Optimizing Patient Flow: Moving Patients Smoothly Through Acute Care Settings

Health Technology, AI

Article | July 18, 2023

​As the cost of care continues to rise, many hospitals are looking for long-term solutions to minimize inpatient services. Learn how technology and health care delivery will merge to influence the future of hospital design and the patient experience across the globe in this report developed by Deloitte US. Five use cases for the digital hospital of the future The future of health care delivery may look quite different than the hospital of today. Rapidly evolving technologies, along with demographic and economic changes, are expected to alter hospitals worldwide. A growing number of inpatient health care services are already being pushed to home and outpatient ambulatory facilities. However, many complex andv very ill patients will continue to need acute inpatient services. With aging infrastructure in some countries and increased demand for more beds in others, hospital executives and governments should consider rethinking how to optimize inpatient and outpatient settings and integrate digital technologies into traditional hospital services to truly create a health system without walls. To learn what this future of health care delivery may look like, the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions conducted a crowdsourcing simulation with 33 experts from across the globe. Participants included health care CXOs, physician and nurse leaders, public policy leaders, technologists, and futurists. Their charge was to come up with specific use cases for the design of digital hospitals globally in 10 years (a period that can offer hospital leaders and boards time to prepare). The crowdsourcing simulation developed use cases in five categories Redefined care delivery Emerging features including centralized digital centers to enable decision making (think: air traffic control for hospitals), continuous clinical monitoring, targeted treatments (such as 3D printing for surgeries), and the use of smaller, portable devices will help characterize acute-care hospitals. Digital patient experience Digital and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies can help enable on-demand interaction and seamless processes to improve patient experience. Enhanced talent development Robotic process automation (RPA) and AI can allow caregivers to spend more time providing care and less time documenting it. Operational efficiencies through technology Digital supply chains, automation, robotics, and next-generation interoperability can drive operations management and back-office efficiencies. Healing and well-being designs The well-being of patients and staff members—with an emphasis on the importance of environment and experience in healing—will likely be important in future hospital designs. Many of these use-case concepts are already in play. And hospital executives should be planning how to integrate technology into newly-built facilities and retrofit it into older ones. Technology will likely underlie most aspects of future hospital care. But care delivery—especially for complex patients and procedures—may still require hands-on human expertise. Laying the foundation for the digital hospital of the future ​Building a digital hospital of the future can require investments in people, technology, processes, and premises. Most of these investments will likely be upfront. In the short term, hospital leadership may not see immediate returns on these investments. In the longer term, however—as digital technologies improve care delivery, create operational efficiencies, and enhance patient and staff experience—the return result can be in higher quality care, improved operational efficiencies, and increased patient satisfaction. These six core elements of an enterprise digital strategy can help you get started as you begin to push your hospital into the future Create a culture for digital transformation It is essential that senior management understands the importance of a digital future and drives support for its implementation at all organizational levels. Consider technology that communicates Digital implementation is complex. Connecting disparate applications, devices, and technologies—all highly interdependent—and making certain they talk to each other can be critical to a successful digital implementation. Play the long game Since digital technologies are ever evolving, flexibility and scalability during implementation can be critical. The planning team should confirm that project scope includes adding, modifying, or replacing technology at lower costs. Focus on data While the requirements of data interoperability, scalability, productivity, and flexibility are important, they should be built upon a solid foundation of capturing, storing, securing, and analyzing data. Prepare for Talent 2.0 As hospitals invest in exponential technologies, they should provide employees ample opportunities to develop corresponding digital strategies. Maintain cybersecurity With the proliferation of digital technologies, cyber breaches can be a major threat to hospitals of the future. Executives should understand that cybersecurity is the other half of digital implementation and allocate resources appropriately.

Health Technology, Digital Healthcare

Article | July 14, 2023

Before we discuss the importance of telehealth and how it is changing the nursing industry in general, it is important to understand what telehealth is all about. With the advent of new-age technologies and their impact on the fast-paced, growing population, medical health is an essential department that requires special attention. One’s health is of utmost importance, and to enhance the medical facilities, we as responsible citizens and experts in this particular field must come up with novel and quick solutions to provide optimum precaution and cure. Hence, one of such technological achievements is telecommunication,s and by utilizing such a useful resource, health-related services too can be offered. Telehealth promotes the distribution of various services related to medical health through electronic devices and telecommunication technologies. What can one possibly do if he or she lives in a different country and is pushed to an emergency situation where he requires medical advice from a physician who lives in another corner of the world? Of course, through telecommunication devices, the whole process of exchanging information becomes smoother and easier. Several health-related services such as medical advice, medical care, monitoring, education, remote admissions, and intervention can be extended to a long-distance patient with the help of telehealth facilities. Hence, the contemporary picture of health and medicine has been radically improved with the introduction of these electronic telecommunication systems.

