Evolving AI in APAC healthcare spark data governance

Rapid digital advancements are reshaping the Asia Pacific healthcare industry, with the majority of healthcare organisations expected to adopt data governance frameworks by 2026. They aim to uphold ethical practices whilst using artificial intelligence (AI) to transform predictive, preventive, and personalised care.

Calvin Lau, research director and head of the public sector in IDC Asia/Pacific, said the digital transformations of the healthcare delivery systems in the region are expected to speed up, but rising inflationary costs could hamper additional healthcare investments.

This compels healthcare providers to rethink and reallocate healthcare budgets more prudently, he said.

“The [COVID-19] pandemic has also exposed the inability of some public health frameworks to provide care adequately to certain sections of society. The pandemic-induced drive to greater healthcare equity, making healthcare more accessible to more people, will be the future healthcare trend in Asia Pacific”, said Lau.

In the process of aligning with the care needs, healthcare organisations are expected to prioritise more on establishing ‘care anywhere’ programs, leveraging clinical data, exploring seamless connectivity, and automating

Apac Seen As A Significant Player In The Iomt Market By 2030

Asia Pacific’s internet of medical things (IoMT) market is projected to expand at a 20% compound annual growth rate by 2030 on skyrocketing demand for remote healthcare solutions, according to a report by market intelligence firm SkyQuest.

“Asia Pacific has emerged as a significant force in the IoMT market and is expected to continue its dominance by 2030,” SkyQuest said in a statement, noting that the anticipated growth will be driven by “increasing investments in the sector, rising demand for advanced medical devices and government initiatives to promote digital health.”

IoMT is a collection of smart medical devices and applications connected within a network through the internet. This allows healthcare providers to monitor patients in real-time, improve accuracy of diagnosis, streamline workflows, track inventory and even automate processes, amongst other things. Globally, the IoMT market is expected to register a 28.9% compound annual growth rate between 2023 and 2030. IoMT solutions and devices could result in $300b worth of savings for the world’s entire healthcare industry according to the study’s estimates. care processes, along with strong anchoring on trust, compliance and explainability, the report said.

Majority of healthcare executives are choosing investments in digital health tech. Robust demand for wearable medical devices for remote patient monitoring as well as advancements in sensor technologies have been the major growth drivers for the sector worldwide. SkyQuest expects this trend to continue throughout the decade as virtual consultations and issuance of electronic prescriptions gain popularity.

The healthcare delivery system in the Asia Pacific is making the transition towards patient-centricity strongly facilitated by the evolution of the digital front door, healthtech ecosystem, and enhanced focus on data, redefining care further into care anywhere, predictive care, and personalised care, said Manoj Vallikkat, senior research manager of healthcare insights in IDC Asia/Pacific.

“Whilst there is focus on the use cases that leverage on emerging technologies, moving forward, the industry will witness increased involvement of LOB (Line of Business) heads along with IT leaders, as part of the ecosystem, in evolving patient-centric care models”, said Vallikkat.

AI in APAC healthcare

A Philips study showed that APAC’s healthcare leaders are at the forefront of adopting AI and predictive analytics. APAC markets are also investing in AI and predictive analytics within the next three years. Caroline Clarke, CEO and EVP of Philips ASEAN Pacific, said it opens opportunities for leaders in healthcare such as in quality, cost, and speed of care but challenges linger.

“The value of data and technology is only strong as the human experience it supports, so the digital transformation approach must be centred around people,” Clarke said.

Ai Gains Ground In Healthcare In Apac

As AI integration starts to reshape healthcare, chatbots, and virtual assistants offer promising benefits such as providing seamless preventive care, symptom identification, and patient engagement.

GlobalData said the platform will increase from US$1.5b in 2019 to US$4.3b in 2024. The data analytics firm cited healthcare companies implementing technologies in healthcare systems such as Genomic Vision, which rolled out FiberSmart. This tech enables visualisation and analysis of long DNA fibres at high resolution.

GlobalData medical analyst Kamilla Kan said the accuracy and efficiency of diagnoses will be improved through AI.

Generative AI

AI chatbot ChatGPT has been hogging the headlines across every industry and even the healthcare sector may find potential uses for it, GlobalData reported.

Tina Deng, principal medical devices analyst at GlobalData, said ChatGPT can be used to assist physicians with bureaucratic tasks such as writing patient letters so doctors can spend more time talking to patients.

The chatbots also have the potential to increase accuracy and effectiveness on “processes for preventive care, symptom identification, and postrecovery care,” said Deng.

AI integration into chatbots and virtual assistants can motivate and interact with patients.

AI can review a patient’s symptoms and then recommend diagnostic advice and different options like virtual check-ins or face-to-face visits with a healthcare professional, GlobalData reported.

These processes can reduce the workload for hospital staff, increase the efficiency of patient flow, and cut healthcare costs. Chatbots can also respond to patient’s questions about medical products and share brand news with customers.

APAC’s telehealth woes: privacy and contacts

Telehealth

Telehealth may be increasing but privacy concerns are still one of the challenges when using such a healthcare platform. A Gilead Sciences study showed that data privacy and the lack of inperson contacts have emerged as key barriers to the adoption of telehealth in APAC markets.

Nearly half of the people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the Asia and Pacific region said data privacy issues are one of their obstacles in using telehealth services.

Specifically, 43% of PLHIV and 35% of individuals at risk (IARs) are concerned about cybersecurity risks when using telehealth.

The second barrier to using telehealth is the lack of in-person contact, with nearly half of IARs, or 47% saying they feel discomfort about this.

Caroline Choi, senior director of medical affairs Asia 5 lead, Gilead Sciences, commented that telehealth may remain high in the post-2020 era but there should still be equity of access.

Choi added, “Not only do HCPs and Community-Based Organizations need to implement innovative forms of care, such as providing e-prescriptions, but healthcare systems must also adapt to the needs of patients when modernising HIV services.

Convenience, flexibility, and improved access to additional HIV information were the top three reasons why they used telehealth.

The study was based on replies from 1,531 respondents, which are composed of 787 PLHIV and 744 IARs, across nine markets in the Asia Pacific. The survey responses were received from June to September 2022.

Telemedicine use remains high Telemedicine apps, a key catalyst for digital healthcare adoption in Asia that saw a surge in usage during the COVID-19 pandemic, have retained high usage levels throughout 2022, reported Bain researchers. The average monthly active app users reached 257 in 2022, which was even higher than 213 in 2021, based on data from Bain.

Digital native companies took up 80% of monthly active app users in 2022, whilst the remaining 20% were served by provider-owned apps. But the provider-owned apps have expanded their share of users from 7% in 2020.

“Digital-native companies continue to lead the telemedicine market in Asia, though provider-owned apps have recently started gaining share. Traditional healthcare providers have the advantage of offering digital and inperson services to an existing, trusting patient base,” Alex Boulton and Vikram Kapur, partners at Bain, said.

But telemedicine adoption may have significantly more headroom in some countries. Usage in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines, whilst fast-growing, considerably lags usage in Singapore, India, and Indonesia, the report noted.

In mature healthcare markets, such as the United States and Europe, service providers have scaled up digital health services in the existing business-to-business ecosystem.

In emerging Asian markets, where private health insurance coverage remains low, and private provider groups are fragmented, digital natives play a more meaningful role, the report noted. Hence, both providers and digital natives can offer a wide range of end-to-end services across digital and in-person care.