health care industry transition to digital

For the Health-Care Industry, a Transition to Digital (Finally) Not long ago, physicians were making handwritten ’ , every patient room now has a computer workstation with software that automatically audits the patient information entered by entries on patient charts and looking up information about doctors and nurses. At Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, nurses scan bar codes on patient wristbands and medications to make sure the right patient gets the right pill at the right time. drug interactions in a manual twice as thick as a big-city Then there’s the new all-digital Pepin Heart Hospital & Dr. Kiran C. Patel Research Institute in Tampa, the result of a collabora- phone book. Most hospitals, too, were mired in paper. But tion between the University Community Health system and GE Healthcare. Rather than wait to see an X-ray or other film-based times are changing. image, Pepin doctors have instant access to digital patient scans and can watch live video broadcasts of surgeries. In operating rooms, a voice-activated system lets surgeons dim lights or adjust air conditioning. For patients, there’s free bedside high-speed Internet access, e-mail, on-demand movies and health education videos. Yet such bells and whistles only hint at what’s to come, as hospitals, managed-care organizations, academic health centers and medical practices now race to deploy wireless and digital technologies to cut costs, improve care and reduce errors. Such Burazin/Getty Images groups have long been meager spenders on information technology, earmarking an average of less than 3% of revenues (com- pared with 10% in the banking industry). But now purse strings are loosening, and the new surge in spending has the potential to do for health care what IT investment did for the financial services industry, which put billions of dollars into ATMs, >> >>electronic banking and other tech initiatives during recent decades, says Scott Lundstrom, a vice president at market research firm IDC in Framingham, Mass. A digital health system could allow insurers and the government to track physician performance and reward high-quality providers as well as promote personalized treatment and standardized national electronic health records, Lundstrom says. No Wires, No Barriers According to a recent survey by Cisco Research in Boston, one in three health- Tktk tktkt ktt care organizations now deploys wireless local area networks (WLAN), which use high- frequency radio waves to communicate—a cheaper, more effective alternative to tradi- tional wiring for connecting computers and doctors, particularly in aging buildings. And found that more than half of U.S. doctors regularly incorporate some kind of handheld Picture perfect. Pepin Heart Hospital’s operating rooms feature flat screens a recent IDC study found that more than 60% of respondents in the health-care field reported using industry-specific wireless computer into their work. This willingness to use technology, says Ellen Daly, a Cisco that display vital patient images and voice-activated cameras that zoom in on Research analyst, is opening the floodgates surgical fields. New devices will make the home as important a health- to other portable clinical solutions. Doctors care facility as a hospital, says research analyst Harry Wang. and nurses, constantly on the move from room . . to room and patient to patient, benefit enor- ( ) mously if they’re able to make entries on a 2004 $1.1 applications, a number that dwarfs the percentage of respondents in other industries. patient chart, check prescription data and have access to other resources when they’re actually with a 2005 2006 $1.5 $2.2 Admissions assessments, bedside charting, medication administration, patient records, patient, Daly says. “They have all the information they need to make the best decision 2007 $2.9 nursing shift reports, supply inventories and emergency communications are among the immediately,” she explains. 2008 $3.7 work that has gone wireless. Around-the-Clock Connections 2009 $5.0 Meanwhile, other technological advances are giving some patients a 24/7 lifeline directly Source: The Focal Point Group Physicians, slow to embrace the shift toward electronic communication, now seem par- from their homes and jobs to their physician’s or hospital’s computers. For example, ticularly avid. A survey by the American Medical Association and Cisco Research Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx >> the need for on-site office visits. “Patients at home or at work increasingly can see their diagnoses, treatment information and lab results,” Wang says. And as better-informed medical consumers, they’re more likely to comply with treatment regimens and be satisfied with their care. Speed Bumps Of course, with increasing amounts of sensitive medical information being sent back and forth electronically, security is a concern, particularly for health-care organizations bound by the privacy requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act. This has led to innovations in data security—for example, systems that let physicians and others collect and transmit patient information and then store the data in a secure central location. Virtual imaging. At Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, radiologists can immediately pull up digital patient scans rather than wait for film. Other challenges include integrating disparate IT systems, as well as overcoming financial, cultural and regulatory barriers. Perhaps the biggest hurdle—transforming what remains essentially a paper- based medical-records system >> to one that is electronic, accessible and secure—may take sponsors an “electronic nurse” system that monitors the vital signs of heart patients at home. An electronic scale measures and transmits data about changes in weight, a peak flow meter checks lung capac- another decade to surmount, says Rod Piechowski, vice presi- ity, a glucometer measures blood sugar levels, a pulse oximeter reads blood oxygen levels and a blood pressure cuff checks for hyperten- dent of technology leadership at the National Alliance for Health sion. Data from all these monitoring gadgets flow through a regular phone line to Montefiore, where human nurses keep tabs. Information Technology in Chicago. But like many industry watchers, Piechowski forecasts a bright electronic future for health Harry Wang, a research analyst at Parks Associates in Dallas, expects home care to be further transformed, particularly for aging baby boom- care. “No other industry has the same opportunity to benefit from Restricted access. At Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, a nurse scans her ers, as technological capabilities evolve. Sensors and video cameras, for example, can serve as remote monitoring and diagnostic tools, helping the experiences and mistakes of everyone else during the past older people enjoy a safe life at home. “The home will be as important a health-care facility as a physician’s office or a hospital,” Wang predicts. ID badge into the computer system in the first step of 40 years,” he says. “Health care can cherry-pick from all the best a process to ensure safe medication administration. The Internet, too, continues to be a significant catalyst for change in health care, giving patients access to medical, health and phar- IT solutions in modernizing its operations. The impact will be maceutical information, no matter where they are, and minimizing positive for everyone.” • To read more about technological trends in health care and to find out how can meet your organization’s challenges,
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