The Covid-19 pandemic is paving the way for a technology revolution across the healthcare industry. By exposing how much the healthcare industry has relied on in-person visits, the pandemic heightened the need for industry leadership to reevaluate the urgency by which technology driven solutions are adopted. From care delivery to patient monitoring and clinical trials the increased use of technology – necessitated by Covid-19 – is likely to accelerate innovation moving forward.
As the healthcare industry continues to adapt, decentralization and interoperability have emerged as key, technology-enabled trends shaping the industry.
Decentralization of Clinical Trials
Clinical trials have traditionally relied upon onsite visits to monitor participants. While this methodology has effectively brought novel therapeutics to market for decades, travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders caused massive disruptions. Without rapid adaption, these disruptions would result in compromised trial data, analysis gaps and inconclusive results due to delayed monitoring and protocol changes. To combat these challenges, leadership teams across the pharmaceutical industry were forced to adapt business models and deploy innovative strategies quickly.
Technology and tech-enabled solutions – including remote monitoring platforms, wearable devices and telecommunication software – enable clinical trials to be conducted remotely.
The advantages to implementing remote and decentralized clinical trials for novel technologies are vast. Without technology, participant pools are limited based on geographic location, reliable transportation and availability. As a result, access to participants in remote areas, lower resource settings and aging cohorts is heavily limited. Covid-19 has amplified the importance of broadening participant pools to more closely mimic the overall population, as the virus has infected populations at disproportionate rates. Therefore, CEOs and leadership teams are deploying new technological solutions and opting for decentralized models to increase participant accessibility and diversity. Additionally, the decentralization of clinical trials will likely increase overall speed and efficiency, two crucial factors for CEOs and management teams as they aim to achieve growth targets. The ability of trial administrators to monitor patients in real-time, improve overall data collection and analyze results faster is further driving executives to adopt technology-enabled platforms.
While Covid-19 has negatively impacted many clinical trials both financially and developmentally, the adaptation of the clinical trial industry to a technology-based model will enable organizations to meet new business objectives and growth targets going forward.
Interoperability of Care Delivery
Information exchange is critical to advancement. Developments in interoperability across the healthcare industry enable information to be shared effectively, which can increase the quality of care, reduce unnecessary spend and enhance overall patient experience. Covid-19 has demonstrated the growing need for leadership teams to enforce technology driven interoperability solutions. Throughout the pandemic, patient data collection platforms and analysis software have been used to collect widespread population health data in order to predict Covid-19 cases surges, monitor treatment methodologies and analyze other crucial information. Without the implementation of interoperability platforms, health systems, states and the federal government would not be able to capture the widespread data necessary to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Covid-19 has proven impactful in motivating leaders of even the most reluctant health systems, physician practices and medical professionals to go virtual. During a time when patients are reluctant to make in-person visits, care coordination software has reduced duplicate testing, decreased physical interactions between patients and providers and improved care delivery while cutting overall healthcare spend. These advantages among others have reinforced the long-term need for CEOs to transition their businesses to technology driven models that promote interoperability and care coordination.
The way medicine is practiced has been forced to transition rapidly to technology-enabled solutions in response to Covid-19. As more CEOs, investors and care providers continue to witness the financial benefits, care delivery improvements and data analysis capabilities of adopting interoperability focused technology, healthcare will continue to adopt innovative technologies that improve care and drive organizational growth.
The Covid-19 pandemic has fostered new expectations around the use of technology in healthcare and life sciences. With a rush to continue clinical trials and provide effective care delivery, adapting to technology driven solutions has become necessary for CEOs and executive teams aiming to navigate the new environment. The advantages of adopting technology proven in response to Covid-19, will continue to reshape healthcare. In an industry dominated by in-person interaction, CEOs able to effectively transition their organizations to decentralized, remote and software driven models will ensure long-term growth, innovation and success.
JM Search’s Healthcare Technology Practice sources the industry’s most sought-after leaders and innovators for major public and private equity-backed companies.
Healthcare technology is no longer limited to the adoption of EMR solutions. Digital health, pharma supply chain, and patient-centric clinical trial technologies have brought a seismic shift to the healthcare and life sciences industry. As this technological adoption accelerates, healthcare technology companies will need to tap into talent across the broader technology and tech-enabled services ecosystem. Over the past 20+ years, JM Search has developed an unparalleled network of technology industry experts. We believe we are in a unique position to provide the next generation of world class talent to the future of healthcare.