Reducing The Gap In Consumer Demand For Smarter Healthcare Delivery
By Kumar Venkatesiah
It’s no secret healthcare is slow and orthodox when it comes to adoption of new technology. Yet, if you look at the explosion of health-related wearable tech in recent years, it’d be hard not to conclude there is massive demand from consumers for innovation in this field. With the wearable tech industry expected to hit $34 billion by 2020, more people will be using fitness bands and heart rate monitors to exercise, track their weight, and watch their vitals. By nature, these devices collect a large amount of health related data that medical professionals dismiss when it comes time for diagnosis and treatment.
This disconnect mainly stems from strict government-enforced regulations and an unwillingness to adapt to change from medical professionals. While innovation lags greatly behind what consumers would prefer, strides in the right direction are being made. Telehealth and eHealth are two emerging fields in which healthcare providers use technology and data to provide care at convenience and to those who previously lacked access. The result is a marked increase patient engagement rates.
Remote Healthcare Delivery
Telehealth involves the use of technology to deliver healthcare remotely or from a distance. In other words, the patient and doctor don’t need to be physically present in the same room, city, state, or even country. Medical professionals can make an accurate diagnosis of patients who otherwise may not have access to qualified professionals in their area, may simply be too busy to physically visit a doctor, or be ashamed of being seen at a medical institution.
A video-call is hosted in which patients and doctors replicate a live interaction. If a visual diagnosis can’t be made, patients can instantly share data related to blood pressure, glucose levels, or heart rate electronically. If more advanced examinations are needed (such as CT scans or MRI), a patient can get these done at any lab, share the results, and wait for their diagnosis. While questions related to patient confidentiality and data integrity remain, the willingness of both parties to engage in this activity is a sign of what’s to come in the coming years.
Provide Better Healthcare By Ensuring Patient Compliance
Chronically ill patients account for 78 percent of all healthcare spending, with the problem only further compounded by a lack of follow-through on recommended medical advice. The cause of such behavior ranges from shame, depression, or simply lack of money. All of these points can be reduced by addressing the need for the creation of personalized messages relevant to a patient’s needs.
For example, a lack of money can be easily addressed by eliminating the requirement to pay high medical costs upfront in one go. Instead, monthly payments (similar to EMI for B2C goods) can be set up over the cloud which sends automated payment reminders. This eliminates the time sink of administrative tasks and helps users. In fact, 90 percent of individuals prefer digital receipts in favor of receiving paper-based statements.
Where Technology In Healthcare Has Already Succeeded (And What We Can Learn From It)
Before we consider how long it may potentially take to adopt technology in the customer-facing side of health care, let’s take a look at the progress that’s been made in a ‘behind the scenes’ technology in this field. Patient visits and health records today are increasingly logged electronically instead of paper-based records. In this situation, all parties (healthcare providers, government, patients) are on board as electronic health records (EHRs) improve the workflow and reduce the burden on the system which leads to better healthcare delivery.
It’s no surprise that OECD nations are leading the charge in this field. Just over a decade ago in the US, only 10 percent of doctors updated patient records digitally. That number will surge to 90 percent by the end of this year. While no nation is at 100 percent EHR implementation yet, the data suggests that many are getting close. For example, in Denmark, 98 percent of physicians have access to a centralized database of its citizen’s medical records which dates back to 1977. This indicates that hurdles to EHR adoption, such as software training and migration of paper-based records onto a database, were willingly overcome as a result of the benefits of this technology. Similarly, we can expect a similar trajectory to take place in the consumer-facing side of technology in health care as medical institutions and governments are being continuously presented with evidence of its potential positive impact.
Barriers That Stand In The Way Of Widespread Adoption
While the use of technology for telehealth consultations and patient engagement is recommended, adoption may be slow as there’s more at play than just privacy and data integrity concerns, which the government could address on its own. Medical reimbursement from insurance companies is the elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss in this field. There is still no definitive reimbursement structure for accessing healthcare services electronically, which may require patients to foot the bill for consultations. On the doctor’s end, time spent engaging in e-health may not be counted toward billable hours. Such scenarios end up discouraging both parties from participating and making use of technology despite their desire or presence of a legal framework. While the situation may not be ideal, headway is being made to resolve these issues and push innovation. At the moment, 29 US states have enacted laws that mandate insurance companies to reimburse patients and providers for the same amount as they would for in-person service. However, implementation is still hazy as insurance firms are being picky and selective in how they determine whether someone is eligible for telehealth coverage.
It’s only a matter of time before the demand for technology in healthcare pushes healthcare providers, insurance companies, and the government to find solutions that will ultimately change how we access and experience healthcare. While the process may be slow and lengthy, as the success of EHRs has shown us, it can be done if there’s evidence of it serving the purpose to reduce strains on an already overburdened healthcare system.
About The Author
Kumar Venkatesiah is an eLearning consultant from India with more than nine years of experience. He works with telemedicine startups to help onboard new clients to the digital platform. You may reach him at kumarv2012@yahoo.co.in.