Health Technology, Digital Healthcare
Article | September 7, 2023
Explore the evolution of healthcare by diving deep into these EHR trends, as they pave the way for the future of EHR. Embrace cutting-edge solutions to enhance patient care and optimize operations.
1. Introduction
2. Significance of EHR Trends
3. Top 10 EHR Trends Shaping the Healthcare Industry
3.1 EHR Interoperability
3.2 Patient-reported Outcome
3.3 Patient Portals
3.4 Generative AI
3.5 Cloud-based EHR
3.6 Voice-enabled EHRs
3.7 Predictive Analytics
3.8 Robotic Process Automation
3.9 Telehealth-EHR Integration
3.10 Blockchain for EHR Data Integrity
4. Future Scope
1. Introduction
Electronic health records (EHRs) have transformed the medical industry by revolutionizing how medical information is recorded, accessed, and utilized. This article focuses on the EHR trends and innovations that have reshaped the healthcare field, paving the way for a more efficient and patient-centric future.From enhanced interoperability to cutting-edge technologies, professionals can unravel the key trends propelling future of EHR toward a new era of healthcare delivery.
2. Significance of EHR Trends
The importance of EHR software technology trends is highlighted by their transformative influence on the healthcare sector. This transformation was further expedited by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which played a critical role in the increased adoption of telehealth services. As the pandemic necessitated alternatives to in-person visits, the demand for efficient and remote medical services surged, propelling telehealth to the forefront. Yet, looking beyond pandemic responses, the ongoing adoption of EHR trends in healthcare can significantly reshape how healthcare functions. Embracing these EHR trends enhances efficiency, facilitates personalized care, improves data exchange, drives data-driven insights, and empowers patient engagement. Irrespective of global events, it remains essential for healthcare facilities to stay abreast of these trends to remain adaptable and deliver optimized care, ultimately benefiting both providers and patients.
3. Top 10 EHR Trends Shaping the Healthcare Industry
Recognizing significant industry trends becomes crucial in a field that is constantly subject to technological advancement and global change. From adopting advanced technologies to prioritizing sustainability and customer-centric approaches, these EHR trends hold the power to bring about significant transformations across the healthcare sector.
3.1 EHR Interoperability
EMRs face a notable limitation in their ability to integrate with other systems, whereas EHRs offer robust interoperability, enabling seamless data exchange among healthcare facilities. As the demand for interoperability grows, the distinction between EMRs and EHRs becomes increasingly blurred, with vendors referring to products as EMRs that closely resemble what was initially known as EHRs. In response to this trend, developers and IT specialists continually update EHR systems to comply with interoperability policies, making EHRs more appealing for organizations seeking comprehensive and connected healthcare records.
3.2 Patient-reported Outcome
Patient-reported outcome or PRO EHR integration involves incorporating patient-reported outcome measures into electronic health record systems. PROs gather information directly from patient records about their health status, symptoms, and quality of life. These insights provide valuable subjective data for healthcare providers. For orthopedic patients at the clinic, completing surveys on their smartphones via a mobile link is easy. Clinicians can access patient responses during or after appointments to offer tailored care recommendations based on survey readings. Access to patient-reported outcome data empowers clinicians to deliver patient-centered care, fostering greater patient involvement in their treatment journey.
3.3 Patient Portals
Patient portals in EHRs are pivotal in modern healthcare practices as the industry embraces digital transformation. Patient portals within EHR systems are crucial to empowering individuals and facilitating communication between patients and healthcare professionals. These portals enable patients to access their personal health information securely. Patients can schedule appointments, ask questions, and even have virtual consultations, making healthcare more accessible and patient-centered. With improved communication and engagement, patient portals bridge the gap between individuals and healthcare professionals.
3.4 Generative AI
Integrating generative AI tools with Electronic Health Record systems holds immense promise for advancing healthcare industry. Generative AI can significantly enhance EHR software precision and overall technology, resulting in streamlined daily workflows and enabling healthcare providers to prioritize patient care. By utilizing patterns and structures from existing data to create new content resembling the training data, generative AI brings valuable improvements to EHR systems. These benefits include efficiently filling in missing data, enhancing clinical decision support, automating documentation and coding processes, and ensuring billing accuracy, thereby alleviating the burden on healthcare providers.
3.5 Cloud-based EHR
Cloud computing is gaining traction as medical organizations explore the benefits of outsourcing administrative and clinical services, including medical billing, reporting, lab integration, and more. With the increasing adoption of EHR systems, the advantages of easy access to patient data have become crucial. As the patient population continues to grow, the complexity of data rises, demanding solutions that ensure secure storage and accessibility. Embracing cloud-based infrastructure becomes imperative in this scenario, granting healthcare professionals the flexibility to access data using tablets or smartphones safely. This integration empowers clinicians to enhance their productivity in the clinical environment, laying the groundwork for long-term success by offering mobility solutions that cater to evolving healthcare demands.
