Health Technology, Digital Healthcare
Article | August 21, 2023
It’s no secret now that healthcare is an in-demand field. Today, business leaders need modern and intelligent decision-making solutions for their customers and clients. They must also focus on the right investment areas and learn the tricks for investing, spending, and setting goals for revenue generation to accelerate business.
With continuous developments in the healthcare sector, integrating AI into processes can help increase ROI. Therefore, if you, like any other business leader, are looking for solutions to empower your services and products in the healthcare domain, this article will help you through AI’s ultimate use cases and churn out a higher ROI.
What’s with AI in Healthcare at Present?
AI’s role in healthcare is evolving and enhancing traditional business operations, particularly marketing. According to a study by IBM, 71% of customers expect real-time communication. Thus, global demand is fueling the rising adoption of AI marketing solutions.
The effects of AI in healthcare are evident. Gartner reports increased marketing efficiency and effectiveness (86%), improved decision-making (71%), better data analysis and new insights (79%). Global AI spending will rise from $450 million in 2019 to over $28 billion by 2024 is not surprising.
Similar and further studies are ongoing on various use cases of AI in healthcare at scale. What are the efficient use cases of AI that will help healthcare businesses boost their ROI? Let’s find out.
How is AI Applied in Healthcare?
The promising applications of AI in healthcare to improve outcomes are very intriguing. While there is still much to achieve in the AI-dependent healthcare business, there is sufficient potential that tech companies are willing to invest in AI-powered tools and solutions.
Let’s examine the potential examples of AI in healthcare to prepare and support business strategies accordingly and foster higher ROI generation.
Predictive Analytics
AI-based predictive analytics impacts a business by automating administrative tasks, predicting sales outcomes for a year, customers’ behavior and making strategies accordingly. According to a Forbes study, AI-based predictive analytics can save businesses $18 billion in tasks, expenses, and pricing.
To understand this, one example of using AI to automate admin tasks is a collaboration between the Cleveland Clinic and IBM. Cleveland Clinic uses IBM’s Watson to mine big data and provides personalized services for customers and clients on marketing deeds.
Some of the practical applications of AI and predictive analytics in healthcare are:
Monitoring market trends to maximize marketing efforts
Organizing datasets
Creating marketing campaigns tailored to each demographic-based client
Mining collective data for future decision-making
Fraud Prevention
AmerisourceBergen Corp detects fraud and misleading business operations through AI. A sales account team conducts audits with AI to detect usual lea and queries to prevent hefty expenses for businesses.
The example explains that implementing AI in your process will help detect any significant fraud attempts inside your business operation. This will help your business save huge expenditures.
Boost Sales
By putting down false leads, AI helps in maximizing sales numbers, resulting in significant ROI generation. For example, AI transforms data into personalized data, which reduces the cost of operations.
Chatbots
Most healthcare businesses leverage chatbots on their websites to engage more and more customers and boost engagement. In this way, businesses tend to gain multiple leads and convert them into clients by providing the best marketing solutions.
Chatbots are fruitful for AI start-ups in healthcare—small businesses can deploy AI to their websites. By doing so, they can save millions in administrative costs and attract numerous leads.
The most prominent examples of AI in healthcare hail from giant tech titans such as IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft. They are assisting healthcare providers with AI to create and deploy digital-human employees.
Segmentation of Marketing Targets
Is your target audience not responding to your marketing campaigns (for example, by not clicking a link, subscribing or unsubscribing to a newsletter, or not registering for a medical event)? If that's the case, how should you go ahead?
Using AI-based tools allows your marketing to easily identify target behaviors and reactions based on the type of marketing actions to be carried out. Analyzing these actions can help segment targets based on your company's marketing objectives.
The most significant development took place in April 2022, when Amazon Alexa became fully HIPAA compliant. It works with health developers and service providers that manage protected information for customers.
AI Leads to Data Modernization
It’s all about the data—not any data!
