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We all can recall that historic moment when the United States’ guidelines mandated the use of EHRs; it changed the healthcare landscape forever. Medical records were digitized. Long-term storage and maintenance costs were reduced. Providers gained the flexibility to access patient data anytime, anywhere. The rate of duplicate procedures, coding errors, and claim rejections improved.
However, over time, it became evident that EHRs are provider-centric, limiting patients’ ability to actively participate in and engage with their medical journey. Ultimately, while providers can treat, it is the patients who control their outcomes.
Lifestyle choices, medication adherence, and keeping appointments play a pivotal role in managing health. EHRs can track medical history, but they don’t natively monitor real-time vitals. Most lack smooth telehealth experiences and struggle to exchange data beyond their own ecosystems. They rarely offer support for nutrition, fitness, or behavioral health. While they display prescriptions, they don’t track usage. And although they can handle scheduling, what about optimizing it?
Fortunately, digital health solutions, now integrated with EHRs, have stepped in to bridge these gaps, leveraging the latest innovations such as AI/ML, remote patient monitoring (RPM), and interoperability.
This blog explores each of these innovations in more detail and examines their disruptive impact on healthcare delivery. Let’s begin.
AI uses various techniques such as Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Deep Learning (DL) to make processes faster, wiser, and more efficient. AI is a broader field including everything related to making machines smart. NLP is a branch of AI that understands, interprets, and generates human language. ML is a subset of AI and refers to systems that can learn on their own. DL is a subset of ML that detects patterns without much human intervention.
With the World Health Organization (WHO) predicting a shortfall of 11 million health workers by 2030, AI is poised to transform the sector. Innovations like AI-powered medical scribes are already reshaping clinical workflows by transcribing doctor-patient interactions in minutes and almost eliminating the burden of manual charting.
Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft, said, and we quote: ‘AI is perhaps the most transformational technology of our time, and healthcare is perhaps AI’s most pressing application.’ Here are a few ways AI is already making successful strides in the healthcare industry.
Patient triage is the process of sorting patients based on the severity of their condition. There are approximately 131 million hospital emergency visits annually in the USA. 19 million of this leads to hospital admissions. Non-urgent visits, recurrent patients, and staff shortages have not only contributed to its surge but also led to negative effects on patient mortality, complications, walkouts, and length of stay. None of the conventional methods, such as extended practice hours, clinician-led triage, and increased emergency staff, could deliver the optimal solution.
However, clinics adopting Agentic AI cite promising outcomes. From automating routine tasks like scheduling, billing, and record-keeping to providing intelligent decision support and predictive analytics, Agentic AI is driving unprecedented improvements in patient care.
For instance, Qventus, a health-tech company, uses AI to predict emergency room bottlenecks by analyzing historical data and real-time inputs. By identifying the severity of cases, AI helps ER staff prioritize patients who need immediate attention, improving patient flow and reducing wait times.
Similarly, AliveCor utilizes an AI-powered triage system to analyze ECG data in real time. It helps doctors determine whether a patient is at risk of arrhythmia or other heart diseases, thereby aiding in faster decision-making and intervention.
Signs and symptoms can identify diseases. AI, proficient at analyzing large datasets and identifying patterns and anomalies, is transforming the healthcare industry by helping detect diseases at an early stage.
In a groundbreaking study, AI outperformed professional radiologists in identifying early-stage lung cancer, achieving a 94% accuracy rate in pinpointing tumors.
When it comes to colon cancer, AI is making strides in improving diagnostic accuracy. A study involving 8,803 participants trained an AI model using a large dataset of colon cancer images. The AI model achieved an accuracy of 0.98 in identifying colon cancer, slightly surpassing pathologists who scored 0.969.
AI’s capability to drive diabetes management, especially for those with Type 1 diabetes, is another area of immense potential. A 2020 study utilized AI to analyze data from continuous glucose monitors, allowing the AI models to predict how meals and insulin affect glucose levels. This led to better control of blood sugar levels and a reduced need for in-person doctor visits.
Value-based care delivered in the most convenient and personalized way, and with unprecedented speed and accuracy, has become the new normal in healthcare delivery. Patients prefer to participate, engage, and drive their health outcomes. Digital health solutions leveraging RPM make this possible more effortlessly than ever.
The increasing demand for better care paved the way for virtual consultation, and its wider adoption is reflected in the growth of the telemedicine market in the United States. The market was valued at $35.75 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $160.45 billion by 2034.
Another reason for this surge is the cost-effectiveness of telehealth services. On average, patients save between $19 to $121 per visit when opting for virtual visits instead of in-person care. Further, it bridges the accessibility gap; rural communities in the U.S. benefit heavily from RPM. With one-fifth of Americans living in rural areas, telehealth bridges access to specialists and timely care, especially in mental health and chronic condition follow-ups.
