A report published by Accenture argues that the metaverse can disrupt the traditional healthcare industry.
More About the Report
Titled, Digital Health Technology Vision 2022, the report concludes that the metaverse can have a positive impact on the healthcare industry. Completed on a global scale, the survey consisted of 391 healthcare experts from 10 countries, with more than 80 percent seeing the metaverse in a positive light.
“Ninety-seven percent of healthcare executives believe continuous advances in technology are becoming more reliable than economic, political or social trends in informing their organization’s long-term strategy,” said the report highlighting the importance of technology.
It defines the metaverse as “a spectrum of digitally enhanced worlds, realities and business models that have the power to transform healthcare.”
How is the Metaverse Going to Help?
According to Kaveh Safavi, senior managing director at Accenture Health, “the metaverse could make it easier for people to connect with peers, enterprises, and clinicians. This will make healthcare more accessible and affordable as experts will be able to cater to people in different cities or countries.
In addition, the metaverse can make the industry more secure through the use of blockchain technologies that help protect data and reduce the risk of cyberattacks. The report used the term ‘Web3’ to explain the benefits of blockchain and how it could impact the healthcare industry.
“Healthcare organizations could shift part of their operations to the metaverse and maintain their own internal virtual environments,” Safavi said.
The report highlights how the metaverse could allow employees to collaborate and work from anywhere without difficulty.
“It has the power to eliminate the distrust, friction and fragmentation that patients and healthcare workers experience as they cross platforms, care settings and work environments,” said Safavi while talking about the potential impact of the metaverse on healthcare.
For example, if a doctor notices slow recovery, the doctor could choose to visit the metaverse and view previous procedures performed on the patient to identify the cause of the slow recovery. Moreover, the expert could show the video to the patient to explain the cause.
In addition, the patient may have the option to use the metaverse to manage the healing process. For example, the doctor could use the metaverse to demonstrate suitable exercises and see the patient’s expected recovery rate.
The Timeline is Unknown
Experts like Safavi do not know when the metaverse will start to disrupt the industry. However, they think it is inevitable. They see a large number of providers adopting the concept.
Safavi emphasizes the need for businesses to have the cloud, social, mobile, and analytics technologies needed to build tomorrow’s digital healthcare ecosystem. Furthermore, he highlighted the importance of data.
“This is not just about EMR data,” he said, “It’s the full spectrum of data that represents people, physical items and activity. Unfortunately, many healthcare organizations do not have a way to capture data about people and processes.”
The report is in line with the February Rock Health report that predicted the same future. However, both reports insist that the integration into the healthcare industry may take a while.