There’s a precise association between AI and data management, resulting in data modernization. According to a Cognizant research study, healthcare leaders have made significant progress in modernizing their data. In contrast, most upcoming businesses are expecting to do so by 2024.
The maximum acceleration of AI in modernizing data will be seen in the manufacturing and marketing of healthcare products and services, respectively. It is because AI helps to churn data easily. The accessibility of data, in particular, becomes simpler with automation than doing it manually, which generates a massive amount of data. Such effects of AI in healthcare can be one of the prime reasons for the higher ROI of your business in the future.
“There has never been a greater need for skilled analytic talent in health care. Because AI is becoming more strategic, organizations must ensure access to this skill set, either by growing their analytic teams or seeking out experienced partners."
Steve Griffiths, CEO of Optum Enterprise Analytics
AI Expenditure is on the Rise
McKinsey says that by 2025, the use of AI in healthcare will be widespread, resulting in significant expenditure by global healthcare leaders.
AI is a significant concern for healthcare decision-makers, investors, and innovators as customers extensively engage and react to AI-powered services and solutions. AI is constantly bringing improvements to almost all processes, including cost savings, management of services and products, and monitoring of multiple operations. Even small businesses in the healthcare industry are proactively investing in AI applications to match steps with the current wave of innovation in healthcare services.
Accelerate ROI Using AI
AI in healthcare is becoming one of the prime responsible technologies for accelerating ROI. Technology can eradicate multiple business growth challenges. Let’s find out how.
Enhanced Performance
As previously stated, use cases of AI in healthcare can relieve stress on employees. This would allow them to devote their time to more value-added marketing activities to churn more ROI.
Emphasize Cost-Effectiveness
Most of the businesses associated with healthcare are concerned about the costs involved. With AI, they now develop policies to spend less on non-essential activities and necessitate profit-oriented actions.
"We believe in the potential of AI to deliver insights and operational efficiencies that unlock better health-care performance."
Robert Musslewhite, CEO at OptumInsight
Frequently Asked Questions
How is AI used in healthcare?
AI in healthcare automates and predicts processes by analyzing data throughout. It is used to predict potential customers, improve business management workflows, and manufacture medical products.
How does AI drive growth in the healthcare industry?
AI drives business growth by improving the ability to understand better day-to-day customer patterns and needs based on services and products.
How is AI changing the Healthcare industry?
AI applications in healthcare have demonstrated their potential to improve analytics and data management and assist service providers in making timely medical decisions.
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Health Technology, AI
Article | July 18, 2023
Discover the potential of EHR implementation in revolutionizing clinical processes. Uncover strategies for addressing EHR ethical issues, ensuring integration that prioritizes patient-centered care.
Amidst the fusion of healthcare and technology, integrating electronic health records (EHRs) has emerged as a transformative element in modern medical practice. As a digital repository for a patient's medical journey, EHRs present unprecedented prospects for elevated care quality, improved data accessibility, and cost-effectiveness. Nevertheless, these advancements bring forth an array of EHR ethical issues that demand meticulous attention. In this context, establishing and adhering to the best practices for the ethical training of EHRs assumes paramount importance and a moral obligation. By skillfully navigating the intricate convergence of technology, patient confidentiality, and conscientious healthcare, these ethical EHR best practices illuminate the path toward a future where innovation and ethical principles harmoniously coexist.
1. Upholding Privacy and Confidentiality
Revealing a patient's information to external parties should strictly happen with the patient's explicit consent or within the parameters defined by legal regulations. Data stemming from clinical interactions is confidential and requires rigorous protection. The effective operation of EHRs requires authorized access by healthcare institutions, insurers, and related entities. Access by users is contingent upon predefined role-based privileges. The administrator identifies users, specifies the extent of information accessibility, and allocates exclusive usernames and passwords. Users must be conscientious about responsibly utilizing the information they access within their designated roles. Therefore, assigning user privileges plays a pivotal role in securing medical records. However, while regulating data access remains crucial, it doesn’t completely ensure confidentiality. Strengthening security through comprehensive privacy and security protocols remains essential for reinforcing patient data's inviolabilit.