Digital Healthcare

Article | November 29, 2023

Over the last couple of years, the healthcare industry has witnessed significant technological advancements transforming numerous procedures and treatments, ranging from magnetic resonance imaging scanners and radiotherapy to antibiotics and anesthetics. In addition, the introduction of novel technologies (new pharmaceuticals and treatments, new equipment, new social media support for healthcare, etc.) has further provided air to the fire for innovation in the sector, encouraging healthcare providers to upgrade their technological infrastructure. Medical Computers Paving the Way in Healthcare Use of modern technology, such as medical computers, is becoming more and more crucial in healthcare institutions, including hospitals, clinics, and specialized treatment centers. These computers are used in hospitals for a variety of purposes, from better laparoscopic, minimally invasive surgical techniques used by surgeons to patient tracking and health monitoring gadgets. Medical computers are becoming more prevalent as they help medical professionals make faster, more reliable, and more accurate decisions. Additionally, they enable the emergence of new data, integrate advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, and enhance decision-making processes, which are particularly crucial when it comes to medical diagnostics and treatment. New computer and technology solutions in the healthcare sector are enabling a wide range of outcomes that were previously unimaginable. They assist medical practitioners in both data collection and data interpretation, enabling them to make decisions that are thoroughly informed by insight. Here are some of the applications that have experienced immense transformation in recent years Hospital Information Systems Medical Personnel and Staff Management Data Analysis in Medicine Medical Imaging Computer-assisted Therapy Laboratory Computing Critical Patient Care Computer Assisted Decision-making (CMD) Patient Check-In and Status Growing Adoption Encouraging Product Launches With technologies like medical computers becoming essential for processing numerous day-to-day operations in the healthcare industry, the need for these computers is growing at a rapid pace. Hence, a number of medical equipment providers are emphasizing on offering cutting-edge solutions to modern healthcare facilities. For instance, in 2021, American Portwell Technology, Inc., a world-leading innovator of the Industrial PC, unveiled two certification-ready all-in-one medical computers - MEDS-P2410-P200 (23.8″) and MEDS-P2210-P200 (21.5″) with features such as true-flat capacitive touchscreen and optional hot-swappable batteries.

