Technology has been making significant inroads into the healthcare industry for some time now, but its impact became especially noticeable during the pandemic. In addition to enabling the rapid development of vaccines, technology tools allowed patients to stay in touch with doctors without leaving home, helped regional medical professionals exchange vital information and data on Covid-19’s spread, and more.
Those with a passion both for technology and for helping others might consider a career in healthcare technology, and as the industry continues its widespread digital transformation, there will be plenty of roles to fill. Below, 16 members of Forbes Technology Council describe a few of the tech-forward functions and roles that will soon be coming to healthcare organizations to help medical professionals provide the best possible care to patients.
Members pictured from left to right.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Systems Integration
The major story in healthcare is digital health technology, which in essence lies on top of numerous loosely integrated solutions. Because of that, systems integration roles are in high demand at both third-party healthcare technology providers and health networks. So, no matter your current job, if you understand backend integration, you can significantly impact healthcare innovation. – Nicholas Domnisch, EES Health
2. Product Design And UX
Improving patient care by leveraging new technological capabilities is a true honor. Digital transformation has made an impact on all of us; now, as we embrace software as a medical device, the focus on delightful product design and user experience—for patients, providers, insurance companies and so on—is more critical than ever. Digital experience and interaction also need to be transformed. – Maya Mandel, Helios
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3. Clinical Technologist
The rise of clinically focused tech solutions, paired with the growing democratization of healthcare data, has highlighted the importance of clinical technologists. Future roles that will soon be needed are clinical architects, clinical tech engineers and digital therapy practitioners. These roles would oversee clinical tech orchestration and the provision of clinical technology for patient care. – Trisha Swift, PricewaterhouseCoopers
4. Data Security
Healthcare data provides the raw material for countless essential innovations. This opportunity depends on data security. In addition to careers in data science, the healthcare sector needs to elevate the role of data security officer to liberate protected healthcare information and drive innovation through a data-first approach to security. – Ambuj Kumar, Fortanix
5. Data Engineering
The industry needs data engineers. The rapid adoption of healthcare data platforms and electronic health records, as well as new health data interoperability standards, means that there is a treasure trove of data, from clinical patient data and provider data to claims and payer data. Healthcare systems need to keep this data safe while also creating AI models and systems that leverage that data to improve patient care. – Nate Maslak, Ribbon Health
6. Data Insight Generation
Healthcare faces a unique dilemma: It generates more data than any other industry, yet uses it the least. While CTOs and CIOs will still play a vital role, the next decade of health innovation requires a new category of technologists to help mine mountains of data and make the pivotal shift from data aggregation to insight generation—all in the name of better patient and clinician experiences. – Saurabha Bhatnagar, Commure
7. 3D Data Visualization Creation
As advances in augmented reality, spatial computing and artificial intelligence continue, there will be a greater need for those with skills related to creating insights from data in 3D, optimized to support the needs of the clinical workforce, researchers, administrative functions and the patient. This is a new type of data scientist or analyst, adept in visualization and user interfaces. – Jennifer Esposito, Vivalink
8. Technical Trainer
While it is becoming increasingly important for a healthcare organization to have a person or team (depending on the organization’s size) dedicated to the implementation of technology in its medical practice, it will also be crucial to provide some technical training to all medical personnel. Doctors, nurses and others will need a good understanding of the capacity of technology in order to use it effectively. – Peter Abualzolof, Mashvisor
9. Healthcare Data Analysis
Improved data sharing will help increase transparency at every step of the medical life cycle for patients. I see an increase in healthcare data analysts who understand both healthcare terminology and data interpretation. Healthcare data analysis will help minimize the costs of administering treatment for healthcare providers and for patients, especially those with chronic conditions. – Shashank Garg, InfoCepts
10. Patient Data Entry And Task Automation
The industry will need more machine learning engineers working on healthcare automation. It’s urgent to help physicians focus on what matters the most: care. Today, operational and administrative tasks force doctors to spend as much time organizing information as they do caring for and engaging with patients. Machine learning can support physician productivity through task automation: note-taking, making updates to electronic health records, entering billing codes and so on. – Delphine Groll, NABLA
11. Cloud Architecture And Operations
Innovation in the healthcare industry is being held back by legacy infrastructure. While data regulations make it challenging to move certain application workloads to the cloud, to meet the growing demands of patients, many healthcare organizations are beginning their cloud adoption journey. This has created a demand for cloud skill sets in the healthcare industry. – Maddison Long, Bell Business Markets
12. Data Integration And Platform Specialist
Interoperability is one of the biggest challenges facing healthcare organizations. Data integrity and standardization are impossible across multiple disconnected systems. Learning integrations and familiarizing oneself with middleware platforms will continue to be a necessary skill set within healthcare organizations for years to come. – Alex Waddell, Adobe Care and Wellness
13. Chief Symptoms Officer
A chief symptoms officer should be a person with both medical and AI/ML degrees. This person should deeply understand the causal relationships between data and diseases and be able to apply technology to model these relationships. Among the chief symptoms officer’s responsibilities will be managing complex models using symptoms to predict disease. – Max Bondar, Trigger Software
14. 3D Printing
3D printing’s ability to shape flexible and rigid plastics enables extensive opportunities to develop medical equipment and, one day, create functioning 3D-printed organs. Healthcare organizations are increasingly investing in 3D printing—both talent and equipment—to overcome medical supply shortages and provide efficient, flexible and low-cost solutions, playing a vital part in medicine. – Jeff Wong, EY
15. Data Privacy Risk Analysis
As the healthcare industry enters an era of high connectivity and digitization accelerated by the pandemic, data privacy has become crucial. Since the data involved—confidential patient health information—is highly sensitive and there are high costs associated with breaches, healthcare providers will need to manage the data properly. This is done with the aid of a qualified data privacy risk analyst. – Sayandeb Banerjee, TheMathCompany
16. Health Information And Medical Records Technicians
For those who want to apply technology to help people, the perfect fit is in the healthcare technology industry. A health information technician plays a key role, as they strive to keep patient records up to date and secure. In addition, a medical records technician resolves issues in patient records. Accurate medical records allow healthcare professionals to deliver the best possible care to patients. – Cristian Randieri, Intellisystem Technologies
