Final 2022 Health IT Predictions

As we wrap up our 2022 health IT predictions, we’ve got a potpourri of predictions for you to enjoy.  In case you missed our topic specific predictions, you can find all of those Health IT Predictions or click on a topic below for those predictions we posted previously:

It will be fun to look back at all of these predictions at the end of 2022 and see where we’re at.

This final list of predictions is particularly interesting because it spans such a wide range of topics and categories.  It illustrates how many moving parts there are in healthcare IT and how many opportunities there are to make a difference in a healthcare organization.  Plus, it also highlights how many outside forces impact healthcare as well.

Here’s a look at some of the 2022 predictions from across a wide spectrum of health IT topics:

Anja Maciagiewicz, Manager, Marketing Planning at LexisNexis Risk Solutions
Continued Patient Fallout Leading to an Uptick in Quick-Service Options
In 2022, we are going to continue to see the fallout of patients skimping on their healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. At LexisNexis Risk Solutions, we have already been able to track how the lack of cancer screenings have led to a significant decrease in the number of diagnosed cancer patients -spurring the concern that patients will receive diagnosis at a later stage, making it more difficult to treat and overcome. We’ll start seeing evidence of more advanced chronic conditions and difficult to treat diseases that have a correlation to the (hopefully temporary) lack of medical care.

However, another of my healthcare predictions is that we are going to see pharmacies and walk-in clinics become more popular for healthcare services. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve become accustomed to quick-service options. The ability to go to a single location for both your prescriptions and your health services is a natural next step for our industry.

Rikki Jennings, Chief Nursing Informatics Officer at Zebra Technologies

  • Government and healthcare providers pooling their resources. This shared capacity model is mutually beneficial to both sectors and helps ensure facilities have the medical supplies they need to treat patients.
  • Spending will increase as organizations make up for lost time from the pandemic. In fulfillment, nothing is too small to make a big difference. Every few seconds or steps shaved from a healthcare workflow can be the difference in whether or not a patient gets the care they need. We can expect to see technology investments increase as healthcare providers lean on new solutions to maximize resources.
  • Technology that doesn’t require specialized knowledge or lengthy training will rise to the top of spend priorities. These solutions include machine vision systems, mobility solutions and RFID.

Mark Dorner, Co-Founder and CEO at PreciseMDX
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the way all healthcare stakeholders provide services and care. As the call for testing became critical, clinical labs were counted on to dramatically ramp up operations, create new processes, and provide on-demand testing for millions of consumers. This scramble exposed a need in the healthcare industry for an automated diagnostic testing experience so that labs can scale rapidly, patients can have control over the process and receive results quickly, and providers can treat patients quicker with a faster, more connected system.

Now, as we look to a post-pandemic way of life, the impact that testing procedures have on our lives is here to stay – and it goes far beyond COVID. Certainly COVID-19 testing will continue to remain a priority, but labs will need to invest in advanced platforms that support all types of diagnostic testing including women’s and men’s health (fertility, prenatal, cancer, testosterone), sexual health (STIs, HPV, UTI), wellness/nutrition (nutrition DNA kit, food allergy/intolerances), respiratory, nail fungal wound panels, and more. Labs must continue to efficiently bring testing – that supports many types – to patients where, when and how they are most convenient.

As a result, in 2022, I expect labs will partner across a variety of channels including retail, direct to consumer and on-premises vending machines as they look to transform the diagnostic testing experience to one that is automated, simple, and user friendly. That’s exactly what healthcare consumers expect.

Courtney Rulon, FNP-C, ENP-C, Clinical Performance Specialist at CorroHealth
After Omicron burns through the US population like wildfire, I believe we will see its transformation to endemicity. It will be treated similar to the flu, where a patient can receive an immunization against it every year. Hopefully, it will be like the common cold for people who have been vaccinated. I am hopeful, life will return to remnants of normal Summer 2022. I definitely believe more people will be traveling, borders will be opening up, and there will not be as great of a worry being unmasked indoors with large groups by the summer. Once winter 2022 rolls around, it will be time for people to get boosters and prepare for the next flu-vid season.

Huge staffing shortages on both the clinical and business sides of healthcare will lead to even greater need and dependence on technology to share the staffing burden. I believe patients really like the independence that comes with being able to do at home POC tests for covid. This idea of self-testing will likely expand into a multitude of at-home POC tests that might include RSV, flu, strep etc. Increased POC testing tied to a telemedicine platform where a patient can receive care, medication etc based on at-home POC test results will create an even easier way for patients to receive on-demand, convenient care. It will become the expectation for younger generations.

