The ongoing pandemic has put huge pressure in the economies, governments, businesses especially in health sector to pivot and to innovate in a rapid pace. COVID-19 demands a reshape and an enhanced transformation in the healthcare industry to cater to the ongoing crisis. As millions of people around the global are already infected with the virus, to find a vaccine or a cure is highly expected.
Frost & Sullivan has unveiled 10 growth opportunities in the healthcare sector in their recent analysis ‘Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on the Healthcare Industry’ that includes:
- Life Sciences: in vitro diagnostic (IVD) testing services at clinics, malls, airports are the need for the hour. Demand for the testing has surpassed the availability of them. Patients are not using healthcare facilities unless there is a medical emergency.
- Digital Health: Advanced data analytics will be required to support the need for immediate patient data.
- Advanced Medical Technologies like virtual rehabilitation, virtual assistants, chatbots and telehealth for isolated patient’s care management.
- Medical Imaging: the demand for the Teleradiology solutions will increase.
“It took COVID-19 to reaffirm and reassess the value of telemedicine and its boon to the healthcare system globally. Today, telemedicine has become the standard of care, driving a rise in service providers and in the need for service standardization across the continuum of care,” said Reenita Das, Transformational Health Senior Vice President and Partner, Frost & Sullivan. “While we recognize the tragedy that COVID-19 has caused the world, we also realize that it has opened many opportunities for companies to rejuvenate in this ‘new normal ecosystem. Our team has been tracking the potential opportunities in all sectors of healthcare. For instance, the increasing workload for radiologists in a post-COVID scenario will expand the demand for teleradiology infrastructure and services, enhanced use of artificial intelligence (AI) to pre-read and decrease backlog.”
This pandemic is seen as a disruptive catalyst for the innovation in the healthcare industry with technologies in virtual care such as internet of medial things (IoMT), telemedicine, teleradiology, remote patient monitoring and virtual visits. It is forecasted that, post COVID-19, global telehealth market might reach USD 55.6 billion by 2025 from USD 25.4 billion in 2020, at a CAGR of 16.9% during the forecast period.
