How Digital Health Transformation Initiatives are Driving Global Healthcare Investment

Digital transformation in healthcare was already well underway before Covid-19, but pandemic-related changes in the way we work and conduct business have accelerated these efforts significantly. Digital health recruitment is just one example of how the landscape has changed as the need for digital health expertise continues to grow.

Workplace closures and restrictions meant that many workers had to work from home if they could, forcing companies to invest in digital technologies to adapt workflows so they could carry on providing essential services. Organizations that may have been hesitant to invest heavily in this area before March 2020 had little choice but to proceed. Fortunately, much of the infrastructure and tools were already in place or at least available to support the transition.

In healthcare, especially, it was critical to do whatever was necessary to ensure continuity of care and support research and innovation. The early months of the pandemic saw a massive surge in digital initiatives, some practical, some strategic, but all aimed at the same goal: to democratize data and to help overburdened and displaced workers do their jobs without any interruption.

Biggest Digital Health Growth in 2022

As healthcare and life sciences become more digitized, we’re seeing significant growth in many areas. Some of these include:

• Telehealth. Access to medical care is challenging for many demographic segments, and telehealth has long been seen as a solution to the disparity. Two years in, we see the benefits from both sides of the gurney. Doctors can see more patients, and patients who may not have traveled to the doctor’s office because of chronic health or mobility issues now have access, and it would seem that there is no going back. Over time, this may even lower the cost of care, which will ostensibly translate to better public health and treatment compliance.
• Remote monitoring and wearables were a rapidly growing sector even before Covid. The data collected from wearables enables doctors, specialists, and researchers to monitor treatments more precisely and make changes quickly, accelerating the time-to-market for new solutions and devices. Wearables and remote monitoring devices are helping to keep people at home and out of hospitals, easing the burden on the healthcare system.
• Surgical robots assisted by AR and VR are helping to bring novel treatments and specialized expertise to remote areas and provide patients with access to advanced procedures they wouldn’t be able to access otherwise.
• Disease monitoring and management apps help patients manage their symptoms outside of the clinic and help doctors collect accurate data to support treatment decisions. Such apps have the potential to save lives and can ease a patient’s anxiety around symptoms or let them know when it’s time to speak to their doctor.
• Clinical trial virtual tools help researchers collect data remotely, enabling virtual trials or supporting clinical trials with virtual aspects.
• HIPAA-compliant communication methods enable doctors to communicate with patients, technicians, and care teams securely, facilitating coordination and continuity of care and reducing delays in treatment delivery. Patients can communicate with their care teams via video, email, or phone, and the interaction is saved within their EHR.

Digital Health Recruitment in 2022

As healthcare continues to skew digital, health recruitment has also experienced notable shifts. Executive talent in healthcare now needs to understand the digital environment and have the vision to see where the trends are leading. If healthcare, research, and pharma organizations are to stay on the leading edge, they need to embrace digital transformation and everything it entails.

Data collected from digital sources will inform innovation, reduce costs, and improve access to care for millions of people. These are the solutions that will solve today’s problems and lead us into a more sustainable future.

As recruiters in digital health, digital transformation has also improved and advanced our service delivery. Digital solutions help us achieve our results faster and more reliably than traditional recruiting methods. That means we can locate, screen, and place high-quality, cutting-edge executive and technical talent in key positions so you can keep on doing what you do best.

Pact and Partners is a trusted executive search agency specializing in life sciences. Our digital health headhunters partner with you to understand your organization’s needs, connecting you with the talent you need to lead the way forward.