HIMSS13 Annual Conference and Exhibition took place in New Orleans Louisiana March 4-7, 2013 with 34,696 total attendees from across the globe. Keynote presentations included topics around quality of care, social networking, smartphones as a healthcare tool and health exchanges. Also notable was a keynote by President Bill Clinton and a debate between political consultant, James Carville and Fox News Contributor Karl Rove.
As a vendor in the large show floor (bigger than 17 football fields) with over 1,100 exhibiting companies I noticed a trend in buzzwords to attract potential buyers. Words such as connect, communicate, collaborate, cloud, mobility and engagement. I think you can see where this is going. There is a very real need to use IT as a tool to achieve better engagement between providers and patients. Check out the popular topic of Patient-Centered Systems from the HIMSS blog pages:
Using tools to communicate and collaborate is truly a step toward transparency within the healthcare system; non-transparency is a disability. In the Bill Clinton keynote, he mentions that consistently consumers have no idea what they are going to be charged for a health procedures and if there are other available options. Pennsylvania is one of only a handful of states that publish comparative data on healthcare procedures comparing outcomes and cost.
“Every single year, so far, the results have been the same. There is no correlation between what people pay and the quality of healthcare they get,” Clinton said.
Giving consumers the information and allowing them to be empowered to make health decisions is a step in the right direction. Patients are demanding it.
Those providing the care to patients are also needing communication and collaboration tools. Aspect Software showed several solutions that provide just that. From business intelligence dashboards that provide almost real time visibility into patient workflow in the emergency department to touch kiosks in nursing stations that allow collaboration and clinical quality metric reviews in a team setting.
I think some of the most interesting conversations were around a unified communications tool that Aspect Software uses every day, Microsoft Lync. The ability to see presence of colleagues and use instant message to provide quick feedback has numerous clinical uses. The use of video also provides ways to provide better care through translation services availability. Home health organizations are able to keep their translation teams in a centralized location, reducing emergency department visits due to translation challenges and increasing the number of patients assisted.
Technology is changing the way we view and use healthcare. This is the future, just check out this blog entitled George Jetson Gets A Check-Up. The George Jetson cartoons aired in the early 60s. We are currently using technology that was only in cartoon imagination then. The doctor has George swallow a Peek-A-Boo Prober Capsule which travels around the body showing images of his organs. Today we have nanotechnology which shows doctors pictures from inside the body. In a cartoon from the January 17, 1960 edition of Our New Age the diagnostic equipment looks surprisingly familiar such as a diagnosis from thousands of miles away. Currently, radiologists are able to look at x-rays and make diagnostic decisions from offices without being in the same facility or city as the patient. Modern unified communications make it happen.
Information technology is playing a vital role in quality of healthcare. As healthcare organizations look for better ways to engage with patients and come up with ideas on how to do that, IT organizations such as Aspect will help them use technology to make it happen.
Steffanie Frazier, Marketing and Alliance Program Manager has over 13 years’ experience working in the IT consulting industry. As part of the Aspect Microsoft Professional Services team, she focuses on relationships within the US Public Sector. She manages the Microsoft alliance relationships in healthcare and education along with creating demand generation programs for Aspect’s innovative vertical solutions.
Read more about technology trends in healthcare:
- Better Workflow and Visibility Improves Service Experience for LifePlans Customers and Agents
- How Windows 8 Could Affect the Healthcare Industry
- Technology and the New Healthcare Landscape
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