Technology has impacted the way we do many things. Where it has become a partner in progress is in the healthcare industry. Many developments that were once the subject of science fiction have become reality in recent years. The COVID-19 virus has also pushed technology in healthcare into new places reaching greater heights. In this article, we will take a look at a handful of the most significant healthcare trends to develop this year.
1 – Telemedicine
Telemedicine has become a vital player in the healthcare industry. It has already improved it considerably through the remote delivery of medical services. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine was still mostly an idea that was not seeing a lot of action. Now, telemedicine has become a valued partner in the hands of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. As a result, it has a promising future in the delivery of healthcare to patients who are at home or cannot travel.
Reasons Why Telemedicine Is Growing
Telemedicine has assisted in handling various healthcare sector challenges. They include such things as:
– The increasing cost of the delivery of care
– The decline in health outcomes
– The increased number of patients with chronic diseases who are living longer
– An increase in competition
What Is In The Future For Telemedicine?
The coming years are going to be interesting. Telemedicine will continue to evolve with advancements in technology. Things to expect in the future may include:
– Telemedicine solutions decentralizing the healthcare system
– Better remote health insurance coverage
– Easier to use healthcare applications
– Telemedicine and small practices partnering
– Innovative health software gaining popularity
There is no doubt that telemedicine is trending today. With the ongoing growth in the world of technology and medical technology, in particular, telemedicine is going to pave a new way into the future.
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New technology has brought several changes to many different industries. One such industry where technology has become a valuable partner is in healthcare.
From assisting doctors in every aspect of their role in practice to streamlining operational facilities with data storage and information sharing, the face of healthcare has changed considerably. As technology is always evolving, it is safe to say that it will continue to contribute to the healthcare sector.
In this article, we will explore three of the forces that will have a hand in shaping the future of healthcare.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The role in healthcare played by AI continues to grow. Examples of this include chatbots, AI tech, and AI-assisted software.
Chatbots
Chatbots are used to interact with patients. They ask and answer questions about treatment plans, diagnosis, and much more. The chatbots will “learn” what a specific patient is going through and provide answers that are related to the information it receives. These tools help doctors a great deal by assisting patients in a more effective and accurate means. Chatbots also help doctors who have full schedules and must see many patients in a single day. These virtual appointments lighten that load.
AI Tech
AI tech is used to convert patient records into easy to read digital data. When it is in this format, easily accessible medical records are created and stored on a database. The database will hold a massive amount of patient information and is shareable to anyone who has access to the network. Information can also be easily updated from the database. It has increased communication between medical professionals and made diagnoses must easily in many cases.
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Treatment of colorectal cancer stays in the focus of medical attention due to the high prevalence of pathology and complicated diagnosis making. Systemic therapy is becoming more asked-for as it can be administered instead of invasive interventions and has proven its efficacy at the advanced cancer stages.
Chemotherapy is the most studied type of systemic treatment. It has been applied in the clinical practice for over a few decades. Chemotherapy for colon cancer treatment in Germany includes the administration of both innovative and conventional chemotherapeutic agents with the best safety and effectiveness profiles.
When chemotherapy is performed
According to the colon cancer stage, therapeutic aims, patient’s age, and general health state, chemotherapy is given in the following modes.
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is administered prior to surgical intervention. It shrinks the tumor so that the specialist can remove it completely or with fewer surgical complications. In certain cases, chemotherapeutic agents are given along with radiation therapy, as they make the tumor more sensitive to the irradiation.
Adjuvant chemotherapy is administered after surgical intervention. Its main aim is to kill cancer cells that may have been missed. These include pathological foci in the liver or micrometastases in the other localizations. Adjuvant chemotherapy is a measure of relapse prevention.
Palliative chemotherapy is administered when the tumor is advanced and has already spread to distant organs. Its aim is prolonging life and alleviating symptoms. Palliative chemotherapy is performed in specialized hospitals or, sometimes, on an outpatient basis.
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Back when there were doctor’s house calls and the neighborhood doc was everyone’s physician, it was easy to connect with patients. And while you might think that the internet gives you more avenues to reach out, patients become apprehensive behind a screen when they aren’t familiar with their doctor.
With all the choices in the medical field, it can be overwhelming to choose a doctor who can put their patients at ease, so they’ll keep coming back for treatment. The doctor-patient relationship is an important one, and there are some key things you can do to connect with your patients in the modern age.
Remain Transparent
Patients appreciate a doctor they can count on and who communicates with complete transparency. They want to know about their doctor’s specialty, who they are, and how they treat their patients before they even walk through the door.