2. Safeguarding Against Data Breaches
Ensuring patient privacy and safeguarding sensitive medical data is paramount in EHR ethical training. The imperatives of inadequate data security, encompassing compromised medical information, unauthorized access due to weak password safeguards, and the lack of encryption, accentuate the immediate need for a holistic approach. Employing strategies such as secure cloud storage, robust password protocols, two-factor authentication, and encryption is pivotal in enhancing data security, preventing the mishandling of patient records, and abiding by ethical standards. The potential legal and financial consequences of breaches underscore the criticality of these practices in maintaining patient trust and confidentiality within the digital healthcare domain.
3. EHR System Implementation
The integration of EHRs within healthcare organizations poses significant challenges, including resource waste, provider dissatisfaction, diminished patient trust, and potential safety risks. Successful EHR development, implementation, and upkeep demand substantial investment and collaboration among stakeholders, including clinicians, IT experts, educators, and consultants. Clinicians' active engagement is often underestimated, leading to the failure of EHR projects; therefore, clinician-led guidance is crucial in tasks such as EHR selection, workflow design, and quality improvement. Thoroughly mapping workflows before selecting an EHR is crucial, while maintaining user-friendly interfaces remains essential for success. Neglecting these aspects can reduce efficiency, compromise care, and increase safety threats. By prioritizing comprehensive planning, engaging clinicians, and optimizing user interfaces, healthcare institutions can ensure ethical and efficient EHR integration, ultimately enhancing patient care and safety.
4. Maintaining Data Accuracy
Upholding data accuracy stands as a fundamental principle in the ethical EHR domain. The integrity of information guarantees its unaltered and precise nature, contributing significantly to the enhancement of patient safety, reduction of healthcare errors, mitigation of health disparities, and betterment of public health. Nevertheless, concerns have been voiced regarding the reliability of data input into electronic records. The improper utilization of functionalities such as 'cut and paste' can lead to misleading portrayals of a patient's condition and treatment, breaching ethical standards. This practice poses elevated risks to patients and increases the liability of clinicians and institutions. Challenges also arise from drop-down menus that limit a clinician's choices, potentially giving rise to substantial errors, especially under time constraints. The collaborative efforts of clinicians and vendors can address software concerns, promoting user-friendly, reliable EHRs while tackling EHR ethical issues. Furthermore, data loss during transfers raises pertinent concerns about the accuracy of the database, a critical aspect as patient care decisions hinge on this data.
5. Guaranteeing Data Authenticity
The assurance of documentation integrity pertains to the accurate and precise nature of the comprehensive health record. This includes principles of information governance, identifying patients, validating authorship, handling amendments and corrections in records, and auditing documentation validity while submitting reimbursement claims. EHR tools offer flexible documentation options through the utilization of templates and smart phrases, assisting in precise record-keeping. However, if these tools are misused, doubts about data integrity can arise, making information unreliable and possibly raising concerns about fraudulent activity. Established policies and procedures, including audit functions, must be in place to ensure proper billing. With adequate safeguards, records may accurately represent the patient's condition at admission and over time. Providers must understand the importance of reviewing and refining default data to ensure that only patient-specific information for that visit is recorded. In contrast, irrelevant data from default templates is removed.
6. Validating Dictation to Prevent Errors
Voice recognition systems lacking a validation step pose considerable challenges in maintaining data accuracy and preventing documentation errors within organizations, particularly when it comes to ethical issues with electronic health records. EHR companies need to implement a protocol requiring providers to promptly assess, modify, and validate dictated information. Given these documents' frequent use and sharing, precise and high-quality documentation in EHR systems is of utmost significance. The adoption of EHRs has led to substantial shifts in provider workflows and documentation processes. However, providers still need to clearly outline or fully understand comprehensive best practices for maintaining high-quality documentation in EHRs. Advancements are necessary to enhance documentation tools and methods, with a renewed emphasis on the essential aspects of data accuracy and quality. This should precede the widespread implementation of interoperable health information exchange initiatives.
