Hospitals of the future and investment in the medical industry
Rapidly expanding technologies and demographic changes mean that the hospitals of the future will look very different from those of today. The digital hospital will transform service delivery, patient experience, staff management and operations, and infrastructure design.
Some categories that will be redefined by the revolution in the medical industry are as follows:
- Service delivery: including continuous clinical monitoring, 3D printing for surgeries, use of wearable devices and digital centers.
- Patient experience: Enables seamless, on-demand processes through devices that optimize the digital patient experience.
- Talent development: Process automation allows staff to spend more time providing care and less time on administrative issues or documenting symptoms.
- Operational efficiency: Operations management is driven by digital supply chains, automation and robotics.
- Healing and wellness: The well-being of patients, staff and the environment will be important to consider for hospital designs.
Benefits from robotics applied to medicine
In recent years, robotics applied to medicine has made great progress. There are several medical specialities, especially surgical ones, which have benefited from the use of increasingly precise robots with greater possibilities for diagnosis and treatment of several diseases.
Investment in the medical industry
Medical innovation has become a focus for capital injection in recent years. The pressure on the world’s healthcare system is growing, due to the aging population and the opportunity to develop solutions to this problem. It is estimated that the number of people aged 85 and over, the group most prone to developing chronic diseases, will double to 3.2 million by 2041 and triple by 2066.
According to StartUp Health Insights’ annual report, 2020 was an unprecedented year for the medical industry due to investments nearly tripling from $1.1 billion in 2019 to $3.1 billion in 2020.
The medical device industry is expected to be worth more than $8.5 billion by 2025, with bioelectronic medicine being one of the areas of greatest opportunity.
The market in Latin America
Mexico and Colombia have positioned themselves as the second and third largest medical device markets in Latin America (US$5.412 billion and US$1.153 billion respectively), after Brazil (US$5.222 billion), a position ratified to be maintained according to forecasts until 2024, according to Business Monitor International.
In Colombia, the market is highly dependent on imports, which account for around 80% of total sales. This is an area of opportunity to boost productivity and become more competitive.
Meanwhile, Mexico continues to increase its exports in the medical device industry and is the fifth largest supplier to the United States. The largest concentration is in Baja California, where the country’s most important cluster is located.
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