Article | March 3, 2021

Is your health technology company publishing content online? Not sure how to make your health tech content marketing effective? Each step taken in the process of content marketing matters. Skipping essential steps may negatively affect the whole process. The following steps are critical in your content strategy: • Defining your ideal buyer • Gathering insights about how they make decisions • Documenting how your content will address their needs Lately, health tech companies are facing too much competition. Thus it would be wise to equip yourself with a good marketing strategy, including a clear content marketing plan. This blog focuses on making your health content marketing more effective, overcoming challenges, and eliminating the chances of failure. Content Marketing challenges for Health Tech Marketers Heath tech brands face multiple obstacles with health tech content marketing. They must deal with many challenges such as content proliferation, uncoordinated and inconsistent content creation, and difficulty in reaching out to customers and prospects with relevant and timely content. A lot of hard work and time is required to create great content. Let us have a closer look at the challenges faced by health tech marketers related to content marketing. Determining Content Marketing ROI Many of the health tech content marketers are struggling to show ROI from their content marketing efforts. They cannot claim a specific conversions rate from a channel or a piece of content. Often digital conversion paths of the health tech industry cannot be analyzed or tacked. Some other biggest challenges of health tech content marketing are tying content to conversions, defining appropriate and relevant metrics for measuring and evaluating the impact of the content marketing efforts on its bottom line. Figuring Out How to Feed the Content Beast Including health tech brands, many brands spend too much time thinking and worrying about creating compelling content. Or they worry about making content thattheir boss, salespeople, or other stakeholders need. The goal should be creating content consistently that is necessary for the client's journey. Your health tech content marketing should focus on your target audience searching online for your product and business. Proving Credibility and Authority Many health tech marketers struggle with defining a credible and authoritative voice for their brands. They fail in the process of cutting through the noise and grabbing the attention of their target audience for this very reason. A health tech content marketing strategy should maintain the brand’s identity, improve its authority, and boost ROI. Here, thought leadership has a role to play. Use your people, their expertise, and their passion effectively to share what they know about your product with your target audience. Trust and credibility will follow. Maintaining Volume, Quality, Speed Another significant challenge of health tech content marketing is developing compelling, engaging content fast without compromising on volume and quantity. For many marketers, a big pain point is trying to stay agile and nimble within a large corporate structure. Continuous Learning The marketing landscape is ever-changing. It means health tech marketers have to dedicate themselves to learning throughout their life.. They also have to reinvent through innovation to avoid extinction. Primarily, health tech content marketing needs constant innovation and learning. Everyone is trying to navigate the learning curve. It is very challenging for marketers to train teams and update them with the latest marketing practices. Influencer Marketing Another challenge faced by most marketers in their health tech content marketing efforts is identifying influencers to amplify content. Creating great content is just the first step. Having an effective promotion strategy to reach your prospects with your content helps. Reasons for Health Tech Content Marketing Failure A study by Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) on health tech content marketing shows a vast gap between results and goals. Is there discontent in health tech content marketing? Eighty-five percent of the survey participants said they have a content marketing strategy, but only 4 percent only said their content marketing strategy was effective. So, it's clear that something was not working for them. Here are some of the key reasons: The Absence of a Content Strategy Except for some large tech companies, such as IBM, Microsoft, and Salesforce, most vendors do not have a content marketing strategy. For many tech companies, content marketing is part of their overall business strategy. So consider building a health tech content marketing strategy to have a leg up on your competitors. Lack of Sponsorship Creating compelling content is a low-priority task for most B2B tech companies. A small marketing team usually takes care of health tech content marketing with limited resources and budget. It results in content that does not align with your market positioning and business strategy. Content-Creation Bottlenecks Content marketers need quality content for marketng. For this, subject matter experts (SME) should be involved in the process of content creation. SMEs, most often, are too busy to participate in the process. As a result, the content may turn out low in quality and might not be consistent Lack of a Content Distribution Strategy Unless you promote high value content on all the digital and social media channels, no one will hear about your health tech brand. Most B2B health tech companies fail to promote themselves through effective health tech content marketing on multiple digital and social media channels. No Patience B2B health tech companies want instant results. The survey by in 2020 HIMSS points out the minimum time needed to fetch results from content marketing programs. A health tech content marketing program launched in this quarter will not bring you any developments in the same quarter. Effective Content Marketing Plan for Health Tech Marketers The global pandemic has accelerated the shift towards digital marketing. Many healthcare technology marketers focus on pure sales collateral and product-centric content instead of thought leadership and human-centric content. Here are five areas that deserve more attention in your health tech content marketing plan. These should be top priorities in your content plan. Planning the Process and Setting Reasonable Goals & Objectives Data shows that most healthcare technology companies do not have an effective health tech content marketing plan. It is not surprising that these companies, accelerating ahead everyday, do not have the time to plan or enough resources to execute it. There are three reasons behind it: • They never made planning a proper priority. • They realize they don’t have the time. • The team doesn’t know where to start. Good planning with realistic goals and expectations solves this issue. Quality content marketing is a long-term investment, not a short-term performance vehicle. Benchmark the Market & Your Competition Investigating your competition may get you down. Analyzing every aspect of your competitors’ content, including approach and strategy, will help you learn many essentials things. You will get ideas to improve your health tech content marketing from your competitor analysis. Do not get confused between your sales competitors and content competitors. Your sales competitor is the one who sells your exact product or service. Your content competitors are companies ranking on search engines for the same content that you want to ranked for on search engine result pages. In addition to pure sales competitors, these content competitors can include major publishers such as trade associations and newspapers. Fine-Tune Your Messages, Themes & Topics It is effortless to come up with a long list of content ideas. It is vital to understand the themes and topics, which will work better for your business goals. The topics should be worth the time and effort you put in. Your themes, topics, and other content ideas in your health tech content marketing plan should support your core health tech messaging. People usually tend to create content randomly and wonder why their content marketing does not work in the end. Fine-tuning your themes, messages, and topics and making sure they are all unified in the process is a big part of ensuring your content succeeds in the end. Address All Four Content Distribution Channels Creating great content is just a first step to your health tech content marketing. You may have to think of the content distribution channels: owned media, internal channels, earned media, and paid media. All of these channels have multiple options for content distribution. Depending on your company’s business goals and particular situations, you can choose the best-suited application from these channels. Get the Most Out of Your Content Marketing Efforts Maximize your health tech content marketing investment with the three Rs: refresh, repurpose, and repromote. Refreshing means updating old content that performed well in the past. It may include changing the published date and updating the internal links to timely and more current information. Repurposing means changing the format. You can make a blog post out of a webinar or create an infographic out of a case study. Promoting and redistributing older content that performed well in the past is repromoting. With content marketing, it is tough to have long-term success without a documented strategy and commitment. With a detailed process, you will have clarity about your goals and the tactics you will use to achieve them. If you do not have this practice, it's better to develop your strategy and write it down to improve your health tech content marketing's better effectiveness. Content marketing is a proven way to connect with the tech industry audience, especially in health tech. Creating great content about your business, which the audience finds reliable and helpful, will make your company reliable and a trusted source to solve problems. Doing it alone may be a tiresome job. We, at Media 7, provide all the assistance in marketing technology products online. We have the right solution for all your demand generation, lead generation, sales, and marketing problems. Media 7 converts leads and turns them into your happy customers forever. To know more about Media 7, visit: https://media7.com Frequently Asked Questions Why is content marketing important in health tech? Content marketing is crucial in health tech as unique content makes your target audience trust your brand and consider it a trustworthy source for solving their issues. Moreover, to build your brand, content marketing is a vital component. How do you create a successful health tech content strategy? When you create a successful health tech content strategy, an ideal buyer profile, buyer persona, customer journey, etc., should be considered. Along with that, you should have clear objectives and goals when you make a content strategy. What is the essential step in creating a health tech content marketing plan? The essential step in creating your health tech content marketing plan is defining your targeted audience and understanding the buyer persona. It will help you create relevant and audience-focused content.