By Gevik Nalbandian, vice president of software development, NextGate
Gevik Nalbandian
If you wanted a clear snapshot of the progress we’ve made—or rather, haven’t made—in patient data sharing and exchange, look no further than a new report from the American Hospital Association (AHA) and six other national hospital associations—America’s Essential Hospitals, Association of American Medical Colleges, Catholic Health Association of the United States, Children’s Hospital Association, Federation of American Hospitals and the National Association for Behavioral Healthcare.
Urging all stakeholders to “unite in accelerating interoperability,” the report, released January 22, is a grass roots effort to get hospitals, EHR vendors, consumers, health information exchanges (HIEs), government and medical device companies to come to the table, play their respective roles, and make full interoperability a reality.
The benefits of interoperability are obvious: better care coordination, improved patient safety and care quality, reduced costs, increased efficiencies and the conduit to population health. Interoperability is also increasingly a legal requirement and prerequisite for reimbursement.
So why has healthcare’s goal of industry-wide interoperability remained so elusive?
Healthcare technology continues to proliferate the sector, the developments almost too many to track. The sector abounds with innovation and push forward in the name of better – even the minutest – advancements of care and better care outcomes. The coming year will be no different. As we enter the final year of the 21st century’s second decade, we’ve witnessed a tremendous amount of evolution in just 19 years. What role will our healthcare technology play in the healthcare industry in the next year?
A lot. And not just for a few, but members of many, many areas, even those peripherally involved with the boundaries of care. We must understand where current innovation is, but also the challenges these migrations attempt to solve. Being aware of the trends ahead can give us all a better grasp of how care delivery is changing and we can better understand how new areas can resolve real industry problems.
To help us navigate the year ahead for healthcare and its technology, the following are some of the trends that it leaders, observers, insiders, consultants and investors think are important or need to be taken notice of in 2019.
This digital age belongs to the consumer, and in this age of the consumer, it’s imperative that businesses are consumer-centric. All services and products must revolve around the customer instead of the organization providing or delivering them. Digitization can enable this by unifying data sources and connecting processes. However, when it comes to industries such as healthcare, which deal with sensitive data, there is an evident challenge of data security.
Blockchain, a technology which rose from the hype of cryptocurrency, can address this challenge with its ability to provide secure path for data transactions. Applications of blockchain in healthcare are more real than ever before, today, owing to the changed mindset of the industry leaders and evolution of the blockchain technology itself.
The demand for healthcare is expected to increase dramatically in the coming years. This trend is caused by several factors, including the growth in the elderly population in developed nations and the growing medical expectations in developing ones. Simply put, medical professionals are tasked with treating more and more patients, meanwhile, the number of hours in the day remains unchanged.
Thankfully, technology is on hand to help. In terms of treating more patients without compromising the quality of care, the following are helping doctors and their staff:
The implementation of electronic health record (EHR) is not a new thing in the industry. The digital wave has completely transformed the way medical records were maintaining before and now. With increased demand for efficiency and faster solutions, more and more medical practices are embracing EHR to simplify and organize their data storage process. Initially, many providers were reluctant and hesitant to use EHR. However, with Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs, providers are encouraged to adopt EHR. As a result, since the time EHR implementation began in 2009, around 73 percent of providers have registered for the EHR incentive program.
However, still, some challenges hinder EHR adoption and slow down the process for many. The initial implementation may be easy, but the user experience was not a good one for many.
Here are some of the obstacles that medical practices, healthcare professionals and others from the healthcare industry face while leveraging EHR:
Technology is constantly evolving and changing the way we do things in all areas in your life, including in healthcare. It plays a big role in the healthcare industry because it can help providers diagnose and treat their patients quicker and more efficiently, eliminating the frustration caused by trial and error. Technology in health care is also changing the way patients can take control over their health while keeping a close eye on progress and achievements.
Pillo Health
Pillo is a voice-activated companion that tells you when you’re supposed to take your next dose of medication while dispensing it for you, storing up to 28 days’ worth. This health device is also a hands-free assistant who responds to your voice and/or touch. He can tell you the weather forecast, keep track of your schedule with reminders, set alarms and timers, and tell you nutritional information on foods. If you want a loved one to know how you’re doing, Pillo can keep them notified about when you took your medications and any missed doses with your permission.