Doctors might have their credentials hanging on their wall or their website but that only tells part of their story. One way to connect with patients and explain a doctor’s specialties in a way that patients can relate to is through a medical PR campaign. Bridging the gap between patient and doctor is a great way to build a trusting relationship.
Be Available
When establishing a doctor to patient relationship, the doctor must be available to the patient. There’s nothing more frustrating for a patient than to reach out to their doctor and not receive an answer. The only thing worse is having no way to contact the doctor at all.
To open lines of communication and keep them open, doctors should have a way to contact patients, and patients should have a way to contact their doctor. This connection can be through email or phone, but communication must be a two-way street to be effective.
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Online privacy and security have become a concern for many people as well as businesses all over the world. With the rise of ubiquitous internet, a lot of individuals now appreciate the fact that their private browsing data is always open to hackers and other third parties. For instance, some internet service providers have been accused of scooping and selling user data without their consent which means that you could easily lose your online privacy if you don’t take appropriate measures.
And it isn’t just the internet service providers, other leading tech giants, such as Facebook and Google, can afford to provide free services since they collect and use data to understand their user habits better to display appropriate ads.
Virtual Private Networks (VPN) offer a quick and easy option to help protect your identity online. VPNs work by creating a virtual network that routes all of your smartphone’s or PC’s network traffic through an encrypted tunnel and out through the other side making it seem like you are in whatever location the VPN server is located.
However, choosing the right VPN isn’t a decision that can be taken lightly. With so many options available out there, it can be challenging to choose the right VPN that will suit your unique needs. Luckily, there are lots of things that you can look for in a VPN service to determine if it will match your needs. When researching VPN providers, it can quickly become overwhelming especially if you’re not sure what to look for. Here are some tips to help you figure out the right VPN service.
Evaluate Each VPN’s Qualities by Reading Reviews
Did you know that every VPN company out there prioritises something in their service delivery? It could be encryption, speed, anonymity, or even cost. Therefore, you need to ensure that your priorities match with the goals of the VPN company. For instance, if you want to use your VPN to watch geographically blocked content, you need to ensure that the VPN service you choose has a reputation to unlock content.
The best way to determine the qualities of a particular VPN is by reading VPN reviews before you make up your mind. It is also essential to check the security protocol of the VPN and whether it includes a kill-switch feature.
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The duties of a registered nurse remain very much hands-on and in person. However, much of the learning and training to become an RN is done digitally. The trend took off during the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s likely to remain the norm going forward.
Let’s take a look at various digital resources being used by nursing students to prepare for their future careers:
Online exam prep
Exams are a huge part of nursing school. Preparing for them is key. Whether it’s how to pass the HESI exit exam or what to expect when taking the NCLEX, nursing students rely on digital prep tools and services to show up on test day ready to conquer the world. In addition to digital learning systems, prep services also provide aspiring nurses with study cards covering everything from pharmacology basics to arterial blood gas interpretation. The synchronization of online learning with hard copy materials makes for a successful means of mastering the knowledge needed to become a registered nurse.
Virtual learning systems
While the COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly led to an uptick in online classes across the board, the truth is virtual learning systems were getting used in nursing school before 2020. True, virtual learning has its limits in the healthcare field, but there’s a lot of material that can still be covered online. These systems also let students learn at their own pace and revisit sections as needed. Highly interactive, virtual learning also helps nursing students grasp some of the denser material thrown at them.
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Life as we know has it changed in many different ways, and one of the biggest factors is how we go about our daily lives and how we may operate businesses in the future. The threat of COVID-19 has not gone away, and there are things that we need to start thinking about now that lockdown is easing and restrictions are being lifted. However, what can you do to better conform to the changes and this transition period we are in?
The truth is, technology can help. As this has a lot to do with health and wellbeing, for you personally and also the customers that you may have, is there anyway that technology is helping to make this easier? The answer is yes.
From applications that you can use, to help handheld technology that makes life easier, we wanted to highlight some of the ways technology will help businesses to thrive during this pandemic and for the future as we face this new normal.
Technology enhancements to help within business
There are a lot of things that you might need to think about when it comes to your business aspects and embracing new applications and technology enhancements will help you to succeed in your business and move forward. Applications for tracking and tracing. Apps for collecting customer data and also thinking about making things contactless.
