One of the largest sectors that relies greatly on information technology is the Healthcare industry. From hospital management, clinical development, regulatory compliance to research and development, technology plays a significant role. Owing to its widespread coverage, services and growing expenditure, this industry is growing at a tremendous pace. However, there are several challenges that continue to plague this sector.
Amongst several odds, two major challenges confronted by this industry include increasing service costs and the compulsion of providing medical care facilities to all sections of society irrespective of their purchasing power. In such a scenario, Information Technology’s role in providing high quality health services is rapidly growing.
With increasing penetration of technology in the healthcare industry, care providers, as well as, patients are enjoying the benefits of on-demand access to medical information as and when required. As the reforms and economy continue to present challenges, advancements in information technology (IT) will help ensure compliance with new legal requirements, besides providing improved patient care at low-cost.
The advantages of Technological Innovation:
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- Data storage management systems are playing a significant role in maintaining patient records in an appropriate, secure, and easily accessible way.
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- Advancements in picture archiving and communications systems, electronic medical records, and computerized physician order entry solutions are being implemented at a rapid pace.
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- Medical practitioners are making rapid use of mobile computing. This has helped care providers to share electronic patient records and other information without delay. This has reduced medical errors significantly and have improved services for patients.
- For physicians certain solutions such as electronic scanning and maintaining records are being used more than ever before to augment administration efficiency, expedite insurance claim processing, and consolidate management of electronic record.
The growing complexity of modern medicine has paved way for several diagnoses, drugs, medical and surgical procedures that are available today. All this and more have taken patient care and service to the next level. This has resulted in increasing adoption of IT services, which indeed has significantly contributed to overall patient care and service.
Additionally, healthcare providers need to develop a robust IT road-map by adopting systems’ that can provide accurate and meaningful insights from humongous piles of data from different sources. However, to meet the growing demand for technology in this industry, robust IT infrastructure needs to be incorporated. With high-end IT infrastructure support and solutions in place, operational efficiency could be enhanced, processes could be transformed and productivity could be augmented.