By Rom Eizenberg, vice president, Bluvision segment of the identification technologies business within HID Global.
Rom Eizenberg
A doctor or a nurse can find themselves under duress in an instant. A patient unexpectedly attacks a doctor in a room. A nurse, who is leaving her shift at 3 a.m., is jumped by a masked assailant in the hospital parking lot. A patient’s angry family member confronts a doctor about the care protocol or frustration over a lack of response to the treatment. Each of these examples can create threatening situations that generate concern and could pose a risk to the safety of hospital personnel.
Hospitals and other healthcare organizations have a responsibility to protect not only patients but also clinical staff. Growing concern about the dangers that doctors, nurses and other caregivers face on a regular basis is increasing dialogue in the healthcare industry about what is needed to ensure that staff get the support from hospital security teams and law enforcement when they need it – and at exactly the location where they need it.
About 25 percent of nurses experienced workplace violence each year. While the healthcare sector makes up just 9 percent of the overall U.S. workforce, it experiences nearly as many violent injuries as all other industries combined. Between 2005 and 2014, the rate of healthcare workplace violence increased by 110 percent in private-sector hospitals, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
According to a 2015 study published in the Journal of Emergency Nursing, 76 percent of nurses at a private hospital system in Virginia said they had experienced physical or verbal abuse from patients in the previous year. Hospitals can utilize technology more effectively to reduce these violence rates and protect their caregivers, especially if such incidents escalate.
To trigger a duress signal that catapults security forces or police officers to the rescue, healthcare leaders must understand the five key things about an effective response system to address real-time duress during a high-risk situation:
The healthcare industry is already well on its way to digital transformation. While many industries are still taking the first steps on their transformation journeys, most healthcare organizations sit a few stages ahead on this path. This is partly due to significant and widespread regulatory changes around patient data (e.g. HIPAA) – healthcare organizations have had to adopt to new ways of working to stay compliant.
Other factors driving the early adoption of new technology include the rise of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), new competition from organizations like Walmart, and a general shift in patient expectations, who now demand a lot more from healthcare services, especially when it comes to digital, mobile and online services.
In this ever-changing and competitive environment, healthcare organizations must look to continue their digital transformation drive to keep up. Speed and efficiency are central to digital change, and health organizations need to streamline their most important processes if they are to stay one step ahead of the competition.
Two areas for automation in healthcare
Two essential areas where healthcare organizations should look to automate their processes include:
Administrative services
Informational services
These are critical to the healthy functioning of a healthcare organization but also present an incredible amount of potential for big wins when it comes to process automation.
1. Administrative services
Administrative processes are at the heart of every healthcare organization. There are a lot of administrative processes that are key to the successful running of the organization – from taking patient surveys so that patient care is held to the highest standards to the day-to-day management of all employees so that they can perform to the best of their abilities in a fast-paced and often stressful environment.
Administrative procedures must be put in place to ensure compliance, including making sure that protocols are up-to-date with the latest compliance regulations and that employees have all the necessary training.
The demand for healthcare is expected to increase dramatically in the coming years. This trend is caused by several factors, including the growth in the elderly population in developed nations and the growing medical expectations in developing ones. Simply put, medical professionals are tasked with treating more and more patients, meanwhile, the number of hours in the day remains unchanged.
The implementation of electronic health record (EHR) is not a new thing in the industry. The digital wave has completely transformed the way medical records were maintaining before and now. With increased demand for efficiency and faster solutions, more and more medical practices are embracing EHR to simplify and organize their data storage process. Initially, many providers were reluctant and hesitant to use EHR. However, with Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs, providers are encouraged to adopt EHR. As a result, since the time EHR implementation began in 2009, around 73 percent of providers have registered for the EHR incentive program.
Technology is constantly evolving and changing the way we do things in all areas in your life, including in healthcare. It plays a big role in the healthcare industry because it can help providers diagnose and treat their patients quicker and more efficiently, eliminating the frustration caused by trial and error. Technology in health care is also changing the way patients can take control over their health while keeping a close eye on progress and achievements.
The healthcare industry is already well on its way to digital transformation. While many industries are still taking the first steps on their transformation journeys, most healthcare organizations sit a few stages ahead on this path. This is partly due to significant and widespread regulatory changes around patient data (e.g. HIPAA) – healthcare organizations have had to adopt to new ways of working to stay compliant.