Embracing digital tools is integral to value-based care | OBERD
12/13/16
The world of medical IT has traditionally been the province of enterprise systems. Yet consumer technology – smartphones, tablets and wearables – is beginning to transform the relationship between patients and providers. The once-clear boundaries that separated enterprise systems and consumer devices are being radically renegotiated. In this guest post, Dr. Ali Hussam, CEO and co-founder of an outcomes data collection software company, explains how facilities and providers can advance in quality performance, coordination and patient engagement by embracing the right digital tool strategies.
People’s desire to use their personal devices for work, a phenomenon known as “bring your own device” (BYOD), is introducing new opportunities and challenges into the healthcare ecosystem. The trend offers unparalleled convenience and productivity, but it’s also forced IT managers to address a host of integration concerns.
In a medical setting, those challenges are made even more complex, especially when it comes to the security of the information being shared. Even though many physicians are willing to adopt digital tools, few of them have taken steps to accomplish it because of varying concerns – security being the most notable.
The process of ensuring that patient data is safe, secure and private is an inherently complex matter. When you add the concept of BYOD to a medical setting, it’s imperative to provide ample security measures for patients’ protected health information (PHI). The consequences of unintentionally violating regulations like HIPAA and HITECH can make implementing digital tools a daunting task.
But the ability to efficiently access and share patient information is essential. In value-based health care, the patient is the focus, and the team of healthcare providers must coordinate efforts to provide high-quality treatment. Digital tools make that coordination more efficient by accelerating patient engagement and information sharing among the patient and team.
Read the entire article here.