The idea of creating an appointment, wasting time sitting in a waiting room with other sick people, only to then be taken to an exam room to continue to wait to be seen by a provider will become a thing of the past. Younger generations will demand the care they receive be most importantly, convenient and grounded in technology.

We will see an even greater need to expand telecommunications to even the most rural of areas, so patients can receive care via telemedicine.

Beth Cooper, VP of Marketing + Sales at KNB Communications
In 2022, we’ll see healthcare consumerism continue to increase–meaning, patients will become much more involved in their healthcare decisions and be more aware of costs. The No Surprises Act is reflective of this shift in mindset, and the implications will be far-reaching.

Sam Munakl, Founder and CEO at Cytek
Telemedicine and virtual labs
More in-home testing availability will grow into a more interconnected network of in-home diagnosis and telemedicine sessions. Telemedicine is not new, but the pandemic put medical technology front and center when clinics closed for certain services due to stay-at-home orders. And even when doctors offices were open, some patients avoided in-person appointments due to Covid-19 fears. In 2022, the market for at-home healthcare is predicted to grow significantly and we will see several companies step in to meet demand.

Strain on medical equipment manufacturers likely to continue
The shortage in labor and raw materials will continue to make it difficult for healthcare businesses to meet the strong demands for medical equipment, drugs, and other health related products. This trend is expected to continue into 2022.

More Remote surgery experiments with the growing 5G network
Until now, remote surgery using wireless networks has been impossible due to the lag time between input and output. This lag usually lasts around a quarter of a second, sometimes as long as 2 seconds – a delay potentially harmful and even possibly fatal to a patient. Now, 5G promises to change all of that with its latency reduced to an almost instantaneous 2 milliseconds between devices. In 2022 and the upgrade to the 5G network in the US, we will see the beginning of 5G surgery. Surgeons will have the option to cover multiple hospitals and oversee surgeries from their home.

AI to reduce liability and exposure
Artificial intelligence can save lives. By building technologies into healthcare delivery spaces we can reduce the rate of fatal errors. As bedside care becomes ever more complex, such an approach will become increasingly valuable. In 2022, we will see more software providers relying on AI to analyze data, provide doctors with tips, advice and alerts.

Gil Bashe, Chair Global Health at FINN Partners
Since COVID-19 appeared, traditional clinical trial recruitment models hit the brakes. After drug development was almost sidelined, clinical research organizations (CROs) recognized that they needed to reinvent patient recruitment. Operation Warp Speed showed how to put the pedal to the metal for COVID-19 vaccines; systems developed now can be applied to other high-priority, clinical urgencies such as treatments for rare diseases and often-fatal cancers.

Now, that drug developers, government and patients are uniting on faster cures, expect to see telehealth, wearables, digital health, and health IT make big gains in the decentralized clinical trials category – it’s practical and urgent.

Frank Straka, Director of Business Development at Panduit
Our prediction is that we will see an acceleration of the deployment of smart (digital) hospitals and that these hospitals will see a reliable network (both equipment and underlying cabling infrastructure) as critical as a reliable power supply. These smart hospitals will be more converged than ever with next generation IT, reliable access, faster first response times, artificial intelligence, easy to access EHR’s, customizable patient areas, and equipment monitoring. These functions will all run across a common IP network.

Because this IP network is effectively running the functions of a hospital, it will be critical that this network is reliable. While many focus on the reliability and design of that equipment, studies have shown that the underlying cabling infrastructure is more important to the overall reliability of that network. That is why Panduit predicts that these smart hospitals will be built with a well-designed and high-quality cabling infrastructure.

Matthew Sappern, CEO at PeriGen
Incredibly, more than half of the negative outcomes related to term pregnancies in the U.S. today are avoidable. That is inexcusable when one realizes that most of these events continue to be linked to the delayed recognition, escalation, and treatment of clinical warning signs despite training and certification programs that have been the status quo for years.

As Dr. John Halamka recently suggested when asked about technology in healthcare and the nursing shortage, we need to make clinicians “better, stronger, faster.”

The first order of action needs to be the adoption of new technologies that help clinicians monitor more effectively. Technology available today–not in the future–can help negate clinical bias and normalization of deviance, supporting bedside nurses and their patients regardless of geography, race, or socioeconomic status.

