1. ECRI names top 10 healthtech hazards for 2024

With more people using devices for medical care at home, there’s a large risk of not knowing how to use such technology properly. The nonprofit patient safety organisation ECRI identified this as the top health technology hazard for 2024. Other hazards include drug compounding without technology safeguards, insufficient governance of AI in medical technologies and ransomware.

2. Hospitals not seeing ROI from tech investments yet, but expect to: EY

A majority (71 per cent) of 100 healthcare executives surveyed by EY find that new technologies have not decreased overall hospital expenses, but 96 per cent say they believe that technology investments will eventually provide cost savings benefits.

3. Two-thirds of European insurers plan to increase digital investments

Over the next two years, 66 per cent of European insurers plan to increase their investments in digital technologies, according to ISG’s Pulse Check – State of the European Insurance Industry survey. The top areas of investment include payment channels (68 per cent), cybersecurity (63 per cent), augmented and virtual reality (63 per cent) and artificial intelligence (59 per cent).

4. Private instance of ChatGPT improves understandability of patient summaries from 13% to 81%

Using one of the first private instances of ChatGPT to comply with US patient privacy standards, the medical centre NYU Langone Health found that the generative artificial intelligence tool improved the readability of discharge summaries for patients, with understandability scores increasing from 13 per cent to 81 per cent. “Such tools could reduce patient anxiety even as they save each provider hours each week in medical paperwork, a major source of burnout,” says Jonah Feldman, senior study author.

5. Advances in healthtech make it easier to provide acute hospital care at home

Providing acute hospital care at home has become easier with advances in healthcare technology, and a study by Mass General Brigham finds that the option provides many benefits to patients. “It was reassuring to see that there were not clinically meaningful differences in outcomes across marginalized populations, because we know that there are massive disparities in outcomes for traditional hospitalization,” said author David Michael Levine, clinical director for research and development for Mass General Brigham’s Healthcare at Home. “This suggests home hospital can really reach a diverse group of patients and families.”

6. ‘Mildly accurate’ AI apps can negatively impact health: Brookings

Using a simulation tool to conduct thought experiments about artificial intelligence (AI) applications in healthcare, the Brookings Institution found that a mildly accurate – rather than an accurate or very accurate – AI model can have an overall negative impact on population health. The research also found that the technology can worsen health disparaties, depending on AI biases and social differences in levels of trust in AI. The researchers advise users and policymakers to consider potential pitfalls early in any AI project, to proactively explore social contexts and behavioural factors, and to keep a focus on long-term effects.

7. Pharma organisations plan to double spending on digitalisation, lab transformation

Pharmaceutical organisations plan to almost double their investments in lab transformation by 2025 to accelerate digitalisation, use artificial intelligence and modernise processes, according to a report from the Capgemini Research Institute. The research found that large pharma organisations plan to increase their investments in lab transformation from 4 per cent of revenue to up to 7 per cent.

8. EY survey finds growing focus on data and tech to improve health equity

In a survey of 500 health equity leaders, EY found a 50 per cent increase in respondents who say they will prioritise data, artificial intelligence and technology strategies to improve health equity. The survey also identified top challenges to meeting health equity goals, including a lack of financial commitment (36 per cent) and the lack of an articulated business case (28 per cent).

9. Healthcare payers and providers need to prepare now for AI compliance: HFS Research

Over 70 per cent of healthcare payers and providers expect that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) will have the greatest impacts on patient engagement and health and wellness, HFS Research reports. Based on those findings, HFS Research recommends organisations to work now to build a compliance framework for their AI efforts. “The consequences of not doing so are not just penalties; in healthcare, it could be the difference between life and death,” write researchers Jahnavi Ravindranath and Rohan Kulkarni.

10. African healthtech funding outperformed region’s overall tech sector in 2023

The African healthtech sector raised $167 million in 2023, 2 per cent less than in 2022 but better than the continent’s overall tech industry, which saw a 39 per cent decline last year, according to a report from Salient Advisory. Funding for women-led healthtech startups increased by more than 2,000 per cent in 2023, to $52 million. Included in that amount was $21 million for Series B funding for Kasha, a digital retail platform that provides last-mile access to health products and consumer goods.