The future of the health care industry will be shaped by five health IT trends, according to a new report released by Accenture, Healthcare IT News reports (McCann, Healthcare IT News, 6/23).

For the Accenture 2015 Healthcare IT Vision report, researchers surveyed:

• 101 health care executives;
• 601 doctors; and
• 1,000 consumers (Pai, MobiHealthNews, 6/23).

Findings

The five trends identified by the report were:

• "Intelligent Enterprise," or a focus on data to help improve clinical outcomes;
• "Internet of Me," or personalized medicine;
• "Outcome Economy," or a system focused on "delivering results," in part through increased data accessibility;
• "Platform (R)evolution," or the increasing prevalence of mobile and cloud platforms that focus on interoperability; and
• "Workforce Reimagined," or the emergence and implementation of new machine technologies.

The report found that 73% of health executives said they have seen a positive return on investment in personalized medicine technologies (Healthcare IT News, 6/23). Such tools include wearable devices that can track patients' fitness and vital signs.

Further, the report found that:

• 85% of physicians said wearable devices can help patients better engage with their own health; and
• 76% of patients said that wearable devices have the potential to help them manage or improve their health (MobiHealthNews, 6/23).

Meanwhile, 41% of executives said their data volumes have jumped by 50%, compared with a year ago (Healthcare IT News, 6/23).

In terms of intelligent machine technologies, the report found that:

• 84% of executives expect that the health care industry within the next three years will need to focus on training machines -- such as algorithms, intelligent software and learning tools -- as much as they focus on training people; and
• 83% of respondents believe that providers will have to manage such machines, as well as employees, due to the increase in clinical data (MobiHealthNews, 6/23).

The report also projected that 66% of health systems in the U.S. will have self-scheduling technologies by 2020 (Healthcare IT News, 6/23).

Kaveh Safavi, global managing director of health care industry at Accenture, in a statement said, "As the digital revolution gains momentum, doctors and clinicians will use machines to augment human labor, personalize care and manage more complex tasks" (MobiHealthNews, 6/23).