Andrew Mellin, MD, VP, Chief Medical Information Officer at Surescripts
PROVIDER BURNOUT
For clinicians, trying to balance patient care with innumerable faxes, phone calls and communication issues is contributing to an epidemic of burnout. And now COVID-19 has brought it to a new level. Although we can’t control COVID-19 and public opinions about science, we can do things to make providers’ lives easier by removing administrative barriers and burdens so caregivers can focus on being caregivers.

SURGE IN SPECIALTY MEDICATIONS
In my more than 20 years in health IT, the specialty prescribing and fulfillment process is the most complicated process I’ve ever seen to get a patient on a therapy. Meanwhile, more promising—and pricey—specialty drugs come onto the market each year. But the future of specialty prescribing and fulfillment is here, thanks to the help of advanced technology. In 2022, we’ll see greater adoption of solutions simplifying this inherently complex process.

Bill Reboul, Chief Product Officer at Alegeus
Looking to 2022, the evolution of on-demand experiences in healthcare will be top of mind. We see the on-demand experience implemented across most other industries, but healthcare has always been slow to evolve to the technological advancements consumers expect.

For example, instead of waiting for a health benefits card in the mail, what if consumers could access all their health benefits and healthcare payment information within a single mobile app? While we aren’t there yet, 2022 is the year for healthcare to catch up to other industries and finally deliver a better consumer experience.

Andy Nieto, Global Healthcare Solutions Manager at Lenovo

  • Retail & consumer care delivery models will continue to expand & paid for by commercial insurance, especially with consumer pharma.
  • Financial backlash against unvaccinated COVID patients will appear, Probably as a hospital fee of some kind.
  • The bulk of hospitals will hit the decade mark of EHR deployment, post meaningful use, and will start publishing disappointing ROI statements on EHRs = Expect more scrutiny on EHRs.
  • Multiple countries in Europe and Asia will move to a “HITECH like” approach to upgrading Healthcare IT, starting with Germany.
  • “Soft” breaches of healthcare IT will increase significantly. Ransomware success will decrease with greater virtualization adoption.

Sanjeev Agrawal, President & COO at LeanTaaS
The lessons learned from COVID-19 will remain relevant throughout the digital health ecosystem, as the actual time spent treating the virus will shift as the pandemic moves into an endemic stage. Health systems were able to adapt and offer telehealth services at scale, reminding patients that they are the health epicenters of communities and the reliance on telehealth has transformed hospital operations and consumer expectations for good.

2022 will bring additional pressure from consumer brands like Amazon, Wal-Mart and emerging startups on health systems to become even more consumer-centric and tap into additional technologies such as analytics, machine learning and AI to leapfrog traditional “maturity curves.”

Greg Miller, Vice President of Industry Strategy, Healthcare & Life Sciences at Talkdesk
We see continued momentum for new ways of delivering care and elevated patient experiences. Patients increasingly expect every interaction to be connected, convenient, and consistent – well before they walk into a clinical setting. And new entrants to the market and consolidation from bigger providers means that health systems will have to evolve their operations and systems to meet those expectations quickly.

James Bateman, CEO at Medchart
Opportunities for developers. Developers are in high demand in the health tech industry. For those looking to get on the ground floor of the next wave of disruptive technology, health tech is the place to be. Developers motivated by creating something new to solve fundamental problems will find great appeal in tackling these challenges. Instead of working on the seventh or eighth revision of an app, developers could help create something the world has never seen. Health apps can help improve people’s quality of life. For many developers, this sense of purpose can be a big draw.

Robert Krayn, CEO and Co-Founder at Talkiatry
I predict that barriers to receiving mental health care will continue to decline in 2022 as the demand for care rises on the back of an increase in prevalence and de-stigmatization in the industry. While behavioral health benefits were a big focus in 2021 for employers and employees alike, they will only become more important as employers deal with the ongoing effects of the Great Resignation.

In 2022 I would expect to see behavioral healthcare policies become more defined in support for access to psychiatric care through the United States – like we have seen CMS continue to do throughout the Pandemic.

Omicron has shown us that we need to transition the short-term fixes we have put into place, such as telemedicine parity and less restrictive prescription capabilities, into longer term solutions so that high quality and responsible mental healthcare providers can continue to serve the needs of their patients.

Drew Ivan, Chief Product and Strategy Office at Lyniate
Healthcare IT vendors and IT departments were fighting battles on several fronts in 2021. New compliance directives from ONC and CMS, urgent special projects in response to the pandemic, and, most recently, the cybersecurity impact of the Log4j vulnerability all conspired to derail business as usual.

