The healthcare segment in India has witnessed a shift in the last few years. Earlier, the industry had a particular focus on one particular disease, today, with an excess of processed foods and endless work-shifts; lifestyle upgrades come with an innate compromise on general health, demanding better awareness as well as high specialty care. With ‘touch of a button’ convenience from our smart phones, the physical exertion for routine chores; have rapidly diminished from people’s lives. Technological innovation in healthcare space continues to grow, as healthcare space is at the cusp of transformation towards development. From patient registration to data monitoring, from lab tests to self-care tools, technology in healthcare has evolved more so than ever.
Gadgets like smartphones and tablets are replacing traditional monitoring and recording systems, and people are now given the option of undergoing a full consultation in the privacy of their own homes. For example, people can now get their blood pressure checked either at home with just a call or through mobile applications available on cloud.
Hence there have been a lot of technological advancements in healthcare that have emerged over the last decade. Listed below are few of the technological advancements in healthcare
Electronic Medical Records
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Electronic medical records (EMR), which would enable healthcare providers to have a coded integrated healthcare system, could be a reality in 2016-17 according to experts. Earlier, healthcare providers were lagging behind in converting the patient records from paper to electronic. But with the advent in technology, electronic medical records were introduced that contains a patient’s full medical history in a digital format, allowing doctors immediate access to secure patient data. With EMRs, patients’ health and medication history, laboratory results and more are easily accessible by physicians and health care providers. The future of EHR looks positive if healthcare providers continue to personalize how they use these technologies in their practice. With the efficiencies that electronic health records promise, their widespread use has the potential to result in significant cost savings across our healthcare system.
mHealth
Mobile health is freeing healthcare devices of wires and cords and enabling physicians and patients alike to check on healthcare processes on-the-go. Physicians and service providers can use mHealth tools for orders, documentation and simply to reach more information when with patients. However, mHealth is not only about wireless connectivity. It has also become a tool that allows patients to become active players in their treatment by connecting communication with biometrics.
The mobile health marketplace has lived up to its hype, but where it goes next depends on our changing healthcare needs. The best mHealth app is only useful if it is connected to a network of databases through intelligent tools. These are tools that will enable the development of mHealth. mHealth has the potential to improve quality of care while also reducing strain on resources and healthcare workers. The future of mHealth is bright and growing very near, if not already here.
Analytics
With the shift toward new payment models and the sheer amount of clinical data contained in electronic health records, more and more healthcare groups are looking to analytics solutions for population health management. Healthcare groups are now taking countless approaches to address their analytics needs including combining claims with clinical data. According to a study, the Healthcare Analytics Market is expected to reach $18.7 Billion by 2020 from $5.8 Billion in 2015. Healthcare analytics is the next big thing. With patient traffic increasing every year, health providers require analytics that will guide them to deliver better healthcare facilities to the health seekers.
Cloud
With growing income the demand to access for better healthcare at affordable costs increases. In addition, the overall increase in the buying power of public has started to modify healthcare into a service-oriented industry, holding the patient at the center of its universe. Technology is driving innovation in delivery of quality healthcare. Healthcare cloud computing facilitates faster ease of access of electronic medical records and large storage of medical information in hospitals and clinics. Cloud computing also plays a critical role in patient billing and reduces capital loss which is associated with conservative mode of billing practices. The data on cloud can be accessed from anywhere, anytime. Gone are the days when patients physically carry their records, today patient’s can save their data on cloud and access it during their consultations. The health records of the patient’s data and running applications from the cloud will continue to expand in 2016. Everything will be on cloud and the ePatient will ask for and demand seamless access to their data and applications.
Mobile technology
In recent years, mobile devices have become an essential technology for the healthcare industry, as it enables the healthcare community to adopt a patient-centric approach and minimizing healthcare costs. Mobility in healthcare continues to progress, technological advancements will be mandatory to ensure quality care in the face of change. Mobile devices will be used extensively to access, transmit, receive and store patient’s information and use this as a part of an organization’s internal network or systems such as an electronic health record system. This helps streamline workflow and fosters clinical collaboration.
Virtual Medical Scribes
A virtual medical scribe is a professional who is capable of listening to the discussion between the doctor and patient and interpreting that discussion into meaningful patient Health data. So a doctor using a scribe is free to consult with and examine the patient while the scribe is busy charting the health record in real time.
With many patients coming and going, the precious minutes ticking away, patients struggle in their seats as doctors peek at the screen and at the end of the day, the doctors have to fill the patient’s charts and share. Earlier, physicians have dictated their notes into a tape recorder and given it to transcriptionists to convert into written reports, interpreting medical terminology and abbreviations as they worked.
Wearable technology
People today are showing a strong interest in integrating wearable devices for collecting data on health vital signs. This interest has spurred a race between technology providers from the consumer market and traditional health IT vendors. While wristbands that record steps and calories are popular, these devices give a one-sided picture of the wearer’s health. There are plenty of devices for tracking activity, but there are fewer for measuring blood pressure and vision.
Henceforth, across all health care sectors, there is a demand for creative, thoughtful uses of health informatics, mobile technology, cloud systems, and digital diagnostics. There is tremendous potential for information technology to provide a valuable insight into healthcare space.
Date: April 7, 2016