As in many fields, technology is making a huge impact on healthcare — but in what ways, and how does it help patients? The benefits may be undeniable, but the industry must grapple with many implications as more and more technology is incorporated into the healthcare process at administrative and clinical levels.
On the clinical side, technology in healthcare facilitates more patient engagement. The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., is developing an app for migraine sufferers, says Ryan Johnson, an operations administrator at Mayo and a faculty member in the Master of Arts in Healthcare Administration program at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. Users answer four questions in the app every morning, allowing the healthcare team to analyze which medications work and identify potential migraine triggers.
“Previously, that might have involved multiple phone calls or visits, or the healthcare team would look at the information in three months,” Johnson notes. Information is collected and acted upon much more quickly, to the benefit of patients.
Wearable technology is another area of development that provides the following ways to gather health data:
- Researchers are developing biomarker sensors that can capture readings for specific disease groups
- Healthcare professionals can monitor and track vital signs for patients with conditions like diabetes or heart disease
- Using radio-frequency identification (RFID) tracking to monitor medication use and compliance is another area of inquiry and investigation
- Fitbit and other tools can track exercise and physical activity levels
Such information-collecting technology brings up ethics and privacy issues, which must be considered as it becomes more common. “A lot of patients would be sensitive to all their habits being monitored and recorded,” Johnson says.
Ready to advance your career?
Pursue your Master of Healthcare Administration degree online with Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota to advance your health and human services career.
The Impact of Electronic Health Records
Another significant area where technology is changing the face of healthcare is the transition from paper-based records to electronic health records (EHRs). The federal government allocated billions of dollars for a program that incentivized healthcare providers to adopt EHR systems,1 aiming to improve care by sharing and analyzing healthcare data. This has enhanced the ability of healthcare professionals and researchers to analyze health trends, disease patterns, and effective treatments on a much larger scale. Additionally, it could help reduce costs by preventing redundant tests and improving safety.2 The rollout of this effort has been largely successful, as recent data shows 96 percent of U.S. hospitals have implemented EHR technology.3
However, implementing and using EHRs has exposed many organizational issues and concerns. “Organizations were at such different levels of technological maturity,” says Johnson, who points out that Mayo Clinic had its electronic environment for 20 years before the federal initiative. A rural hospital or small doctor’s office might rely far less on technology and electronic recordkeeping.
Defining standards and figuring out how to ensure all systems can communicate with each other is another consideration for professionals overseeing technology in healthcare management. “That is a big thing for the future if we’re going to make efficient use of all the data,” Johnson says. “How do you work with the million different data points that must be standard in the future? There will be an intense, dedicated focus on that in the coming years.”
Adapting to New Financial Realities
To utilize and manage new technologies, healthcare providers must make significant financial investments. Information security “is the fastest growing expenditure and the top priority for nearly every healthcare organization over the last couple of years,” says Johnson. “Healthcare has such sensitive information. It has amplified the need for investing heavily.”
Ongoing maintenance and upgrades are other areas of investment — requiring large organizations to spend billions of dollars, according to Johnson. “EHRs need to show improved efficiencies that are going to drive costs down — eventually, that will show an ROI,” he says. At the same time, reimbursement is declining, and an aging population is entering government programs like Medicare, so it’s more difficult to pass costs onto patients, as in the past. “It’s starting to pinch organizations from a margin perspective,” says Johnson.
To respond to this new financial reality, organizations have to re-prioritize. “You’ll see less investment in the development of brick-and-mortar facilities and more of a push toward telemedicine and programs that keep patients out of the hospital,” he says.
As healthcare focuses on disease prevention and using technology-enhanced data to prevent and treat illness, the implications of the transformation are potentially life-changing. “We are moving past a traditional workstation into mobile technology,” Johnson says. “The next frontier is the ability to stay engaged with patients with all types of diseases.”
