Principle Fit: When you believe in what you do everyday

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Digital health is experiencing substantial growth through the implementation of new tools, software and services that serve to improve and modernize our healthcare system. 

New technology around the capabilities of smartphones and wearables, the aspect of convenience, flexibility and availability of these devices, and the prevalence of long-term and chronic illnesses move digital health into the focus of investors, consumers and the healthcare industry.   

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The vast majority of consumers around the world now have access to technology that gives them the power to easily manage their own health and wellbeing through the lifecycle of health care from prevention to diagnosis, monitoring and management of chronic illness:

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As the increase in demand for remote digital health services continues, so does the growth in digital health technology. Equal access to quality digital health services needs to be a top priority so everyone can benefit from these innovations, regardless of economic status or geographic location. 

After the pandemic years giving rise to digital health in never-before-seen urgency, the importance of shaping digital health into an equitable and beneficial healthcare landscape that puts people first is becoming a focus. Embracing technology as an empowering tool for digital health, a more dynamic global healthcare system can lead to improved patient outcomes everywhere.

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New Trends and the Importance of Venture Capital in Digital Health

Venture capital (VC) firms have been playing a role for funding digital health startups for over a decade. VCs bring resources, expertise, and capital to digital health startups that are eager to scale and collaborate to advance digital health services and tools.

Amid the growing complexity of health care delivery, digital health tools offer a way to level the playing field and provide equitable health care to all. By forging strong relationships with venture capitalists who can both understand and appreciate the value of developing digital health tools, real progress is being made in advancing digital health startups and their products to improve digital health access, quality and cost effectiveness worldwide.

Read more on Digital Health Startups on the Key Search blog.

VCs backing digital health startups ultimately enable these startups with highly specific purposes to advance digital healthcare. This in turn optimizes digital health services so that everyone – regardless of background, financial situation, or geographic locale – has access to the highest level of delivery methods available. This has the potential to revolutionize how individuals experience and receive care. 

Recent research suggests that later stage financing is becoming more available for digital health startups across Europe. This indicates a positive development in the market as it shows the success of many digital health startups, growing and scaling to the later stages. Here, their product has proven successful and startups can secure VC funding from international investors from North America and Asia, who are starting to invest in later-stage digital health startups across Europe.

Let’s explore some trends for digital health in 2023.

1. Connected Digital Healthcare

Connected digital health is a combination of digital health solutions, including telehealth, mobile health, and wearables for remote monitoring and management.

An increasing focus on connected digital healthcare systems is expected, because they allow for seamless data transmission and communication between medical professionals and patients. This could include remote monitoring devices such as digital thermometers or blood pressure monitors which can send information directly to physicians without requiring a physical visit to the hospital or doctor’s office. This will allow doctors to provide better, proactive care while minimizing contact between themselves and their patients.

In addition, this connection of various parts of digital health technology enables:

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2. AI in Healthcare

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) within healthcare has grown exponentially over the past few years, with AI playing a vital role in areas such as drug discovery, patient diagnosis and treatment planning. 

In 2023 and beyond, AI technology will become even more integrated into healthcare systems as organizations become comfortable using AI tools across various functions from provider services to post-acute care provisioning. 

In healthcare and other sectors, AI is used to analyze large amounts of data. This is done in order to find and analyze patterns. For healthcare, AI can be used to analyze not only medical patient data from bloodwork to data from wearables but also medical images. As AI technologies become trained on larger amounts of data, adoption of AI-supported healthcare is on the rise with the potential to increase efficiency, provide decision support by making recommendations for diagnosis and treatment, and as a result improve outcomes while reducing time and cost. 

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Additionally, AI will play a key role in automating and optimizing the workflow of administrative processes such as insurance claims management and patient scheduling – further freeing up time for medical personnel so they can focus on providing care for their patients. 

3. Improved Data Security for Health Data

With so much personal health data being collected digitally it is essential that security measures are put into place to protect it from potential breaches or misuse. 

VC firms will continue investing heavily into data security initiatives in digital health as well as other sectors – aiming to create secure systems and protocols that ensure the privacy of patient data while still allowing it to be readily accessible and used responsibly by health organizations when needed.

4. ​​Telehealth Services

Telehealth services are becoming increasingly popular due to their ability to reduce wait times while still providing quality care at lower costs than traditional methods would require. 

Advancing existing telehealth platforms but also developing new ones with a focus on equitable health extending across all layers of society in urban as well as rural areas will have many benefits for patients and medical professionals alike:

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VC firms have been playing an increasingly important role in all aspects of healthcare over the last few years with resources, expertise and capital being provided to help healthcare organizations reach new levels of success. 

As advances are expected across connected digital healthcare systems, improved data security, AI integration, and enhanced telehealth services, it is clear that venture capitalists are helping shape the future landscape of digital health – one which promises increased access, affordability and efficiency.

 

Key Search Hires Your Digital Health Leaders

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Our team of executive recruiters at Key Search are specialists in recruiting leaders for startups and companies in digital health. Our vast network and years of experience in hiring senior leaders for digital health clients across Europe enable Key Search Executive Search to support fast-growing businesses to scale by helping them find and hire top talent.

Interested to find out more about the executive search at Key Search? Our experts have successfully hired senior leaders for a range of European digital health startups to support them during fast-growth times. Our in-depth knowledge of the industry, in-house research and assessment tools allow us to attract and hire the right candidate for your leadership position.

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