This might be contactless technology for payment or logistics with delivery methods. There is a lot to think about when it comes to your business and technology can help you sail through this strange period. This is when you may need to think about seeking advice from experts in technology business consulting could be a great move as your business needs to navigate contactless sales and also manage customers in a different way. This will only help you to understand the levels of technology that could be implicated within your business to help it thrive now.
Keeping customer details up to date
It is now more important than ever to have the right data of customers stored and to keep these things secure. Which is why software that can help with customer relationship management could be a big plus point for your business now.
Not only is it good for business to have something like a CRM system in place, but with there being more focus on understanding and analyzing where people go for the safety of communities, having this information can be really helpful in the future.
A CRM system is also a useful tool to have the details of your customers to help with marketing. Now more than ever you need to encourage customers to deal with your business and to also help them understand how they can purchase from you and move forward.
Track and trace apps to understand the spread
The government is wanting to try and understand the spread of the virus in the very best way that they can, and this might mean that they need to look at tracking and tracing people’s whereabouts. For example, if your business had 10 people turn up in a day, then a few days later one of those people tested positive for covid-19, then they would need to inform other people in the vicinity that may have been in close contact with that person, including yourself. Track and trace help to manage the spread, and using applications for your business to collate and collect the data is important to help your business to continue to work effectively.
Delivery apps for contactless delivery methods
Another thing that you may need to do is to consider using delivery applications. If your business provides products that can be delivered, then it may be a good idea to focus on tactless delivery methods. This is when using delivery app services and courtiers who have come up with solutions to combat this would be a great help.
It enables the customer to track their parcel, allows them to do things such as provide a safe place or drop off location, and then avoids them having to get in close proximity with them. It might be a small change for you as a business to implement this sort of technology and process, but it could mean a great deal to your customer to feel extra protected when dealing with you as a business.
Understanding ecommerce and making more of it
Another thing that you might need to think about now as a business is the ecommerce and digital side of things. Perhaps during lockdown you reverted to an online system so that you could continue to maintain orders, but a shop is likely not going to be the first choice for people moving forward. Understanding the ecommerce side of things is important to help your business to thrive.
Diversifying the way you have done business during lockdown may have opened your eyes to the possibilities and also expanding your customer reach. A great tip would be to spend some time enhancing the digital aspect of your business. Such as a new website. You could also use this opportunity to link it to social media platforms and work on a strategy to keep them updated. After all, so many are seeking information in the online world that you need your business to adapt, and quick.
Digital thermometers
Finally, if you do have a business location that is opening up then you may want to invest in a digital and contactless thermometer. These are handheld devices where if you wave it in front of the year do for someone it will tell you their temperature.
As a high temperature is a huge factor in the symptoms of covid-19 this could be an essential to help you keep you and everyone in your business safe. Before people enter the business, customers and staff, they could use this handheld device to ensure that their temperature is where it needs to be.
Let’s hope these suggestions help you when it comes to technology in your business.
By Dr. Phyllis Miller, Ph.D., RHIA, RHIT, CHPS, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, AHIMA ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer
As August 21, 2020 marks the 24th anniversary of Bill Clinton’s HIPAA Law, it is not a bad time to reflect on the how the law has been doing. As with any big changes in healthcare, whether the advent of electronic health systems (EHRs) in the past decade or a pandemic like COVID-19, nothing stays the same. All laws, rules and regulation occasionally need some breathing room and this also applies to HIPAA. Here is an update on HIPPA changes and some examples of what not to do.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for enforcing various rules and regulations issued under HIPAA which was amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act to protect the privacy and security of protected health information.
New Telecommunication Rules
During the COVID-19 national emergency, which also constitutes a nationwide public health emergency, health care providers covered by HIPAA can now communicate with patients and provide telehealth services through remote communications technologies. Some of these technologies, and the manner in which they are used by HIPAA’s coverage of health care providers, may now not fully comply with the requirements of the HIPAA Rules.
As an example, a covered health care provider that wants to use audio or video communication technology to provide telehealth to patients during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency can do so. However, this does not mean or imply that the HIPPA rules are not offering the same basic laws of protecting patient’s confidential medical information which they were designed to do. It simply makes the jobs of providers a bit easier while delivering the same level of service to patients suffering from COVID-19.
Business Associates
OCR will also no longer impose penalties against providers and their business associates for violations of certain provisions of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. This change covers good faith uses and disclosures of PHI by business associates for public health and health oversight activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is designed to support federal public health authorities and health oversight agencies (such as the CDC and CMS), state and local health departments, and state emergency operations centers who need access to COVID-19 related data from business associates. These partners can now share this data without risk of a HIPAA penalty.
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