Emerging Technology in Healthcare
The rise of electronic health records is far from the only technological advancement changing healthcare. Let’s explore some of the latest innovations that could help improve patient care and healthcare outcomes:
Virtual Healthcare
The use of electronic health records allows for greater flexibility in how medical professionals access patient data. That access is critical when patients opt for virtual healthcare visits, as physicians need important health information at their fingertips when diagnosing conditions remotely.
Interestingly, recent studies have found that electronic medical records have not made a smooth transition to virtual interactions. As reported by Forbes, 85 percent of U.S. hospitals participating in a recent study encountered issues when uploading or downloading important health information. The study concluded in 2022, after a spike in virtual health visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it speaks to the importance of continuing to improve access to electronic health records among patients and providers alike.4
Cloud-Based Healthcare Data Storage
Images from CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, and other medical images account for the bulk of hospital data storage in the U.S., according to HealthTech. Investing in cloud-based storage can provide ample space for housing large medical images. It also provides remote access to important records used to track conditions and make diagnoses, making this solution ideal for virtual patient visits.5
New Blood Sampling Techniques
Collecting blood samples is an efficient method of checking general patient well-being and investigating symptoms. That said, this process can seem daunting for people afraid of needles, not to mention painful. To solve this challenge, researchers are exploring nonobtrusive methods for performing these tests without drawing blood.6
Additionally, new biosensors are in development so that, when blood must be drawn, physicians and nurses can analyze samples at the bedside. This innovation could accelerate diagnoses in some scenarios by eliminating the need to send samples to outside labs for tests.6
Harnessing AI to Improve Diagnoses
Artificial intelligence is reshaping nearly every industry, healthcare included. Clinicians can utilize predictive analytics and other AI-driven tools to analyze patient data for patterns and insights for improving diagnoses, according to the World Economic Forum.7
Using AI in patient care is particularly promising for understanding rare diseases that are more difficult to diagnose. According to the journal Rare, AI frameworks could assist clinicians in assessing patient data to provide accurate diagnoses of these diseases and deploy effective treatments.8
Harness Technology in Healthcare Administration
Discover how technology’s growing role in healthcare creates new and exciting career opportunities. Request information or call 877-308-9954 to speak with an enrollment counselor about the online Master of Arts in Healthcare Administration degree from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.
Sources
- Pear, R. The New York Times. “Standards Issued for Electronic Health Records.” July 13, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2025, from https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/health/policy/14health.html.
- Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy. Advantages of Electronic Health Records. March 8, 2022. Retrieved May 23, 2025, from https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-are-advantages-electronic-health-records.
- Diaz, N. Becker’s Health IT. “96% of US hospitals have EHRs, but barriers remain to interoperability, ONC says.” March 7, 2023. Retrieved May 21, 2025, from https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/ehrs/96-of-us-hospitals-have-ehrs-but-barriers-remain-to-interoperability-onc-says/.
- Forster, V. Forbes. “Study Finds Rapid Rise Of Telehealth Use In U.S. Hospitals.” July 12, 2024. Retrieved May 21, 2025, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriaforster/2024/07/12/rapid-rise-of-telehealth-use-in-us-hospitals/.
- Marbury, D. HealthTech. “Unlocking Data Flow: High-Performance Storage for Medical Imaging and Analytics.” July 25, 2024. Retrieved May 21, 2025, from https://healthtechmagazine.net/article/2024/07/unlocking-data-flow-high-performance-storage-medical-imaging-and-analytics.
- Nagler, M., Nilius, H., Michielin, G., Masoodi, M., and Largiadèr, C. R. Polish Archives of Internal Medicine. “New diagnostic technologies in laboratory medicine: potential benefits and challenges.” August 8, 2024. Retrieved May 21, 2025, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38884596/.
- World Economic Forum. “How AI is improving diagnostics and health outcomes, transforming healthcare.” September 25, 2024. Retrieved May 22, 2025, from https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/09/ai-diagnostics-health-outcomes/.
- Groza, T., Chan, C., Pearce, D. A., and Baynam, G. Rare. “Realising the potential impact of artificial intelligence for rare diseases – A framework.” 2025. Retrieved May 22, 2025, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950008724000401.
