The Great Resignation of 2021 saw millions of Americans quitting their jobs, and surprisingly, hit the healthcare industry hard. The pandemic—and job burnout—were the impetus for many pivoting to new career choices, especially healthcare workers on the frontlines of COVID-19 care. In fact, 534,000 U.S. healthcare workers left their jobs voluntarily in August alone. 

Yet where does healthcare stand today—and tomorrow? Amit Phadnis, GE Officer and Chief Digital Officer at GE Healthcare, recently shared his views on the state of healthcare and what may lie ahead for the field. 

Alleviating burnout through innovation

Phadnis expects to see great things in the way of innovation to help put a damper on burnout. Although obvious during the pandemic, burnout has always been an issue. Consider this: 79% of radiologists, neurologists, cardiologists and critical care physicians say they also felt burned out before the pandemic. The cause? The “abundance of administrative duties and the ‘data deluge’ required to track and follow-up with patients.”

As can be seen in the dental space, Innovation is helping to alleviate the gaps in staffing left by the Great Resignation, with hiring platforms such as:

• OnDiem - connects dental practices with verified dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants and front office professionals
• Cloud Dentistry - the largest dental talent marketplace connecting professionals seeking temp, part-time or full-time work to offices with staffing needs in their area
• Swiss Monkey - virtual front desk services 
• MyDentalGig - technology that gives dental practices the power to deliver top-quality care by vetted experts
• Stynt - simplifies healthcare staffing and credentialing through a review system
  

More AI tools to the rescue

Also predicted are new tools to help ease the administrative load for clinicians and support staff—more specifically, data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). Those that seamlessly integrate into existing workflows, limit screen time and the effort required to input data, will be quickly adopted. For instance, in the dental space, there are several AI-enabled platforms, including:

• Denti.ai - automated diagnostics and charting for dental X-rays, CBCT and Voice data, helps identify pathology and other conditions found on standard radiographs and CBCT
• Diagnocat - AI-driven, cloud-based tool, helps dentists get more valuable data from CBCT, FMX and panoramic images
• DentalXr.ai - fully automated AI X-ray reporting at the push of a button
• Orca Dental AI - combines clinical expertise with machine learning and AI technologies to create diagnostic reports, treatment plan suggestions and smart clinical predictions that assist users across the entire dental value chain
• Videa Health - applies AI to X-ray analysis to unlock insights, experiences and efficiencies that drive breakthroughs in clinical outcomes and economies for dentists and insurers
• 3D Predict® - AI-driven clear aligners, with AI-based technology for real root and bone-based treatment planning
• Pearl - applies proprietary computer vision technologies to read and interpret dental imagery, recognizing and measuring dozens of dental pathologies, restorative features and natural anatomy
• Overjet - uses cutting-edge computer vision, data science and dental research to enable patient-focused and evidence-based care delivery
• Bola AI - helps dentists conduct patient exams and chartings, navigate software and more, all hands free and assistance free 

High-tech solutions to reach out to all

Phadnis also adds that new pathways to care, such as Telehealth, will continue to be “business as usual.” Consider these virtual solutions:

Teledentix offers a full suite of teledental features, including multi-provider video conferences with patients. Dentulu brings teledentistry services to patients through LG smart televisions. The Teledentists® offers 24/7 online dental care by mobile app, phone or web. And, MouthwatchTM provides TeleDent solutions such as live video conferencing, cloud collaboration with the practice and secure patient messaging. 

Phadnis also sees remote monitoring devices providing the ability to check on patients in rural areas or those with difficulty finding transportation to get to the doctor. And the use of predictive analytics will continue to identify at-risk patients before they incur a disease, so that preventive steps can be taken.

Improved medical outcomes

Phadnis also has great hope for precision medicine. He predicts that in 2022, genomics—the study of a person’s genes or DNA—will move to center stage, as we’ll see the availability of tools and techniques to treat diseases and disorders based on each person’s genetic fingerprint, environment and lifestyle. 

In the dental space, we’re seeing that already. Industry leaders in diagnostics and therapeutics, Bristle Health and Oral Genome, offer at-home saliva tests as preventive measures against oral disease and common dental issues. Brick Built Therapeutics develops live biotherapeutic products for prevention and treatment of periodontal disease, caries (cavities) and oral candidiasis (thrush). And OralDNA Labs® helps healthcare providers treat, heal and inspire oral health through salivary diagnostics. 

Bright future ahead

Despite a trying last two years, the future looks bright for healthcare--and the dental space, in particular—with innovation and bright ideas taking the spotlight to improve processes, outlooks and outcomes.