The digital world has brought serious changes to the healthcare industry. It has affected both interactions with patients and administrative procedures. The tendency indicates that, in the future, the process will roll out even more severely, influencing doctors, supporting staff, and IT departments.
Twenty years of HealthTech experience allow me to assume that digital technologies will be even greater embedded in patient care and medical business. Companies are interested in building a rapport with their end users, i.e., patients, doctors, and administrative staff. If the main participants of the enterprise are satisfied with the conditions they work in or receive treatment in, it improves the general performance.
By digital technologies in healthcare, I mean cloud computing, data analytics tools, automation, and artificial intelligence.
Cloud migration in healthcare
The clients of the Belitsoft software development company are healthcare technology companies and businesses. They often come with a request to transfer their solutions to the cloud. What motivates them?
- Simplified IT maintenance. It is a challenge to find skilled IT experts for a healthcare business. Migrating software to the cloud solves this issue, as IT developers can work remotely and there is a possibility of outsourced assistance.
- Scalability option. It might be difficult to predict the capacity of hardware that the corporate system will require in the future. Cloud solutions are easily deployable and convenient to use in cases of unexpected growth in demand.
- Remote treatment. The coronavirus has forced the whole world to adapt to new realities quickly. The possibilities of telemedicine and online doctor appointments are digital consequences of the pandemic. Cloud technologies allow for the remote keeping and management of data, which makes telehealth more accessible.
- Artificial intelligence. Cloud technologies make AI more accessible. Machine learning and natural language processing enable doctors and administrative staff to work with medical and billing documentation more efficiently.
Software developers at the Belitsoft company, among other technologies, use the .NET Core to design cloud solutions. This platform allows us to build responsive and adaptable systems for medical providers. .NET creates resilient cross-platform applications that are user-friendly for the participants and support business growth. A dot net application migration services development company can become a reliable partner in the process of technological improvements.
Leveraging on data
As mentioned in the Gartner research, unstable economic conditions, severe competition, and a demand for digital solutions are forcing healthcare providers to reconsider their ways of running business. By reconsidering, they mean a deeper penetration of digital tools into the domain and a wider usage of data.
In the above research, experts from Gartner predict that 60% of authorizations will be processed electronically by 2026, which is almost twice as many compared with 26% in 2021.
Another prediction concerns patient data and usability. By 2026, 20% of medical enterprises will shift from electronic health records (EHR) to digital front-door solutions. They are applications that allow patients to remotely control their treatment and interactions with medical experts.
Such arguments speak for the necessity to commit to timely legacy application modernization and implement data analytics tools.
Data is vital for all stakeholders in the medical domain. Physicians and other medical personnel need data to ensure consistent treatment inside and outside the clinic walls. Access to patient data, such as health history, should be available to emergency staff who take patients to hospitals and nurses responsible for post-acute care.
Currently, healthcare organizations speak about the necessity of smart data management or, in other terms, data governance. Under this term, the whole framework of measures is meant, including categorizing the information, assigning access rules, and customizing the settings to ensure safe information usage for participants, and others. Data governance results in structured datasets that are convenient to store and use in developing treatment plans, predictive medical modeling, and research.
Automation benefits
The main obstacle that automation helps to overcome in healthcare is staff shortages. High workloads and paperwork force medical staff to perform their duties even on vacation. It leads to burnout and a desire to change jobs. Automating part of the routine chores for physicians solves the issue and increases doctors’ motivation to work.
For instance, digital stethoscopes produced by the company Eko detect heart murmurs. That means a physician can direct a patient to a more detailed examination during a regular check-up. It saves precious time for the patient and streamlines the treatment.
Automation capabilities, in combination with AI, are successfully used in radiology. Doctors are able to interpret images faster. First, the software reads X-rays and MRI scans and checks for deviations from the norm. Then, the system describes images and creates health records. Finally, the program adds lab tests and other medical details to create a complete patient diagnosis. Such an approach leads to less tiresome paperwork, which allows doctors to focus more on the treatment strategy.
Automation helps to improve internal hospital processes, such as triage and helpdesk. Doctors prioritize new patients according to their symptoms. In call centers, automation is used to generate answers to the most common questions. For example, bots can help patients make an appointment or learn about the availability of certain vaccines. Routing calls to particular departments saves time for the callers and shortens the number of call center agents.
Cameras and sensors assist in the nursing care of bedridden patients. If a patient is turning or there is a risk of falling, nurses receive an alert. Other detectors warn personnel of any serious health condition or the necessity of immediate intervention.
To sum up, automation gives medical providers an opportunity to motivate their staff. Clinicians come to medicine to treat people, not to do paperwork. Automated tools let them do their job and feel satisfied with the results. Consequently, businesses experience high staff retention and productivity.
Bottom line
The future is phygital, they say. The combination of qualified physical help and digital solutions brings businesses satisfied customers. For healthcare, this is especially relevant. As software experts, we have the power to lend a shoulder to HealthTech companies in their desire to offer effective technological solutions to medical providers. Digital tools improve administrative processes inside medical institutions and bring the healthcare system to new levels of treatment quality.
About The Author:
Dmitry Baraishuk is a partner and Chief Innovation Officer at the software development company Belitsoft (a Noventiq company) with 20 years of expertise in digital healthcare, custom e-learning software development, and Business Intelligence (BI) implementation.