My prediction is that the industry will spend 2022 reprioritizing and catching up on delayed projects in an effort to return to some level of normalcy. I wouldn’t assume that the new priorities coming out of 2022 will be the same as those going into 2021; some of the work that was pushed aside will be replaced by other initiatives that improve flexibility and resiliency.

Orsula V. Knowlton, PharmD, MBA, Co-Founder and President at Tabula Rasa HealthCare
Rising healthcare costs and a growing elderly population could have significant implications when it comes to the safe use of medication. The risk of being harmed by medication, even when used as intended, is increasing because traditional approaches to medication safety are outdated and ignore simultaneous, multi-drug interactions, especially among patients who take numerous drugs. The old approaches leave patients at risk of harm that could be avoided. Unintentional harm from medication is responsible for 1.3 million emergency department visits a year.

Technology that supports advanced decision support systems for pharmacists and clinicians will be critical in advancing the safe use of medication in 2022. Medication management tools that enhance patient safety by identifying accumulative multi-drug interactions will be needed to shift the medication safety paradigm to personalization and proactive analysis, helping to prevent adverse drug events and save lives. Patients should not need to risk being harmed by their medications.

Nate Perry-Thistle, Chief Technology Officer at CipherHealth
Many providers will recognize that while effective in the short-term, bespoke and homegrown applications may need to be reconsidered and even replaced with cloud-based solutions that integrate well with other systems. Health systems will continue to look at vendor consolidation and getting more out of fewer partners.

Multiple Executives from Edifecs

  • Big bets on risk adjustment technology: The quality of the data supporting risk-based reimbursement arrangements has come to the forefront of value-based care issues in the past couple of years. Emerging risk adjustment technology and software will allow for better control over the data capture process and the evaluation and interpretation of the data being captured. – Aaron Fulner, Senior Director, Edifecs
  • Value-based care will finally get pushed forward. Despite the Biden Administration pushing back timelines for key value-based reimbursement models, payers charge forward. States including California, New York, Oregon and Texas are advancing their own versions “value-based payments 2.0” programs and resetting initiatives, leading the way for delivery system reform. – Michael Pattwell, Principal Consultant of Value-Based Care, Edifecs
  • Future of interoperability will come down to trust. In healthcare, the concept of trust is a foundational element and it impacts the health, quality of life and costs of healthcare for millions. This year will see a push to develop and implement certified and trusted data aggregators for the purpose of reporting and evaluating its impact on payments and premiums. – John Kelly, Principal Business Advisor, Edifecs
  • Gen Z expects more from healthcare, will organically advance value-based care models. Gen Z only knows a world with internet. As a result, they have radically divergent views about privacy and trust. Gen Z is accustomed to instant information about anything and are less concerned with sharing their own. Traditional industry stakeholders will be forced to deliver price transparency and rethink the future of data privacy in healthcare. – Michael Pattwell, Principal Consultant of Value-Based Care, Edifecs

Blake Marggraff, CEO at CareSignal, a Lightbeam Health Solutions Company
In the past, payer and provider organizations recognized the role of social determinants of health and behavioral health on overall physical health, but had limited tools to support patients. In 2022, remote patient monitoring will continue to advance the healthcare field by helping clinicians break down the barriers of health inequality and solve patient issues. Doctors will be able to proactively monitor social determinants needs and help bridge gaps to connect them to good food, housing and utility support, or travel to the doctor before they find themselves in dire situations.

Anna Basevich is VP of Enterprise Partnerships at Arcadia
Over the past two years, patients in all walks of life have deferred important preventive care and disease management, and that expands underlying racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic discrepancies in care and outcomes. The industry must use data and analytics to reimagine connected, whole-person care, segmenting and stratifying the population to meet patients where they are and deliver the right outcomes to underserved communities by addressing barriers to care.

If you have other predictions you’d like to share, do so in the comments so we can all learn from each other.

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

2 Comments

  • Here is a very opposite prediction. Because of the length of the pandemic, as it ends people will move away from worrying about health care and focus on many of the things that they put aside – the arts, extended family, travel, and new appreciation of in person contact. I think we are in for a negative super reaction to health care. While we increase data availability and interoperability, the average person will say leave me alone. I am taking a break from my doctors!

  • Very interesting prediction Stanley. I don’t think you’re wrong. Although, that’s kind of always been the case with healthcare. So, I’m not sure it’s much of a change. However, when they need healthcare, they’re going to need some new options or be disappointed I think.

Click here to post a comment
   

Categories