Guest Post by Dennis Hung
There has always been change in the healthcare industry, but the pace of change has recently sped up. Medical practitioners are highly knowledgeable and work hard towards being in line with the latest industry research. However, they can’t possibly keep in mind everything they should for each situation.
Even with access to massive amounts of data for the comparison of treatment outcomes, they still need expertise, time to analyze that data, and have it integrated with the medical profile of the patient. Such an in-depth research and statistical analysis goes beyond the scope of a physician. While relying on clinical data and claims data has value, there is a great opportunity for organizations to take their health efforts to the next level by integrating both claims and clinical data. Here are the major technological trends in healthcare right now.
Cloud-Based Electronic Health Records
Around the world, healthcare has mandated that it’s time for healthcare technology to be modernized and cloud computing is part of this transformation. Cloud computing is a structure that allows healthcare facilities to tap advanced computing resources at lower expenses. It also allows on-demand and seamless storage facilities, supports large data sets for radiology images, among other IT areas that traditional software implementations are not capable of. Cloud-based EHR also facilitates the sharing of records among authorized health facilities and physicians in varying geographical areas offering timely access to crucial medical details. Tracking information becomes easy with EHR allowing treatment data, costs, and performance studies to be analyzed in real time and acted upon. Because they are more adaptable, agile and flexible, cloud-based EHR will keep trending.
Patient-Centric Devices
Centricity is about thinking about the patient at every phase of the development process. It caters for safety, efficacy, and the entire spectrum of patients using the prescribed drugs. Almost every hospital around the world is trying to improve the quality of their services to increase patient satisfaction and engagement by making use of patient-centric devices. Wearable technology is looked at as a revolutionary tool that connects patients with healthcare professionals. The devices are on the rise since they have the potential to track the sleep patterns of a patient, physical activities, and more. They are used to monitor the health of a patient on a continuous basis and transfer that data immediately to a physician. That way, a healthcare provider can offer better services for either condition.
Big Data Analytics
The healthcare industry has experienced major advances in the amount of data routinely generated in the past decades. Big data refers to the electronic data sets so complex and large making it difficult to manage with traditional software. In healthcare, big data is overwhelming, not just because it comes with large volumes, but because of its diversity and the speed at which it should be managed. While most of the data is stored in hard copy form, current trends such as PACS system demand digitization of large amounts of data. Digitization is helping healthcare facilities to be more efficient and productive. Beyond cutting down on wasted overheads and boosting profits, big data is being maximized to cure diseases, avoid preventable deaths, and predict epidemics.
Clinical and Claims Data Integration
Health initiatives have a long time relied on either claims or clinical data. While there has been value in this method, healthcare organizations can expect better results by integrating both clinical and claims data. Such integration can help to develop a complete patient view. As such, the overall patient care will only get better. Healthcare organizations get a better insight of complex challenges and how to solve them. This integration can be used to:
- Enhance overall care management.
- Compare recommended healthcare against professional practices.
- Reduce clinical procedures.
- Identify early risk factors.
Claims and clinical data integration allow healthcare professionals to offer high quality and proactive care for patients.
Patient-Centered Care
This is a practice of caring for patients in meaningful and valuable ways. It is about involving patients in the care. The principle behind growing patient-centered care is aimed at reducing costs and improving the quality of healthcare. Maximizing this trend is allowing healthcare givers to improve their clinical outcomes by cultivating on the quality of patient-doctor relationship. At the same time, it is decreasing the use of diagnostic testing, referrals, hospitalization, and prescriptions.
Businesses in the healthcare analytics space will keep changing the way healthcare is delivered. It is a great time to be in the healthcare sector where these five trends continue to impact the reduction of costs and increase service quality.
Dennis Hung is a medical practice consultant and editorial writer with a passion for medical technology and trends in the healthcare world.
