Patients to take more control of healthcare with 5G

Ericsson has published its latest ConsumerLab report, From Healthcare to Homecare. The report reveals consumer insights on the impact of 5G on the future of healthcare and its transformation across preventative, routine and post-operative care.

The report states that next-generation networks will be pivotal in healthcare transformation, providing transmission efficiency in an ecosystem of feedback and alerts, mobility and low latency. The networks will become a vehicle for a range of applications, including remote monitoring through medical-grade wearables, virtual doctor-patient interaction, and remotely operated robotic surgery.

Key findings include the decentralization of healthcare moving from hospitals towards homes. Also, that patient data is becoming more centralized, turning hospitals into data centers. Increasing dependence on wearables and remote treatments makes 5G essential to provide reliable and secure services. Evolving consumer expectations, anytime patient data access, and increased internet use are also making way for non-traditional players to disrupt the healthcare industry.

• Among main Ericsson ConsumerLab report findings, patients believe online consultation will reduce the pain of waiting times
• Consumers to take more control over monitoring health with wearables when 5G improves reliability and security
• Industry players are counting on increased online access to centralized patient data to positively impact healthcare services

This report covers insights from an online survey of 4,500 advanced smartphone/mobile broadband users in Germany, Japan, South Korea, the UK and the US plus an online survey of 900 decision makers across six industries in these countries – healthcare, insurance, medical technology companies, telecom operators, app developers/aggregators and government regulatory bodies.