Valerie Reich, vice president of healthcare strategy at Hero Digital, a customer engagement and process optimization firm, believes three primary changes will occur in the healthcare industry this year.
First, AI, thus far known in healthcare for creating efficiencies, will begin to play a big role in accelerating medical advancements and enhancing personalized care – without adding any burden to those providing the healthcare.
Second, patients will be looking for health systems that support them holistically as they increasingly understand the power of their health data, both in terms of its predictive capabilities and its ability to personalize treatment plans.
And third, the focus this year will expand to include the caregiver experience alongside the patient experience.
Expanded adoption of AI
Healthcare providers were leveraging AI tools in 2024; however, there was a major focus on governance, and many of the use cases were focused on operational efficiency. This year, we’ll begin to see healthcare professionals expand their adoption of AI into other spaces, like patient engagement and clinical research, Reich predicted.
“AI will move past efficiency use cases and start playing a large role in accelerating medical advancements and enhancing personalized care – without adding any burden to healthcare providers,” she said.
“For patient care specifically, AI will transform patient engagements by segmenting patients with similar symptoms, analyzing the nuances between each patient and delivering personalized care plans – a previously time-consuming process for practitioners,” she added.
Industry leaders like Epic are launching AI agents that assess a patient’s progress on a certain treatment path and recommend next steps for the individual – unlocking a new way to deliver personalized medicine at scale. These advancements in AI tools and the evolution to more patient-facing use cases will not only improve patient outcomes but significantly reduce strain on care teams, she said.
“We’ll continue to see strides in AI use cases in clinical research, as it’s enabling researchers to analyze data sets faster than ever before while maintaining an exceptional level of precision,” she explained. “This increased efficacy will accelerate the development and delivery of new treatments and will encourage more healthcare leaders to pool data sets to uncover critical trends and insights – much like the Cancer AI Alliance.
“In practice, this means practitioners are able to identify specific patient groups and can leverage AI’s analytical capabilities to streamline hypothesis generation thereby improving funding proposals,” she continued.
2025 will be a pivotal year for AI in healthcare as the industry sees more healthcare organizations embrace the technology to drive innovation and reshape the industry, she said.
Interconnected services and tech for the patient
Healthcare is on the brink of a transformative shift, and in 2025 the industry will move further into an interconnected network of services designed around the consumer, Reich predicted. They are taking more control over their care and calling for more transparency in the process, transitioning from passive recipients to active decision makers.
“As consumers increasingly understand the power of their health data, both in terms of its predictive capabilities and its ability to personalize treatment plans, they are looking for health systems that support them holistically,” she noted.
“Emerging technologies like fitness watches and mobile health apps can provide consumers with insights into their health, and as a result, we’ve seen a marked shift in how they view health and wellness,” she continued. “They’re looking for services that support this proactive and personalized approach to healthcare and will seek providers who meet those needs.”
As a result, the industry will begin to see deeper collaboration between niche service providers and traditional health systems – for example, Amazon’s partnership with specialty services Maven Clinic and TalkSpace, and Apple’s expanded features for sleep apnea and hearing aids, she added.
“Rather than treating healthcare as a series of isolated interactions, this increased interoperability will bundle primary care, mental health services, fitness, nutrition and even social support to provide consumers with a holistic view of their health,” she said. “Then, providers from each discipline can collaborate within this network to ensure continuity of care.
“As this trend comes to fruition, providers must adapt,” she stated. “They should be optimizing their services and ensure they can seamlessly integrate into digital ecosystems while proactively searching for partnerships that support an integrated network of services. It also calls for a mindset shift – as patients are no longer bystanders in their care, it’s vital to be transparent with patients and consistently iterate on services and treatments that take consumer feedback into account.”
The patient experience and the caregiver experience
With the rapid rise in the aging population – more than 11,000 Americans become eligible for Medicare daily – the focus this year will expand to include the caregiver experience alongside the patient experience, Reich predicted. While much of the conversation around healthcare has centered on the patient experience, home health and senior care is falling to the wayside, she worried.
“Many seniors rely on family members or friends for support in their medical care, including scheduling and transportation to appointments,” she noted. “There are other people involved in the treatment process in this case, and those people often are juggling multiple other aspects of their life outside of caring for a loved one.
“They’re also likely frequent users of technology and increasingly expect digital experiences to ease the strain of daily life and caretaking responsibilities,” she continued. “It’s vital that healthcare providers reshape personas to incorporate the caregiver to ensure they have a realistic, empathetic and focused understanding of their needs and challenges as it relates to the care of the patient.”
This allows providers to understand what matters most at every step of the treatment journey for everyone involved in the process, whether that’s awareness, engagement or conversion, she added. Then, the provider can analyze their current touchpoints – web sites, apps, call centers – to optimize these moments of interaction and make it convenient for the patient and caregiver, she said.
“To address this gap, organizations will develop digital platforms and tools that leverage AI to personalize and optimize care coordination,” she said. “Caregivers need flexibility, convenience and reminders to navigate their loved ones’ care – technology is the enabler, and the data providers collect is the foundation to support it.
“By using data-driven insights, providers can matchmake, connecting patients and caregivers with the right providers while streamlining decision making and care coordination,” she continued. “It also can help healthcare organizations develop content tailored specifically for caregivers, including guides to managing chronic illnesses, tools for tracking health metrics and advice on navigating the healthcare system.”
This will reduce reliance on outdated methods, like phone calls, and create a more efficient and tailored experience for caregivers, Reich concluded.
Follow Bill’s HIT coverage on LinkedIn: Bill Siwicki
Email him: bsiwicki@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication
WATCH NOW: Tech boosts long-term care communication and administrative processes