Rod Cruz, general manager of Healthcare Solutions at AT&T Business, speaks on 5G and the healthcare industry at CES 2020 in Las Vegas, Nev., on Wednesday.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The era of 5G will speed up innovation of the healthcare industry, an expert said, introducing an example of a U.S. hospital that had already adopted 5G in medical services.

The CES 2020 in Las Vegas, Nev., running until Friday this week, opened up a discussion over the healthcare industry in the era of 5G, or the fifth-generation wireless technology for digital cellular networks.

Rod Cruz, general manager of Healthcare Solutions at AT&T Business, explained how 5G technology could affect the healthcare industry at the Digital Health Summit on Wednesday during CES 2020.

Cruz said healthcare is a low-margin business and is not as innovative as other industries. The sector was lagging behind other areas a few years, he said. However, the use of 5G will stimulate changes in the healthcare sector, he noted.

“The healthcare areas that will have the biggest impact from 5G are education and training, remote robotic surgery, cognitive behavioral therapy, and medical record management,” Cruz said.

He cited Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center as an example of the first U.S. hospital to adopt a 5G network. In collaboration with AT&T, Rush University Medical Center introduced a 5G network last year and built Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC), a cloud-based IT service environment.

“Doctors can obtain information from where they want, evaluate, compare, and analyze it in real-time,” Cruz said. “The hospital is researching augmented reality/virtual reality-based cognitive behavioral therapy.”

He went on to say that 5G can be used in healthcare education and training. While people can get information only 10 percent from lectures, 5G can expand experience and help people get more information, he said.

Cruz said he was searching for ways to utilize 5G to change medical education and training.

“By using this technology, a physician with exceptional skills can teach another remotely,” he said. “I have been paying attention to the speed of the telecommunication, but now I am focusing on experiences that 5G can offer.”

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