While many industries have experienced automation at the hands of technology, allowing them to hire fewer human employees, one industry, the health care services and technology industry, has only found the need for more workers as technology progresses.
For this reason -- people and technology, together with rising costs of medications, treatments and insurance premiums -- the healthcare services market is predicted to be a huge growth area in the future, particularly as the oldest of the Baby Boom generation begins collecting social security checks along with age-related aches, pains and health conditions. Yet another factor is the preference for healthcare in a home setting, rather than a hospital or clinic. Instead of patients going to the workers, the workers, increasingly, will come to the patients.
So where is the growth in this industry, geographically speaking? According to a new report entitled, “Healthcare Services: A Global Industry Outlook,” the growth will be worldwide, and the recent mergers in acquisitions in the industry will also have an effect on how healthcare services grow, flourish and mature. The report, generated by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., examines factors such as organization of the delivery system and its pitfalls, the impact of IT, healthcare information technology spending, mounting cost pressures, operational efficiencies, the role of managed care companies and regulatory issues, to offer a macro-level understanding of the marketplace.
So who will see benefits from this growth? Technology companies, says the report. Increased IT spending is predicted to escalate alongside growth as healthcare institutions and hospitals are expected to focus increasingly on installing, integrating and enhancing electronic medical records (EMR) systems, personal health records (PHRs) and electronic health records (EHRs). The goal is to offer better patient care across distributed networks – patients with multiple physicians, patients seeking treatment away from home – and to generate a more complete picture of a patient's health, perhaps through the use of remote imaging and telemedicine, which allows physicians across the country, or on the other side of the world, to participate in a patient's diagnosis and treatment. This is especially pertinent in developing nations, where trained specialists may not always be on-site to examine a patient.
As healthcare goes global and loses its fixed boundaries, the need for healthcare services will skyrocket, and as of now, there is no ceiling in sight for this market.
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Dave Rodgriguez is Editor-in-Chief of HealthTechZone. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves
