Post written by

Forbes Technology Council

Between rising care costs and ever-changing insurance regulations, it’s quite the understatement to say that health care has evolved significantly in recent years. But beyond finance and policy, there’s another big change that’s been working its way through the industry: technology.

Throughout 2017, 10 of the country’s largest tech companies, including Apple, Microsoft and Google, were involved in health care equity deals worth $2.7 billion. This is no small sum, and investments of this scale — combined with the existing technologies owned by these corporations — have the potential to permanently alter the way health care is managed, tracked and executed. Fourteen members of Forbes Technology Council offered their predictions for how the growing presence of tech will ultimately change this industry.

1. Efficiency Will Be The Key Value Proposition For Cost Control 

There is much consolidation in all segments of health care. As companies consolidate, efficiency becomes the key value proposition for cost control. IT is and will continue to be the catalyst and differentiator in this industry. Much like other mature industries, tech will be an indispensable piece of foundational operations. – Alan Dillman, Marbaloo Marketing

2. Care Will Become More Personalized And Effective 

I’m hopeful that technology will enable more personalized care so treatments are more effective. This should also make health care cheaper, as it will require fewer attempts to find an effective treatment, and health care specialists will have more data to work with to make their diagnoses. – Luke Wallace, Bottle Rocket

3. All Industry Stakeholders Will Need To Buy Into Technology 

Having worked at the intersection of technology and health care for most of the past 17 years, I’ve seen countless headlines heralding technology‘s disruption of health care. But it hasn’t happened. Why? Largely due to powerful professional groups, bureaucratic reimbursement policies, passive patients and risk aversion. Unless tech companies address these factors, progress will stall. – Simon Smith, BenchSci

4. What’s Broken About The Health Care System Can Be Fixed 

Tech companies can disrupt what has become a broken business model and reimagine how our health care system should essentially work. It may also make more health care services more accessible to people who previously could not afford certain tests even if they had health insurance. – Chalmers Brown, Due

5. Health Care Giants Will Have The Power To Treat Millions Of Patients Better 

Health care is primed for an inflection point where machine learning, the collection of biomarkers and vertically integrated health providers (Aetna/CVS) will allow health care giants to create walled gardens of millions of patients where they can have better-targeted care, monitor actual success metrics of treatment and monetize within their network just like the large social sites today. – Owen Tran, Points International

6. The Potential Cybersecurity Risks Of Health Tech Will Slow Its Adoption 

Tech investments will drive innovation and improve quality of care in the health care industry, but it will also initially put more lives at risk since most health care products do not have cybersecurity designed into the product. This will slow down the adoption of innovative technology since data privacy and patient safety is weighed against the downside of the insecure health care technology. – Brian Nesmith, Arctic Wolf