About two decades ago who would’ve thought of the invention of Nano robots that are able to carry drugs all the way to the human bloodstream?
It’s happening. Technology is revolutionizing the conventional ‘human country doctor’ health care and there’s not much to be surprised of. With modern machines and software taking over the healthcare industry, one often wonders, “What good is technology doing to it?”
Health information technology (HIT – is information technology applied to health and health care. It supports health information management across computerized systems and the secure exchange of health information between consumers, providers, payers, and quality monitors) is the burgeoning specialized combination of information technology, communications, and healthcare and it is altering the course of patient care for the better. Here’s how:
Knowledge Sharing
Practicing medicine is a lifelong learning. Doctors need to be on their toes all the time to acquire the knowledge of the latest developments in their field. Not updating themselves can make their practice stagnant – nobody would want to consult a doctor like that. Health IT brings the knowledge about everything, be it patients, therapies, diseases or medicines at their easy disposal. This knowledge can be easily shared between consultants, patients, and can even be updated when needed. That’s a whole new world of medical science for the doctors and patients to explore.
Improved Coordination
The world is swiftly moving towards specialization. Healthcare is no different. A single hospital stay could mean being under the observation of several different specialists at the same time. These specialists are required to coordinate with each other on every case they deal with. The way forward is paved by health IT. Health IT helps bring everything related to your condition from nutrition to neural complications in tandem with each other. The specialists know which condition can make regular course of treatment difficult for you or which medicine would trigger your skin allergies. The result? There are fewer chances of problems arising in your healthcare.
Better Outcomes
The most significant way IT is transforming the healthcare industry is in the form of better outcomes. Automation streamlines the operations of a medical facility, making them more effective and efficient. It is easier for different doctors and nurses to coordinate and diagnose a particular case. There are less chances of human error which ultimately leads to higher quality and safer care. With less time wasted in going through physical files and other manual work, doctors and nurses have more time on their hands to spend with patients.
About two decades ago who would’ve thought of the invention of Nano robots that are able to carry drugs all the way to the human bloodstream?
It’s happening. Technology is revolutionizing the conventional ‘human country doctor’ health care and there’s not much to be surprised of. With modern machines and software taking over the healthcare industry, one often wonders, “What good is technology doing to it?”
Health information technology (HIT is information technology applied to health and health care. It supports health information management across computerized systems and the secure exchange of health information between consumers, providers, payers, and quality monitors) is the burgeoning specialized combination of information technology, communications, and health care and it is altering the course of patient care for the better. Here’s how:
Knowledge Sharing
Practicing medicine is a lifelong learning. Doctors need to be on their toes all the time to acquire the knowledge of the latest developments in their field. Not updating themselves can make their practice stagnant – nobody would want to consult a doctor like that. Health IT brings the knowledge about everything, be it patients, therapies, diseases or medicines at their easy disposal. This knowledge can be easily shared between consultants, patients, and can even be updated when needed. That’s a whole new world of medical science for the doctors and patients to explore.
Improved Coordination
The world is swiftly moving towards specialization. Healthcare is no different. A single hospital stay could mean being under the observation of several different specialists at the same time. These specialists are required to coordinate with each other on every case they deal with. The way forward is paved by health IT. Health IT helps bring everything related to your condition from nutrition to neural complications in tandem with each other. The specialists know which condition can make regular course of treatment difficult for you or which medicine would trigger your skin allergies. The result? There are fewer chances of problems arising in your healthcare.
Better Outcomes
The most significant way IT is transforming the healthcare industry is in the form of better outcomes. Automation streamlines the operations of a medical facility, making them more effective and efficient. It is easier for different doctors and nurses to coordinate and diagnose a particular case. There are less chances of human error which ultimately leads to higher quality and safer care. With less time wasted in going through physical files and other manual work, doctors and nurses have more time on their hands to spend with patients.
The Patient’s Involvement
If anything, health IT has made patients increasingly vigilant about their health. It enables them to gain electronic access to their medical history, health records, and doctor’s recommendations. They get a chance to take control of their health. Patients’ portals and online knowledge hubs help patients educate themselves about their conditions, its symptoms and treatment procedures. Health IT makes it easier for patients to get in touch with doctors and nurses for better health outcomes and medical care.
A question that many businesses dither about is whether outsourcing their billing will be profitable to them or not. Third-party services can help make billing smoother as compared to the in-house process that involves using billing software. While some practices think outsourcing to be the right decision because that allows them to make use of the experts, their resources, and the timely manner in which the job is finished. However, others think doing it all in-house will help them maintain control over their practice. Caught in the same conundrum? Don’t worry! We can help! Here are a few reasons why outsourcing is a good idea:
In-house billing is costly
If you have been thinking that outsourcing is expensive then just try adding the expenses of in-house billing and you are in for a surprise. The expenses will include:
What you will be paying the billers
How much employee benefits will cost you
How much the technology systems will cost you
Outsourced billing is less expensive
Outsourcing seems like a good idea for startups, especially small ones, and transitioning businesses dealing with an employee who has resigned.
In-house billing comes with liabilities
A billing department is chock full of liabilities. Here are two of the sources from which said liabilities may originate:
Embezzlement
Employee neglect
Thus, they require constant and strict supervision from the manager all the time.
IT solutions are intended to making businesses more efficiently run and developed. In terms of medical practice, the business extends way beyond tending to patients only. Factors such as keeping both medical and billing record of patients, scheduling appointments that do not clash with each other, adhering to medical laws and regulations, and maintaining cross communication with patients as well as the support staff are central to smooth running of the medical practice.
The streamlining of these central factors among others constitutes “medical practice management” that is fueled and run consistently with the application of IT Solutions. These mainly include the usage of relevant software to help keep up with the daily operations; be it the medical activities or the administrative and support activities.
Some of the ways information technology solutions can help streamline your medical practice have been discussed in detail below.
Record Keeping
Higher the number of patients a medical practice tends to see, the trickier it is to keep up with the specific information and follow up instructions for them. IT solutions help manage the plethora of information ranging from medical record numbers to past medical prescriptions, medical tests history and health graph of specific patients. Employment of software such as the electronic health record help streamline these jobs, thereby making it easier to access detailed data regarding each patient.
Same goes for billing records. The best part about such software is their ability to converge different aspects of information about a patient at a single point, accessible through the patient’s medical record number prescribed by the practice.
