Technology affects multiple aspects of our everyday lives. It affects how we work, play, and do business.
Technology has also had a tremendous impact on healthcare. From the inventions of the stethoscope and X-ray machines to the advent of wearable medical devices and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in patient portals, technology has long shaped how we provide, receive, and pay for healthcare.
Recent advances in healthcare technology are helping improve the quality of patient care and reduce costs. For healthcare organizations, the promise of these and other potential benefits will likely continue to drive technology adoption.
How Has Technology Improved Healthcare?
In the past, the medical profession has sometimes been slow to adopt new technologies—but that’s changing. The opportunities and possible benefits of these technologies have become impossible for healthcare professionals to ignore.
For example, the prevalence of mobile devices among both healthcare practitioners and patients has opened the door to enhanced communication that benefits all parties. The anywhere connectivity made possible by cloud-based apps and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices enables new and more effective disease diagnosis and treatment. Mobile app and web technologies have also fostered enhanced patient education, allowing individuals to be more involved in choosing from multiple treatment options.
The Value of Medical Technology
How is technology providing value to healthcare organizations—including providers, payers, and patients?
Public Health Improvement
The emergence of the COVID-19 virus demonstrated the need for rapid responses to public health issues from the healthcare community. Technology is critical for enabling healthcare systems to easily share information on issues such as medical treatment options and the spread of illness. With better information sharing, organizations can develop strategies to minimize the effects of diseases on the public. The use of cloud-based systems facilitates information sharing and data interoperability, which can lead to better health outcomes.
Improved Diagnosis and Treatment
The increasing use of mobile devices by healthcare practitioners is helping to improve patient diagnosis and treatment. Practitioners can access medical records on the spot, and discuss the condition of patients with colleagues no matter where everyone is located. Equipped with a tablet computer, access to cloud-based apps, and an Internet connection, practitioners can make more informed decisions regarding treatment and care—from their offices or anywhere else.
Increased Patient Education
Technology empowers patients, helping to deliver to them more healthcare information, faster and more directly. Prospective patients can use websites and cloud-based apps to compare a variety of healthcare facilities to choose the right providers. Current patients can use patient portals to learn more about their medical conditions, access test results, explore treatment options, communicate with their providers, and understand likely outcomes.
By giving patients easy ways to access information, providers and payers can improve patient experiences. Patients in turn can make better, more informed decisions.
Lower Healthcare Costs
Medical technology advancements make it possible to lower healthcare costs in a variety of ways.
Electronic Health Records
The use of electronic health records (EHRs) and other health information technology has helped keep the cost of healthcare in check. Studies have shown that healthcare providers, particularly hospitals, enjoy substantial savings per patient when moving from paper records to meaningfully implemented EHRs.
Some office-based physicians have lagged in adopting EHRs for their medical practices—but they are catching up. They might have been concerned with the regulatory issues involved in processing EHRs and their offices’ lack of technical resources. But they are well aware of the potential benefits of making the move.
Efficient Scheduling
Electronic and interactive appointment scheduling minimizes the occurrence of missed appointments. Enabling patients to schedule and change their own appointments using web portals and cloud-based apps reduces the number of missed appointments and saves healthcare facilities from the costs of wasted time. Care providers can quickly be advised of changes and reschedule other appointments to avoid downtime.
Streamlined Workflow
Medical technologies can help accelerate the administrative workflow for many healthcare organizations. For example, the move to EHRs can eliminate the need to copy patient records or messenger files from one office to another. An improved workflow helps practitioners minimize the time and expense of processing patient information. Patients experience faster responses to health-related queries and more timely treatment recommendations.
Increased connectivity and the centralization of healthcare information in the cloud are streamlining many tasks for nurses and doctors who need to monitor and quickly address patient issues. With the assistance of the right technology solutions, a single employee can monitor multiple patients, providing better care with less legwork.
Reduced Errors
Several technologies have the potential to reduce medical errors. The use of computerized patient order entry, for example, can help eliminate human errors caused when staff members are trying to read handwritten notes or manually copying information.
Advanced technology could also help reduce errors. For example, practitioners could use AI tools to quickly scan a patient’s electronic medical history to uncover any potentially dangerous medication interactions or allergic reactions before prescribing a new medicine.
Better Medical Device Management
Many patients rely on medical devices to maintain their health, manage chronic conditions, or monitor their recovery from surgery and other types of treatment. Increasingly, these devices use built-in IoMT sensors that enable them to be monitored from a central location, where issues can quickly be addressed. Abnormal readings received by monitoring software can alert providers so they can proactively address issues before they become critical.
Patients can save time and travel expenses. When devices are monitored remotely, patients can receive timely advice about when they need to visit their healthcare facility for treatment, and when they need to service or replace their equipment.
Engaging an Experienced Partner
Healthcare organizations can benefit in multiple ways from the advancements in medical technology. In many cases, the foundation for these advancements is the connectivity facilitated by the cloud. Running cloud-based apps can put resources in the hands of doctors, nurses, staff, and patients, wherever they are. Consolidating the information generated from medical devices, patient consultations, and other healthcare facilities in the cloud can help patients and practitioners make informed decisions that lead to better patient outcomes.
Unfortunately, many healthcare organizations find it difficult to take advantage of new medical technology and cloud services because they lack in-house technical expertise. Cloudticity can provide the necessary technical expertise and help organizations capitalize on the huge potential benefits of the public cloud.
To learn more about how Cloudticity can help you achieve digital transformation through cloud adoption and enablement, schedule a free consultation. Or read our free eBook, The Business Case For Public Cloud in Healthcare to learn more about why you should be going cloud-first today.