Besides, RPM advances healthcare delivery by:
In a traditional healthcare setting, preventive care was synonymous with regular visits, medication follow-ups, and lifestyle changes. RPM has redefined the approach by enabling continuous monitoring and addressing any early signs of disease.
Technology provides real-time insights into a patient’s health status. With wearable devices and smart sensors, patients can track everything from blood pressure and heart rate to oxygen levels and glucose levels, all from the comfort of their own home. This convenience empowers patients to take ownership of their health, making it easier to stick to treatment plans and engage in healthier behaviors.
For providers, it has created an ecosystem with fewer office visits, less crowded waiting rooms, and minimized risk of misdiagnosis or delayed care, fostering a shift from reactive to proactive care.
Hospital readmission happens when patients return to the hospital shortly after being discharged. In 2024, nearly 20% of Medicare beneficiaries in the United States were readmitted within 30 days of discharge, highlighting a significant concern.
These readmissions come with unavoidable clinical expenses, but the costs extend beyond that. Patients face a heightened risk of complications, increased healthcare costs, such as higher deductibles and copays, and a disruption to their recovery journey.
Beyond the financial and clinical burden, the emotional and physical toll on patients is profound. Many patients struggle with anxiety or depression due to the ongoing nature of their medical issues, and the constant hospital visits can negatively impact their ability to perform everyday activities, diminishing their motivation.
By continuously monitoring a patient’s health outside traditional healthcare settings, identifying and addressing early warning signs of health deterioration, and offering personalized care, Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) has proven to be a cornerstone in reducing hospital readmission rates.
To optimize our investments in healthcare IT solutions, data from multiple medical sources, devices, and organizations must be flawlessly gathered, analyzed, and disseminated. However, legacy EHRs, medical devices, and other IT systems lack interoperability. Given the sensitive nature of patient data, these transitions require high-end security and role-based access. Digital health solutions bridge this gap by typically leveraging a combination of technologies and standards mentioned below.
Digital health solutions are built on HL7 FHIR standards. This protocol standardizes how data is structured and exchanged. FHIR leverages modern web technologies, such as RESTful APIs, JSON, and XML, that most developers are already familiar with.
This modularity and flexibility make FHIR ideal for cloud-based apps, mobile health (mHealth) solutions, and patient-facing portals. Many federal initiatives, such as the 21st Century Cures Act in the U.S., mandate the use of FHIR APIs to ensure patients and providers have secure and standardized access to electronic health records.
Traditional on-premise systems often struggle with data silos, accessibility issues, and scalability limitations. Digital health solutions leverage cloud-based platforms to provide a centralized repository where healthcare data can be securely stored and accessed from anywhere. These platforms offer advanced features like automatic backups, data encryption, access control, disaster recovery, and audit trails, all of which are essential for compliance and risk management.
Further, cloud-based platforms enhance interoperability by enabling flawless integration with EHRs, lab systems, imaging platforms, wearables, and patient apps. They can also host and manage healthcare APIs and HL7 FHIR services, allowing third-party apps to interface with core systems easily.
Though still in its early stages in healthcare, Blockchain technology holds the potential to solve some of the most persistent challenges in interoperability, particularly around security, data integrity, and trust.
A blockchain is a decentralized digital ledger that records transactions across multiple computers. Each entry is immutable and time-stamped. Once data is written to the blockchain, it cannot be changed or deleted.
In the healthcare context, blockchain can be used to create a unified, longitudinal patient health record that spans hospitals, specialists, pharmacies, and even countries without relying on a single central authority. Patients could control access to their data using secure cryptographic keys, granting providers permission only when necessary.
While widespread adoption is still a few years away due to technical, regulatory, and cultural hurdles, blockchain’s ability to decentralize control, improve auditability, and enhance security positions it as a game-changer in the pursuit of true healthcare interoperability.
At OmniMD, we are reinventing the way you work, think, and deliver care. Igniting a revolution within your practice that disrupts outdated models and sets the stage for exponential growth.
Challenging the traditional model, our solutions act as a financial advisor directly embedded into your workflow, constantly adapting to keep your costs low and your returns high. We obliterate the inefficiencies of legacy systems, giving you complete transparency and the ability to predict and control costs.
Creating a smart, interconnected data ecosystem that not only stores information but actively works with it, our AI-driven platforms transform your data from passive storage to an active decision-making engine.
We believe technology is only as powerful as the people who use it. Redefining the relationship between humans and machines, our products and services don’t just simplify workflows; they enhance human potential. With intuitive tools designed to amplify your team’s expertise, OmniMD reconstructs your practice from a place of efficiency to a hub of innovation.
Whether adding new locations, diversifying services, or upgrading capabilities, our team ensures every phase of your growth is met with unmatched fluidity. After all, with us, it’s about reinventing the very concept of expansion.
See how digital health solutions can elevate your clinic's care and efficiency.
