Healthcare providers today face increasing pressures to deliver quality care efficiently to more patients. New technologies offer ways to streamline clinical workflows, improve care coordination, boost productivity, and elevate the patient experience. When thoughtfully implemented, information technology can optimize patient care processes.
Enhancing Clinical Documentation
Recording patient details thoroughly and accurately is crucial, yet time-consuming. Technologies like speech recognition, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics help automate clinical documentation. Doctors can dictate notes which technology transcribes into text. Natural language processing identifies key data to pull into files rather than requiring manual entry. AI can even suggest appropriate diagnosis codes and billable events based on patient contexts. And online databases such as those at Find-A-Code.com make it easier to find and confirm codes.
Advancing Telehealth Capabilities
Virtual visits enable patients to conveniently access care from anywhere while reducing facility burdens. High-definition videoconferencing, digital diagnostic tools, and at-home testing kits expand telehealth possibilities. Remote patient monitoring via connected devices allows checking vitals and tracking treatment adherence in real-time. Store-and-forward telemedicine enables providers to assess prerecorded videos, images, and data on their schedule. Expanding telehealth options improves accessibility, satisfaction, and outcomes. Wearable sensors and mobile health apps also provide richer real-world insights between visits.
Optimizing Care Coordination
Fragmented communication between care teams contributes to low-quality, redundant, and wasteful care. Health information exchanges (HIEs), interoperable electronic health records (EHRs), and care coordination platforms break down silos to align providers. Clinicians can instantly share records, consult on complex cases, eliminate redundant testing, avert medication errors, and better manage population health. Patient portals also boost transparency and engagement. Streamlined coordination enabled by technology integration improves the consistency and value of care delivery across settings.
Enabling Real-Time Alerting
EHRs can deliver patient-specific alerts and reminders to clinicians at the point of care. These notifications help prevent potential errors or oversights, prompt recommended tests or treatments, and improve adherence to guidelines. For example, the system may alert a pediatrician to overdue immunizations or flag a concerning drug interaction. EHR analytics can also identify at-risk patients for proactive outreach. Intelligent alerting integrated into clinical workflows acts as a safety net preventing patients from falling through cracks.
Empowering Patients
Technologies like patient portals, health tracking wearables, and mobile apps equip patients with information and resources to better manage their health. Access to records fosters transparency. Digital self-monitoring makes it easier for patients to log vitals, symptoms, and treatments. Consumer-facing tools can even integrate with provider EHRs to close communication loops. Chatbots now allow 24/7 access to health guidance. Virtual assistants schedule appointments or refills. Apps now exist to easily share home testing results with clinicians. Patient empowerment technologies boost outcomes through education, engagement, and convenience.
Optimizing Operational Performance
From scheduling to billing and reporting, most healthcare operations now rely on technical infrastructure. EMR systems analyze population data to guide quality improvement and value-based care efforts. Analytics help model profitability, utilization, readmissions, infection rates and other key metrics to identify targets. Digital dashboards track KPIs and business intelligence in real-time to support data-driven management. Blockchain has emerging potential to securely share and validate information between organizations. Optimized operations allow delivering better care at lower costs.
Conclusion
Optimizing processes and technologies is key to enhancing value in healthcare. Thoughtfully implemented technical solutions enable clinicians and healthcare organizations to provide more personalized, proactive, evidence-based, and patient-centered care delivery. Technology will never replace human hands and hearts, but it can definitely empower clinicians to practice at the top of their licenses by streamlining administrative burdens. The possibilities are rapidly expanding for leveraging information technology to improve efficiency, quality, and experience for all players in the healthcare ecosystem.