7. Ensuring Accurate Documentation
Maintaining the integrity of documentation is compromised when incorrect information finds its way onto the wrong patient's health record. Patient identification errors can influence clinical decisions, endanger patient safety, violate privacy and security, and lead to redundant testing and escalated expenses for patients as well as providers. The propagation of patient identification mistakes can rapidly expand within EHR, personal health records, and Health Information Exchange (HIE) networks as information disseminates. Failing to implement advanced front-end solutions that incorporate robust matching algorithms or innovative techniques like biometrics or fingerprinting can expose organizations to risk. EHRs can incorporate targeted alerts to anticipate safety problems, like blood type inconsistencies or allergies, during treatment, addressing EHR issues. Organizations must institute a patient identity integrity program, integrating performance improvement metrics to monitor error rates and duplicate records in their electronic master patient index. Policies and procedures must ensure the accuracy of critical demographic data, facilitating the linkage of records within and across systems. Addressing the initial point of data capture as a primary front-end verification is also vital within policies.
8. Preserving the Authenticity of Audit Trails
Effective audits are crucial to ensuring that the health record documentation aligns with the reported level of service, fulfills reimbursement requirements set by payers, and guarantees that only authorized personnel access patient medical records and make entries. The audit trail must encompass the user's name, the triggering application, workstation details, the specific document, a description of the audited event (such as amendments, corrections, or deletions), and the timestamp. This audit trail outlines modifications (including deletions) within the health record and provides auditors with a foundation for compliance audits. Inadequate audit trail functionality within EHRs raises concerns about the integrity of health record documentation, potentially exposing organizations to legal liabilities and inadvertently fostering or shielding criminal activities. It may become challenging to ascertain if corrections or amendments were executed, who authorized the changes, or the nature of the modifications. In addition to the inherent unintentional errors that documentation might encounter, audit trail functionality can aid in detecting instances where records are altered to obstruct the disclosure of detrimental information. Organizations can utilize EHR trends to leverage audit trail features for identifying and analyzing patterns in health record usage. Typically, users can generate reports over specific time frames categorized by provider or provider type, with results directed to a compliance committee or the organization's governing body.
9. Fostering Compliance Awareness
Enhancing ethical EHR training involves a strategic focus on ensuring providers are well-versed in compliance and legal risks, starting from the EHR training phase. To address EHR problems, organizations should implement educational initiatives aimed at mitigating compliance issues. Staff education must emphasize the integrity of health record documentation, with a continuous program monitored and provided quarterly or annually. Addressing the 'who, what, why, and how' ensures a solid grasp of organizational practices that uphold individual best practices, encompassing identifying potential fraud, universal and administrative security measures, data validity, authorship, continual education's significance, and strategies for daily fraud prevention.
10. Conducting Feedback Sessions
Contrary to common assumptions, ongoing training is essential post-EHR implementation. After installing the EHR and initiating patient interactions, challenges inevitably emerge—be it staff unfamiliarity with functions or the need to revamp workflow processes. Promptly identifying these concerns to prevent errors and swiftly resolving them involves collecting feedback from EHR users among the staff, particularly in relation to EHR ethical issues. During the weeks after the system's launch, contemplate arranging routine meetings to gather insights. Ensuring diverse representation, including clinical staff, physicians, administrators, billing, and front desk personnel, is crucial. Seek input on their adaptation to changes and areas requiring improvement. Determine if specific training concepts need reinforcement. Surveys can be used in place of frequent meetings. Subsequently, prioritizing problem areas aids focused resolution by promptly addressing critical matters. The introduction of incremental changes helps staff adapt to the EHR seamlessly, safeguarding patient care continuity during the transition.
