Health Tech – Giants in the Industry

As spending on healthcare continues to grow annually, many of the biggest tech giants are looking to enter the healthcare industry and take advantage of its ever-growing profits. The ability to invest significant financial resources in innovative health tech could see companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon enter this market in an attempt to dominate and potentially reinvent how we think about healthcare today.

Of the big US tech companies Alphabet – the parent company of Google – has taken the biggest steps into the healthcare market. Its research subsidiary Verily Life Sciences is working among other projects on the Baseline Study, a project to define human health using genetic and molecular data from millions of people as biomarkers. Calico, another subsidiary of Alphabet, works on the ambitious goal to combat human ageing by harnessing the power of big data and artificial intelligence.

Healthcare Technology: Pros and Cons of Tech Giants

How can tech giants help to improve the healthcare industry?

With huge investment potential, these massive tech companies could transform every aspect of the healthcare industry. From advancing the speed at which a critical diagnosis is made to being able to analyze much larger data sets for patients, the advancements in the healthcare industry could streamline the market and help to save lives.

Which technologies could be useful?

With the advancement of artificial intelligence, the ability to run testing and examinations with increased levels of accuracy at a quicker rate could help with the efficiency of diagnosis. In the eye-health industry, artificial intelligence can perform eye-tests and detect potential problems with levels of accuracy much higher than a human could manage. This technology could help save the sight of many patients with early detection.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of tech giants entering the healthcare market?

The cost of healthcare already divides many countries across socio-economic lines. With the biggest tech companies competing to become the biggest healthtech companies, the disparity between the rich and the poor could widen, with many not able to afford private or expensive healthcare. Even though this is a legitimate worry, the ability for tech giants to quickly advance medical technology will move innovation at a faster pace, which in time could benefit more patients.

Healthcare Technologies and Atheneum

The annual increase in the cost of healthcare shows no sign of slowing, and the presence of giant tech companies in all aspects of the health industry is sure to grow. At Atheneum, we provide a global network of experts, whose experience in healthcare and technology will assist our clients to navigate the intricacies of this fast-paced sector.