AI, blockchain and mHealth apps specific to Big Data are among eight emerging technologies healthcare watchers would do well to keep an eye on, according to a consumer-friendly roundup published Aug. 7 in the Santa Clarita Valley Signal. 

Only half of hospital leaders are conversant in AI and robotic process automation (RPA) technologies aimed at achieving nonclinical efficiencies. However, 23% want to invest in the technologies today and some 50% say they’ll do so by 2021.

The first half of the year has been good to the healthcare space for those startup companies looking for funding, as the sector has seen a record influx of cash, according to a recent report from CB Insights.

An AI health services startup company based in the U.K has raised a whopping $550 million in a recent series C funding round. The company, Babylon Health, developed a chatbot used by the National Health Service in the U.K. and is now valued at more than $2 billion.

An AI-enabled system for detecting seniors’ falls on video monitors has cut unnecessary use of EMT and emergency services by 80% in a pilot study.

AI in healthcare has long been touted as an innovative technology that will accelerate care treatments and even replace some tasks performed by clinicians. But its impact might be inequitable in the future. 

Cerner, a global health platform, has teamed up with Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of Amazon that offer cloud computing platforms, to accelerate healthcare solutions and AI in healthcare.

NIH funding opportunities remain numerous for innovators who apply evidence-based medical science to their proposals for smartphone apps, and the agency isn’t hesitant to get behind AI-based approaches.