The Biggest Healthcare Trends for 2024

There are many societal and political factors that will drive healthcare in 2024. Fortunately, there are many technical and scientific factors that will also drive healthcare in 2024. While advances in helping people live longer and being healthier for longer are inspiring goals, each advance does come with many questions about patient safety. For this reason, each advance will require a review of what laws and regulations may be necessary to ensure these technical and scientific advances protect the public.

In the area of technology, new drugs, and new medical devices; there will be a need to ensure the advances provide better and safer healthcare while protecting the rights of the patients starting with each patient’s right to privacy. As these technical and scientific advances develop, our experienced healthcare lawyers will help keep medical practices and healthcare companies informed about their compliance requirements.

According to Forbes, many of the expected advances and opportunities in the healthcare industry will focus on artificial intelligence (AI) which will help produce better medicines and better treatments and change the focus from reactive to preventive care – “in the hope of preventing an aging population from becoming an overwhelming burden on healthcare systems around the world.”

Some of the leading healthcare trends for 2024 will include:

The use of generative AI in Healthcare

According to Tech Republic, generative AI is a subset of artificial intelligence that describes software that is capable of generating different forms of content  such as text, images, and computer code when prompted by a user. AI is already being used and is the subject of much debate as chatbots allow a user to type and input requests and receive AI-generated output that seems like a human-produced output.

Generative AI uses a process called “deep learning” to “analyze common patterns and arrangements in large sets of data and then use this information to create new, convincing outputs.” For example, chatbots are already being used to write term papers and stories. Generative AI creates more convincing output as the AI algorithms examine more data. Many big tech companies are already using and promoting their generative AI tools.

According to Forbes, generative AI in the medical sector will make it easier to implement and interpret medical data and generate patient recommendations. “It will create synthetic data that can be used to train medical AI algorithms without compromising patient privacy or where there simply isn’t enough relevant real-world data.” Generative AI will be able to create chatbots and virtual assistants that patients and doctors can use during a patient’s treatment.

Personalized medicine

AI will also be used to create better-individualized treatment plans through the use of technology and data. One advanced application area is genomics. Genomics uses artificial intelligence to analyze the DNA of many patients to “diagnose and treat diseases and to create medicines that are personalized to specific people down to the molecular level (sometimes called precision medicine).” Researchers believe personalizing medicine leads to better healthcare outcomes.

Virtual healthcare assistants

Virtual assistants and chatbots, as discussed above, help clinicians by providing advice on the diagnosis, medications, and treatments for specific diseases and disorders. These tools help patients by allowing patients to interface with a virtual assistant in lieu of a medical appointment. Virtual assistants and chatbots can also help schedule appointments and monitor the medications and therapy of the patients. For people who are lonely, virtual assistants can help with the patient’s mental health.

Digital twins

“A digital twin is a virtual model of a real-world system, object, place, tool, or process.” Digital twins can simulate any medical tool from needles to entire hospitals to learn more about how healthcare is provided. Digital twins of the human body and individual organs are already being developed. One digital twin that researchers are working on is a “twin of the human brain, which researchers hope to advance by 2024.”

IoT-powered virtual hospitals and telemedicine 2.0

This healthcare trend includes technology that is linked to the Internet – commonly called the Internet of Things (IoT). Common examples include telemedicine and wearable devices. The aim of this technology is to help patients obtain remote care and monitoring instead of having to make physician and therapy appointments.  Forbes states:

“We call this “telemedicine 2.0” because it goes beyond the simple delivery of remote care, such as remote consultations, to a holistic approach to remote patient care and treatment. Virtual hospital wards are an example of this trend in action in 2024 – where a central location acts as a hub for monitoring multiple patients in their own homes.”

Preventative healthcare

In 2024, the healthcare community is expected to focus on helping patients with wellness, exercise, immunization, and other types of preventive care. Researchers believe that preventive healthcare has long-term benefits for patients, reduces the cost of preventable conditions, and helps prevent or delay disorders from occurring. AI and wearable technology, along with other technical advances, are expected to play important roles in preventive care, early warning of medical problems, and fast intervention.

Virtual and augmented reality in healthcare

Virtual reality (VR) is another healthcare trend that should expand in 2024. One key benefit of VR is in helping patients manage long-term chronic pain.

“It has been shown to be more effective and cause fewer side effects than traditional pharmaceutical pain management, leading to improved quality of life for patients and reduced hospital stays.”

Augmented reality (AR) is helping surgeons by providing digital information as the surgeons work without the need to look at separate screens.

AR is also being used for wound care management, where AR “enables non-invasive assessment of the severity, healing status, and best treatment options for a patient’s wound.”

Elderly care

As the population of the United States and many other countries ages, healthcare systems will need to provide more care and support to seniors. Possible solutions include using technology and other strategies to help people stay in their homes instead of moving to nursing homes, long-term care facilities, hospitals, and hospices.

Technology and science will continue to work in developing medicines and treatments for seniors who develop Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, arthritis, and other healthcare disorders that are common to seniors

3D Printing – from implements to organs

3D printing is a manufacturing process that can help produce various types of healthcare tools and equipment – especially in communities where the cost of original manufacturing of these products is too expensive. Some of the healthcare items that 3D printing can help produce include dental implants, surgical instruments, orthopedic implants, and prosthetics.

Researchers are already working on investigating the viability of 3D-printed organs for transplant “using biological tissue taken from the patient’s body.” If successful, 3-D organs could help save and extend lives for many people nationwide and worldwide.

Convergence of mental and physical healthcare delivery

Typically, medical care for physical injuries has been separate from medical care for a patient’s mental health. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, the medical community has begun to understand how physical and mental health interact. For example, better mental health affects how well patients continue with their physical and occupational therapy.

Other healthcare trends for 2024

A few other possible healthcare trends for 2024 include:

• Digitizing healthcare
• Finding ways to reduce healthcare costs
• Addressing staffing shortages
• Addressing security issues
• Telemedicine

2024 promises to see new advancements and uses for artificial intelligence, virtual assistants, internet applications, elder care, and many other technical and scientific applications. Many of these applications may qualify as drugs or medical devices which means these applications will require FDA approval. Developers and users of new applications need to understand their duty under HIPAA and other consumer privacy laws to protect electronic patient information. Medical companies and practices need to ensure any referrals they make to companies that provide these new applications comply with Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute (AK). The developers and physicians who use or recommend these applications need to honestly represent what these applications can and can’t do.

AI companies, medical application developers, and physicians should contact Cohen Healthcare Law Group, PC to discuss their legal and healthcare compliance requirements. Our experienced healthcare attorneys advise medical businesses and medical practices about healthcare compliance laws and regulations.