The 2022 Year in Review
2022 has seen a lot of movement towards innovation on all fronts. Even though the possibilities are endless, we dared to pick one in policy making, one in the industry, and one in the provider side. Let’s look at some of them which have the potential of changing healthcare as we know it.
EU’s Medical Device Regulation (MDR)
From a regulatory perspective, a lot has been discussed around the EU’s Medical Device Regulation (MDR) negative impact on innovation. Most people agree that the updated requirements raise the bar significantly, barring small firms, or even forcing the big ones to take their innovations outside of Europe. EU Commission data released this month shows the scale of the problem. Under the old system, there are about 25,000 certificates. So far, manufacturers have submitted applications under the new system for about 8,000, but less than 2,000 have been approved. In the new scenario, companies will have to rely more on a well designed market access strategy, reducing both market risks and the burden on sales.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
As far as technology and product development goes, few have gained so much attention as Artificial Intelligence (AI). Within the myriad of applications in virtually all areas of healthcare, one specifically catches our attention: Natural Language Processing (NLP). In recent years, NLP has been used to help solve the problem of unstructured medical data, extracting critical insights from a variety of sources. Medical practitioners are increasingly using speech recognition systems with built-in NLP algorithms to dictate patient notes. Not only does this improve the quality of patient records, it also removes the administrative burden on physicians, reducing the risk of burnout and allowing them to more efficiently use their time.
COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the adoption of value-based healthcare (VBHC), and in 2022 we have seen many discussions around the new role of Value in healthcare, particularly on how to evaluate the impact of medical technologies not only in terms of clinical and economic aspects but for the organization of healthcare services.
Telemedicine and Remote Patient Monitoring
Along these lines, there has been a steady adoption of telemedicine and remote patient monitoring, which dropped from 2021 to now but still are much more frequent than before the pandemic. With many people unable or unwilling to visit healthcare facilities in person due to the risk of infection, telemedicine and remote patient monitoring have become essential for providing care to patients while allowing for more efficient use of resources.
Did you like our picks? How about your favourite ones? We would love to hear about them.
