Emerging Medical Software Development trends in 2021: 2021 Outlook

First medical software programs appeared just some 40 years ago, but they had an enormous impact on the future of the medical industry. The major software medical trend back in the 80s was to create highly-specific code that would run on one medical device at a time. For instance, early MRI scanners would have their own “set of brains”, while life support systems will run a completely different code.

Back then, our understanding of medical software capacity was limited. Things have changed since then. Today, healthcare professionals use various medical software types to power their business operations entirely. Medical software is no longer “tied” to any particular device – it has spread into every single area of business.

But the main question is: did the growth of the medical software development sector stagnate, or does its’ future look bright? To answer this question, we have assessed the current state of software in the medical industry to derive 10+ future medical software development trends.

10+ Medical Software Development Trends Shaping the Industry

If you think that the growth of the medical software development sector is stagnating, then you are wrong. The whole industry is expected to grow to $8.20 billion in 3 years, compared to only $3.50 billion back in 2016.

While there are many reasons why medical software development is booming, we have managed to identify 10+ major medical development trends that are fueling the industry’s growth:

#1: AI & ML in Medical Software Development

The applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions in the medical industry are numerous:

• Artificial Intelligence enables smart image recognition. This means that your ct scans, MRI scans, or virtually any other scan can be read automatically by AI-enabled medical software. This can help you get some insights into your images in a matter of minutes.
• Machine learning algorithms can analyze data about hundreds of past drug tests simultaneously to derive the best treatment for patients with a specific health condition
• Companies can deploy AI-enabled chatbots, which will automatically analyze patient queries in real-time through a simple chat interface, providing actionable feedback.

#2: Advent of Telehealth Solutions in Medical Industry

For most patients, commuting to a hospital every time they need a checkup is a big hassle. Luckily, online medical software enables remote patient monitoring, analysis, and live feedback from a real doctor from the comfort of your home. With the COVID-19 outbreak, telehealth solutions became essential to the operations of any given medical practice in the world, and we can say with certainty that they are here to stay.

#3: Internet of (Healthy) Things

Apart from telemonitoring technologies, wearable technologies are on the rise as well. Nowadays, you can find a myriad of wearable devices, that can monitor your blood pressure, sugar levels, body-mass index, and hundreds of other things all from your wrist.

With the advent of IoT medical solutions, patients can get some basic medical assessment done in seconds as opposed to going to the hospital every week.

#4: Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Medical Solutions

AR and VR open broaden the horizons when it comes to precision training. For instance, Osso VR created a virtual surgical training simulator, which lets new doctors perform a variety of operations on virtual patients. This prepares them for reality in a more immersive and safer way.

This medical practice resulted in 230 percent surgical performance improvement and improved speed of the operations by 20 percent.

#5: Big Data in Healthcare Industry

Did you know that 90 percent of all the data in the healthcare industry comes from medical imaging? And we are talking petabytes of data – that’s a lot of things to process.

Big data solutions can help companies aggregate their data and draw actionable conclusions about their performance in real-time. This means that on a hospital level, medical professionals can better optimize their offering, rates, dosages for patients, and optimize tens of other essential operations at a fraction of the resources that it would normally take in a traditional setting.

#6: 3D Bioprinting

With the advent of advanced 3D printing solutions, things like printing a spare liver, or another set of eyes do not sound so surreal. The 3D bioprinting market is expected to grow to $1.7 billion by the end of 2021 (25% CAGR). While we expect that this sector will need at least another 10-20 years to become more or less available to regular patients, seeing substantial investment into the sector still makes it one of the most acute medical software trends of 2021.

#7: Bionics

Just like the 3D bioprinting sector, the bionic sector is also booming. The only difference is that with bionics, patients will be able to replace lost limbs that simulate the natural behavior of the human body. Bionics is essentially a more advanced version of prosthetic limbs, that will enable amputees to feel their bodies, as opposed to providing merely structural support.

#8: Nanomedicine

Nanobots are cell-sized medical devices, that can transfer a matter from within your blood flow and fight malicious viruses. While nanobots are still in the early stages of development from the technological standpoint, the nanorobotics market is expected to grow to $8.3 billion by 2023 (11.11 CAGR)

#9: Machine-controlled Surgical Operations

Even the best surgeons are human, and they are susceptible to a certain degree of human error. However, with the recent advancements in surgical operations software and hardware, patients are already being operated on using precise machinery, devoid of human error. In the future, we can expect surgeons to become more of medical machine engineers, rather than advanced medical practitioners.

Blockchain Integration in Medical Industry

Blockchain medical solutions hold the promise of transferring all the medical data into a digital ledger that is 100% secure. There are numerous benefits to storing patients’ data on a blockchain rather than on the internal patient management systems of hospitals:

• Complete data security – no one can access medical data without a smart contract in place
• Global centricity of data – having all eggs in one basket is not a bad thing when it comes to data management
• Interoperability – with the centralized storage mechanisms in place, several qualified medical professionals will be able to work on a patient file simultaneously, providing a more complete and efficient service.

Is the future of Medical Software Development Bright?  

Medical software has changed the way medical practices operate forever. The good news is that the progress does not stop here, and many more medical software development sectors open their doors for new life-changing inventions. Make no mistake – medical software development services are only going to get more diversified from now on.

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Maksim Lezginov is a marketing specialist at Scopic. He turns data into insights and optimizes websites for conversions. In his free time, he enjoys writing on technical topics in marketing and plays basketball in a Bulgarian Natinoal League.