to foster an ecosystem of innovation and a culture of change that can support the necessary changes.^[4][5]

Trends Shaping Healthcare Technology in 2024

Transformative technologies are finding applications across a spectrum of healthcare functions and services, driving innovation and change within the global healthcare sector. With the Canadian healthcare system focusing on simplifying healthcare system navigation across the patient journey, patient empowerment, population health management, care coordination, enhanced analytical capabilities, and optimized clinical systems in their digital healthcare strategies, here are some key trends that are likely to shape the future of healthcare technology in 2024:^[[5][6]

AI Integration

AI has been shaping the way healthcare professionals look at, analyze, and interpret patient data for previously unattainable insights. From simple medical imaging to building personalized care plans or leveraging predictive analytics to predict patient outcomes, AI has played a great role in making healthcare accessible. The Use of generative AI and virtual assistants with healthcare data and information management solutions has not only allowed healthcare professionals to make well-informed based on patient history but has also made relevant public health information easily accessible to the general public.^[6][7]

Although AI integration has a huge potential to transform healthcare, we have to be considerate of a few ethical issues when it comes to using AI for diagnosis and personalized care. Some of the major ethical issues healthcare systems must address include:

• Informed consent to use patient data
• Safety and transparency in data handling
• Algorithmic fairness and biases
• Data privacy

AI-powered diagnostic models are only as good as the training data available. But, if we build models based on data where informed consent of the patients was not obtained or you have a training dataset only representing a certain ethnic group, the results of the AI model will be biased and inaccurate. For example, Latin and Asian-origin patients are more prone to certain diseases or women often have a different representation of a heart attack than men, or people of color may exhibit different symptoms than Caucasian people. AI models are likely to embed and perpetuate human and social biases that see minorities receiving poor-quality treatment. AI integration in healthcare has to address these issues before it can truly uplift patient outcomes.^[8][9]

Health Information Technology (HIT) Evolution

Health Information Technology (HIT) is an umbrella term involving solutions like electronic health records, care registries, data interoperability, online scheduling, and decision support systems that leverage IT solutions to streamline access, storage, analysis, and sharing of patient information. Evolution in HIT solutions with innovative digital/mobile solutions have allowed healthcare professionals to increase patient engagement and greater personalized care delivery experience, simultaneously reducing administrative burdens and human errors and improving outcomes via increased accuracy, efficiency, and timely information availability. Facilitating a shift towards value-based care, accountable care, the latest innovations in HIT, like blockchain, 5G are also providing better, faster, and more secure access to patient data for enhanced patient care with increased trust and efficiency.^[10][11]

Legacy Transformation

With the growing risk of becoming obsolete, legacy transformation – replacing outdated software solutions with cutting-edge technology – to stay competitive, efficient, and cost-effective will be a major trend. Issues like high maintenance cost, poor security controls, incompatibility with modern solutions, poor mobility, compliance issues, and lack of scalability are some of the major factors that will drive this trend. However, we will have to navigate challenges like high upfront cost, potential workflow and data loss issues, user acceptance, and difficulty choosing the right strategy to ensure successful transformation. ^[12][13]

In addition to transforming the legacy systems within the healthcare system, Canada is also leading efforts to promote various digital health solutions like telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and virtual care. The Canadian healthcare system has been able to transform healthcare delivery and access across the country with the help of these digital health initiatives. 33% of all patient-reported visits have been virtual, 90% of these patients have been satisfied with their experience, and 81% of the patients experiencing virtual care reported that they were able to avoid in-person visits. This has been a dramatic shift – especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic – and has the potential to transform care for both chronic and acute health conditions.^[14][15]

Government Initiatives and Regulations

Understanding the potential impact of healthcare technology transformation and the current state of Canadian healthcare technology and infrastructure, the Canadian government has been actively focusing on promoting, innovating, and building regulatory frameworks that can help Health Canada harness the power of data and digital health technology.

Government Support for Innovation

The Innovative Solutions Canada program by Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada has been doing a great job funding innovation, helping innovators connect with relevant departments, and access funding and support to create and bring their ideas to the market. Innovators have been able to merge healthcare solutions and technology to tackle challenges like detecting concussions using objective indicators, improving organ donation rates, and making better matches using machine learning or point-of-care diagnostics to combat antimicrobial resistance under this program.^[16]

Additionally, Health Canada’s 2023-2024 Plan focuses on modernizing and connecting the Canadian healthcare system for a healthier Canada. This involves improving digital health systems and better collection and use of patient data to improve patient care. The Canadian government has allocated nearly $200 billion – for the next decade – in Budget 2023 to achieve this.^[17]

Regulatory Framework

With increasing focus on data, data privacy, and security concerns have become more apparent, with 93% of Canadians expressing some level of concern when it comes to their privacy and data security. However, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) regulations have resulted in a 36% drop in public sector data breaches in 2022-2023. Additionally, almost 57% of Canadian businesses have reported implementing privacy compliance practices, which has resulted in 94% of companies not experiencing any data breaches. Such a stringent regulatory framework can support digital transformation of the Canadian healthcare system, allowing Health Canada to leverage data analytics capabilities to improve patient outcomes.

Opportunities in Healthcare IT Transformations

The future of healthcare is digital, which will bring affordability and accessibility to empower patients. From AI solutions taking over administrative tasks to reduce burnout to generative AI revolutionizing the way patients access health services, healthcare IT transformation will help address the workforce talent challenges while making on-demand healthcare a reality. Apart from AI innovations, telehealth applications, predictive healthcare analytics, blockchain, big data applications, and wearable medical devices will continue to transform how patients communicate with healthcare service providers and receive care.^[18]

Conclusion

The possibilities from merging healthcare services and technology are limitless as we strive to make quality healthcare more affordable and accessible to the masses. This can range from automating administrative tasks and reducing burnout to improving telehealth applications to help patients access necessary care.

Despite its current challenges, the healthcare system in Canada is focusing on developing initiatives and regulatory frameworks that foster innovation while ensuring data security and privacy in digital health programs. With these initiatives, Health Canada and the Canadian government can build a connected health system that leverages AI innovation, blockchain, big data and predictive analytics, and wearable devices (IoT) to develop and operationalize a functioning, clinician-patient friendly digital healthcare ecosystem.

Author Details

Dr. Suman De, Principal Consultant and Head, Government Healthcare Analytics Solutions, Infosys Public Services

Dr. Suman is head of government healthcare analytics for Infosys Public Services. He has extensive experience in the public healthcare sector and previously worked for the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the Indian Public Health Association.

At Infosys, Dr. Suman leads the area of advanced data science and artificial intelligence-enabled population health, social determinants of health analytics, opioid management, care management, and value-based care. He is a frequent public speaker at various healthcare conferences, forums and at major universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Suman is based in Hartford, Connecticut. He holds a medical degree from the University of Calcutta and master’s degree in healthcare administration from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, India.