The Path Ahead
Following these ethical EHR training best practices ensures the accuracy and reliability of patient data, leading to improved clinical decision-making and patient safety. By maintaining documentation integrity, professionals can confidently provide quality care and reduce the risk of errors. Ethical EHR training further strengthens compliance with legal regulations, safeguarding both the organization as well as the healthcare provider from potential legal liabilities. Moreover, adhering to best practices promotes efficient workflows, enhancing productivity, and streamlining operations. Patient trust and confidence are strengthened as professionals demonstrate their commitment to data security, confidentiality, and ethical conduct. Ultimately, by upholding ethical EHR training standards, professionals contribute to a robust healthcare system by fostering positive patient outcomes, maintaining trust, and supporting the principles of ethical healthcare delivery.
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Health Technology, Digital Healthcare
Article | July 14, 2023
Introduction
Within the last two years, the healthcare industry saw an influx in patient care as COVID-19 swept through communities across the globe. The widespread shortage of patient care tools, personal protective equipment (PPE), and medical technology amid the pandemic led to an exponential rise in health expenditures and demand for essential supplies.
In response to the medical demand-supply imbalance, the governments of numerous countries increased their medical care expenditures to counter the challenges of patient care equipment shortages. For instance, according to the National Healthcare Expenditure Data, federal government spending on healthcare and medical care grew by 36% in 2020 and is estimated to reach US$ 6.2 trillion by 2028 in the U.S.
Despite the rise in medical budget allocations, medical facilities are still facing difficulties obtaining enough supplies with the growing prevalence of numerous chronic, infectious, and hereditary diseases. As a result, organizations are focusing on deploying innovative solutions, such as healthcare supply chain management software, to keep track of inventory, procurement, logistics, and others and strengthen their supply chain.
Healthcare Supply Chain Management Solutions: Key Types
Healthcare systems, hospitals, and other patient care sites require a broad array of supplies to perform diagnosis and treatment, from masks and gloves to catheters and implants. Inadequate supplies coupled with inflation is making supply chain management a crucial but complex component in providing optimal patient care across the healthcare industry. This has shed more light on the role of supply chain management in saving lives.
Effective supply chains help various regulatory agencies, including medical goods manufacturers and insurance companies, deliver essential supplies, resources, technologies, and other patient care goods to healthcare establishments. Supply chain management solutions are thus garnering massive traction among healthcare organizations for simplifying and automating manual supply chain and logistics operations.
Let’s have a look at the types of supply chain management software that assist healthcare organizations to optimize their supply chain processes
Inventory Management Software
Efficient medical inventory management is critical for the running of healthcare organizations. The software provides real-time inventory tracking, assisting organizations in closely monitoring inventory changes, avoiding shortages of both low-value and high-use patient care items, decreasing the wait time for access to medical supplies, and reducing the chances of late delivery.
Order Management Software
It is crucial for healthcare establishments to have an estimate of the demand and supply of goods to prevent shortages. Order management software enables these organizations to coordinate supply chain demand planning and forecasting. It also assists in streamlining warehouse operations, resulting in faster and more accurate order placement.
Sourcing and Procurement Software
By tapping into the power of sourcing and procurement solutions, healthcare organizations can develop robust sourcing processes and automate, streamline, and optimize their entire procurement processes. The software also assists establishments in improving their supply inventory levels, identifying the best supplier, and reducing their overall purchasing cost.
Shipping and Tracking Software
Shipping and tracking software assist in the planning and execution of the physical movement of goods. These solutions are primarily used by medical equipment manufacturers and suppliers during the delivery or relocation of patient care goods. The integration of these solutions enables organizations to track and manage numerous batches of goods in transit.
The Bottom Line
Growing competition, healthcare regulations, shipping costs, and increased logistics requirements from medical institutions have complicated the supply chain management processes. As a result, life-science companies are investing in cutting-edge supply chain management solutions to reduce numerous errors, improve logistics, and eliminate unnecessary costs spent to fix them.
