Healthcare technology is constantly evolving, and the past week is testament to the fact that healthcare technology is a booming business of the modern age. The medical system's ability to help the sick and injured is expanding on a daily basis, and as a result more groups are interested in funding emerging technologies. This creates a cascading domino effect, which leads to more medical innovation and an even greater number of investors, resulting in a healthier population worldwide.
Speaking of investments, the Frost & Sullivan research group has identified the healthcare industry as a future investment target for venture capital groups, among others. Frost & Sullivan's recently published “Private Equity and Venture Capital Investments in Global Healthcare Industry” report notes that while there was a decline in large venture capital investments between the years of 2011 and 2013, smaller private equity deal values slowly increased during that same time frame – by about six percent on average. The apparent trend is that mid-sized investments are increasing in popularity, while larger deals are on the decline overall. With more smaller investors making their voices heard, this means that smaller start-up programs are the more likely targets for investment, leading to higher competition and greater innovation.
Meanwhile, more than 37,000 clinicians, executives, health IT professionals and vendors visited the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando for the annual Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society meeting (HIMSS 2014). This year's convention was densely packed with information, as the speakers discussed everything to do with new products, policies, and issues relating to information technology and how it pertains to the medical field. Ultimately, they identified 2014 as the “year of the patient,” placing an increasing focus on patient interactions and ensuring that they are favorable. Patients should always take priority in any medical situation, and though several new data center services have optimized healthcare networks to be more efficient, it is still important to make it a point to directly oversee patient health whenever possible.
The practice of telehealth, where patients contact their doctors through a video-conferencing service to take part in medical appointments, is also seeing an increased surge of interest within the New Engend Telehealth Consortium (NETC). Citing the usefulness of telehealth to directly contact patients who are in rural and otherwise difficult to access areas, the NETC has chosen to implement FiberLight data center services that will help create a network for enhancing rural communications. The data center network will help connect rural healthcare services with their urban counterparts, which will deliver quality healthcare to patients no matter where they are.
