While technology has made significant advances in the healthcare sector for some time, its impact was especially evident during the pandemic. In addition to enabling the rapid development of vaccines, technology tools allowed patients to stay in touch with doctors without leaving home, helped regional medical professionals exchange vital information and data on Covid-19’s spread, and more.
A career in healthcare technology is an option for those who are passionate about technology and helping others. There will be many opportunities as the industry undergoes its digital transformation. Below are 16 members of Forbes Technology Council who describe some of the tech-forward roles and functions that will soon be available to healthcare organizations in order to provide the best care possible to patients.
Pictured from left to right: Members
Photos courtesy of the individuals.
1. Systems Integration
Digital health technology is the main story in healthcare. It is essentially a combination of many loosely integrated solutions. This is why systems integration roles are so in demand at third-party providers of healthcare technology and health networks. No matter what your job title, healthcare innovation can be significantly impacted if you are proficient in backend integration. – Nicholas Domnisch, EES Health
2. UX Design and Product Design
It’s a great honor to help improve patient care using new technology. Digital transformation has made an impact on all of us; now, as we embrace software as a medical device, the focus on delightful product design and user experience—for patients, providers, insurance companies and so on—is more critical than ever. It is also necessary to transform digital interaction and experience. – Maya Mandel, Helios
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3. Clinical Technologist
The importance of clinical technologists has been highlighted by the growth of tech solutions that are clinically focused and the increasing democratization of healthcare data. The future roles of clinical architects, digital therapy practitioners, and clinical tech engineers will be required. These roles would supervise clinical tech orchestration, and provide clinical technology for patient treatment. – Trisha Swift, PricewaterhouseCoopers
4. Data Security
Healthcare data is the basis for many important innovations. Data security is key to this opportunity. To unlock healthcare data and promote innovation, healthcare needs to increase the number of data security officers. – Ambuj Kumar, Fortanix
5. Data Engineering
Data engineers are essential for the industry. There is an abundance of data available, from provider and patient data to claims and payer information, thanks to the rapid adoption of electronic healthcare records and healthcare data platforms. Healthcare systems need to protect this data while creating AI models and systems to make it more useful for patient care. – Nate Maslak, Ribbon Health
6. Data Insight Generation
Healthcare is faced with a unique problem: it generates more data than any other sector, but uses it the least. While CTOs and CIOs will still play a vital role, the next decade of health innovation requires a new category of technologists to help mine mountains of data and make the pivotal shift from data aggregation to insight generation—all in the name of better patient and clinician experiences. Saurabha Bhatti, Commure
7. 3D Data Visualization Creation
As advances in artificial intelligence, augmented reality, spatial computing, as well as artificial intelligence continue to be made, there will always be a need for individuals who are skilled in creating insights from 3D data to support the clinical workforce, researchers and administrative functions, as well the patient. This is a new kind of data analyst or data scientist, skilled in visualizations and user interfaces. – Jennifer Esposito, Vivalink
8. Technical Trainer
While it is becoming increasingly important for a healthcare organization to have a person or team (depending on the organization’s size) dedicated to the implementation of technology in its medical practice, it will also be crucial to provide some technical training to all medical personnel. For technology to be used effectively, doctors, nurses, and others will need to understand its capabilities. Peter Abualzolof (Mashvisor)
9. Healthcare Data Analysis
Data sharing can help patients and their families be more transparent at every stage of the medical process. There is a growing number of healthcare data analysts who are familiar with both data interpretation and healthcare terminology. Healthcare data analysis can help reduce the cost of treating patients and healthcare providers, particularly those with chronic conditions. Shashank Garg of InfoCepts
10. Data Entry and Task Automation for Patient Data
More machine learning engineers will be needed in the healthcare automation industry. It’s urgent to help physicians focus on what matters the most: care. Physicians are now required to spend as much time coordinating and organizing information as caring for patients. Automating tasks can improve physician productivity by using machine learning: taking notes, updating electronic medical records, entering billing codes, and so forth. NABLA Delphine Roll
11. Cloud Architecture and Operations
Legacy infrastructure holds back innovation in healthcare. Many healthcare organizations are embarking on a cloud adoption journey to address the increasing demands of patients. However, it is difficult to move some application workloads to cloud due to data regulations. This has led to a rise in demand for cloud skills within the healthcare industry. Maddison Lang, Bell Business Markets
12. Data Integration and Platform Specialist
Healthcare organizations face many challenges, including interoperability. It is impossible to maintain data integrity and standardization across disconnected systems. Healthcare organizations will need to continue to learn integrations and to become familiar with middleware platforms. Alex Waddell, Adobe Care and Wellness
13. Chief Symptoms officer
Chief symptoms officers should have both medical and AI/ML degrees. This person must be able understand the causal relationships between diseases and data and how technology can help to model these relationships. Among the chief symptoms officer’s responsibilities will be managing complex models using symptoms to predict disease. Max Bondar, Trigger Software
14. 3D Printing
3D printing’s ability to shape flexible and rigid plastics enables extensive opportunities to develop medical equipment and, one day, create functioning 3D-printed organs. Healthcare organizations are increasingly investing in 3D printing—both talent and equipment—to overcome medical supply shortages and provide efficient, flexible and low-cost solutions, playing a vital part in medicine. Jeff Wong, EY
15. Data Privacy Risk Analysis
Data privacy is crucial as the healthcare sector enters an era where there is high connectivity and digitalization, accelerated by the pandemic. Since the data involved—confidential patient health information—is highly sensitive and there are high costs associated with breaches, healthcare providers will need to manage the data properly. A qualified data privacy risk analyst can help with this. – Sayandeb Banerjee, TheMathCompany
16. Health Information and Medical Records Technicians
Healthcare technology is the ideal industry for people who love technology and want to help others. The role of a healthcare information technician is crucial as they ensure that patient records are kept up-to-date and secure. A medical records technician also resolves patient records issues. A medical record technician can resolve issues in patient records so that healthcare professionals can provide the best possible care. – Cristian Randieri at Intellisystem Technologies