Thus, several companies are now emphasizing the incorporation of cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence and data analytics, into healthcare supply chain management software to reap benefits such as process automation, streamlined inventory, reduced waste, improved decision-making, and lower labor, supply, and operational costs.
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Health Technology
Article | September 28, 2022
Introduction
Healthcare supply chains are highly regulated, high-margin domains with stringent quality criteria, such as the demand for cold-chain storage and shipping. In addition, due to a lack of adequate understanding of the complicated rules governing healthcare products and services, medical aid providers are encountering inefficiencies while outsourcing capabilities to logistics service providers (LSPs).
In today's value-based care paradigm, healthcare leaders are tasked with improving patient outcomes while decreasing costs. With surging globalization, the growing cross-border nature of several medical products, and rising complexities in healthcare logistics, the need for building a robust supply chain is rapidly increasing across the healthcare industry.
Key Ways to Enhance Healthcare Supply Chain
A resilient supply chain plays a vital role in managing supplies, procuring resources, and shipping medical goods, among others, which assists in improving patient outcomes, enhancing service efficiency, and declining costs. Healthcare organizations are aiming to strengthen their supply chain to enjoy these benefits such as increased reimbursement, improved quality control, reduced inventory and overhead costs, and better collaboration with suppliers.
Here are some of the key ways to assist medical aid providers in building a strong healthcare supply chain
Develop effective inventory management
Manufacturers frequently encounter difficulties with timely inventory movement through their supply chains. Revenue is lost, and profit margins are harmed when products expire because they are not used adequately. This is why it is crucial to effectively manage the inventory process.
Hence, healthcare executives should deploy a high-quality equipment management system and increase collaboration between organizations, suppliers, and manufacturers to assist them in controlling inventory levels and effective inventory management.
Use technology and analytics to make operations run smoother
When it comes to supply chain management automation, the healthcare sector continues to lag behind other sectors. This is true for both the enterprise resource planning (ERP) functions and data analytics use for making decisions about forecasting and product choice.
Healthcare executives should make use of efficient technologies, such as solid analytics, in order to successfully improve a supply chain. Implementing data analytics and automation tools can assist in making healthcare supply chain management more efficient and effortless.
Widen and strengthen the supplier base
One of the most effective ways to build a robust healthcare supply chain is by increasing the number of suppliers and enhancing supplier base management.
Manufacturers and purchasers should abandon using single-or limited-source supply chains for raw materials and finished goods. This will assist healthcare companies in expanding their network of raw material suppliers and helps in careful consideration of which suppliers to use for procuring which resources.
Improve order accuracy and order cycle times to lower costs
Healthcare providers sometimes encounter a large number of errors during the ordering process. When incorrect products are ordered, the facilities face losses in revenue and are sometimes unable to deliver specific services due to the unavailability of products they need. Errors in placing orders can also result in medication errors. This can lead to a decrease in patient outcomes and negatively impact the company’s revenue growth.
To reduce the frequency of errors, these providers should deploy a computerized provider entry system. This will help improve order accuracy, increase supply chain efficiencies, and shorten turnaround times in healthcare ordering processes.
Consistently track and calibrate performance
Regardless of the size of the healthcare facility, it is of great importance for medical aid providers to carefully track and calibrate their performance frequently or on a specified timeline. This enables clinically integrated supply chains in healthcare to use key performance indicators (KPIs) to compare outcomes in terms of cost and quality and make decisions about products.
What’s Next?
The rising integration of novel disruptive technologies such as data analytics, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, and blockchain into healthcare supply chain management software is facilitating smooth operations, transparency, growth, and security across the life-science industry.
With a growing need for enhancing supply chains, healthcare providers are focusing on deploying advanced supply chain management solutions, such as healthcare logistics software, to strengthen their supply chains. As the trend continues to grow, the sales of healthcare supply chain management software and services are anticipated to rise from the US$2.2 billion registered in 2020 to US$3.3 billion by 2025.
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