Beyond EHR’s and EPR’s: What are the future operating systems in healthcare?

What are the future operating systems in healthcare?

While Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and Electronic Patient Records (EPRs) are foundational to the digital transformation of healthcare, the future operating systems will likely evolve beyond their current capabilities, focusing on greater intelligence, interoperability, and patient-centricity.

Here are some key trends and potential future operating systems in healthcare:

1. AI-Powered Healthcare Platforms:

AI Operating Systems (AI OS): These platforms will act as orchestrators, seamlessly integrating various AI tools for diagnostics, clinical decision support, and workflow automation. They will manage data flow between different AI applications and the existing EHR/EPR infrastructure, improving efficiency and clinical outcomes.
Generative AI Integration: Large Language Models (LLMs) and generative AI will be embedded to assist with clinical documentation (ambient listening and automated summarisation), personalise treatment plans, predict clinical outcomes, and even aid in drug discovery.
AI-driven Ambient Assistance: AI will passively listen to patient-provider conversations and automatically generate clinical notes, reducing administrative burdens and allowing clinicians to focus more on patient interaction.

2. Interoperability Platforms:

Advanced Health Information Exchanges (HIEs): Future HIEs will move beyond basic data sharing to enable more sophisticated data integration and analysis across different healthcare systems and providers, fostering seamless care coordination.
API-Centric Architectures: Healthcare systems will increasingly adopt open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to facilitate easier and more secure data exchange between various applications and devices, promoting innovation and interoperability.
FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) Ecosystems: The widespread adoption of FHIR standards will be crucial for achieving true semantic interoperability, ensuring that data is not only exchanged but also understood consistently across different systems.

3. Patient-Centric Platforms:

Integrated Digital Health Platforms: These platforms will consolidate data from EHRs, wearables, remote monitoring devices, and patient-reported outcomes to provide a holistic view of the patient's health journey.
Personalised Medicine Platforms: Leveraging AI and big data analytics, these systems will analyze individual patient data (genomics, lifestyle, medical history) to deliver tailored treatments and preventative care strategies.
Enhanced Patient Portals and Mobile Health (mHealth) Integration: Future systems will offer more interactive and user-friendly patient portals and seamlessly integrate with mHealth applications, empowering patients to actively participate in their care, access their data, and communicate with providers.

4. Cloud-Based and Distributed Systems:

Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Environments: Healthcare organisations will likely adopt hybrid or multi-cloud strategies to balance security, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.
Edge Computing in Healthcare: For real-time monitoring and analysis of data from medical devices (IoMT - Internet of Medical Things), edge computing will become more prevalent, processing data closer to the source and reducing latency.

5. Specialised Operating Systems for Medical Devices:

Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS): Embedded systems within medical devices will continue to rely on robust RTOS for critical functions, with increasing capabilities for data analysis, secure communication, and integration with broader healthcare networks.
AI-Enabled Device Platforms: Future medical devices will incorporate more sophisticated AI algorithms for real-time diagnostics, personalized therapy delivery, and predictive maintenance.

Key Challenges and Considerations:

Data Security and Privacy: As healthcare systems become more interconnected and data-driven, ensuring robust security measures and adhering to stringent privacy regulations (like GDPR and HIPAA) will be paramount.
Regulatory Compliance: The development and deployment of these advanced operating systems will need to navigate complex and evolving regulatory landscapes.
Interoperability Standards and Adoption: Achieving true interoperability requires consistent and widespread adoption of data standards and exchange protocols.
Usability and Clinician Adoption: Future systems must be designed with user-friendliness in mind to ensure seamless integration into clinical workflows and minimise disruption.
Digital Divide and Equity: Efforts must be made to ensure that these technological advancements benefit all patient populations and do not exacerbate existing health disparities.

The future of healthcare operating systems extends beyond traditional EHRs and EPRs. It envisions a connected ecosystem driven by AI, interoperability, and patient-centricity, ultimately aiming to deliver more efficient, personalised, and higher-quality healthcare.

Nelson Advisors > HealthTech M&A

Nelson Advisors specialise in mergers, acquisitions and partnerships for Digital Health, HealthTech, Health IT, Healthcare Cybersecurity, Healthcare AI companies based in the UK, Europe and North America. www.nelsonadvisors.co.uk

We work with our clients to assess whether they should 'Build, Buy, Partner or Sell' in order to maximise shareholder value and investment returns. Email lloyd@nelsonadvisors.co.uk

Nelson Advisors regularly publish Healthcare Technology thought leadership articles covering market insights, trends, analysis & predictions @ https://www.healthcare.digital

We share our views on the latest Healthcare Technology mergers, acquisitions and partnerships with insights, analysis and predictions in our LinkedIn Newsletter every week, subscribe today! https://lnkd.in/e5hTp_xb

#HealthTech #DigitalHealth #HealthIT #NelsonAdvisors #Mergers #Acquisitions #Growth #Strategy #Cybersecurity #HealthcareAI #Partnerships #NHS #UK #Europe #USA #Canada