3.6 Voice-enabled EHRs
Integrating voice recognition technology with EHR systems is a significant advancement for clinicians. By allowing hands-free input of information and patient data, voice recognition technology reduces inaccuracies and speeds up information recording. Additionally, with the support of AI, EHRs equipped with voice recognition can assist doctors in recognizing historical patient trends and making accurate diagnoses. As companies strive to incorporate AI into EHRs through voice-enabled technology, physicians can effortlessly access patient data and inquire about specific health parameters, such as the last recorded iron levels from a blood test. This streamlined approach improves efficiency and enhances the overall healthcare experience and decision-making process.
3.7 Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics applications have become a significant driving force within the healthcare industry, yielding profound impacts on diverse areas, including cancer treatments and emergency staffing optimization. As the field continues to evolve, the adoption of predictive analytics technology is expected to expand further. Specialized healthcare app development services utilize AI-powered analytic methods, such as statistics, data mining, and modeling, in conjunction with AI capabilities to offer clinical outcome predictions based on real-time device data and electronic health records. This integration aims to elevate the patient experience and improve care delivery, equipping healthcare professionals with valuable insights to make more informed and proactive care decisions.
3.8 Robotic Process Automation
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is driving the expansion of the automated data capture market for electronic health records worldwide, owing to its ability to enhance workflows and ensure increased accuracy. By automating data capture through robot-based processes, RPA eliminates the need for manual data entry, leading to improved precision. In the healthcare industry, RPA serves as an effective technique to address EHR flaws without requiring a complete system redesign, permitting the utilization of digital labor to preserve efficient processes while resolving underlying issues. By employing system algorithms and programs, RPAs efficiently automate tasks typically carried out by human resources, accelerating the digitization of medical facilities and promptly addressing imperfections.
3.9 Telehealth-EHR Integration
Integrating EHR systems with telehealth platforms revolutionizes healthcare by facilitating remote care and streamlining clinical workflows. This alliance will enable medical organizations to deliver high-quality patient care from a distance while ensuring the swift and secure transfer of patient information between systems and interfaces. The combined power of telehealth and EMR systems enhances virtual care activities, automates data entries, and synchronizes insurance information in a single window, thus optimizing efficiency and productivity for healthcare providers and their staff. Moreover, this integration strengthens patient-physician engagement and fosters seamless collaboration among healthcare teams.
3.10 Blockchain for EHR Data Integrity
While blockchain technology gained prominence through its association with cryptocurrency, its application in healthcare is steadily gaining momentum. By utilizing cryptography, blockchain ensures the utmost security and integrity of EHR data, limiting access to authorized individuals only. In healthcare, blockchain brings value, from validating clinical trials and verifying claim results to monitoring medicine distribution, authenticating prescriptions, and combating insurance fraud. Additionally, smart contracts leverage blockchain to automate actions based on predetermined outcomes, reducing the need for extensive human involvement. Although the adoption of blockchain in healthcare technology is still in its early stages, several EHR systems have already incorporated it to enhance security, scalability, and confidentiality measures.
4. Future Scope
The convergence of IoT devices and big data technology is set to revolutionize the healthcare experience, offering unprecedented digitization and patient engagement. The disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have underscored the need for healthcare institutions to adapt and embrace technological advancements. Careful selection of the right EHR system is crucial for healthcare organizations, and a structured approach that involves key stakeholders, requirements definition, vendor evaluation, and implementation planning is essential for successful EHR implementations. The ultimate goal remains to enhance patient care, streamline workflows, and achieve operational efficiencies. While EHRs have already made significant strides in the industry, the future of electronic health records holds even more excellent benefits and technological impact, with healthcare mobile app developers playing a vital role in the value-based healthcare model and preparing for EHR optimization.
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Health Technology, Digital Healthcare
Article | August 16, 2023
Yes, empathy has become a fad.
Connecting to another human is actually something cool kids do now. If a brand doesn’t have an impact model that includes a practical social issue, consumers tend to not take that brand seriously. In this case, empathy needs to be revisited beyond the trend itself for these strategies to have real, lasting impact.
Practical strategies around compassion meanwhile have similarly become an intrinsic part of social impact organisations. They have become so commonplace that prosocial behaviour has strayed into a kind of tokenism. It is common for instance for consumers to donate their hard-earned money to companies who focus their energies on trying to alleviate real-world issues.
The question then is whether this proxy for compassion isn’t in fact watering down human connections, as well as our positive impact on the issues business and organisations seek to solve with our help.
Postmodern behavioral science
If it is, then we must understand why and how to change that. This is where postmodern behavioral science provides a possible better alternative to social impact strategies. Postmodern behavioral science suggests that the current approach to understanding human behaviour lacks even a rudimentary understanding of empathy, defined in the area of social impact as a discursive strategy that allows us to feel what the group we are trying to help is feeling.
Of course, compassion has very close ties with empathy. Empathy is an innate ability we all have, one that we can learn to develop and fine-tune over time. It is our emotional connection to another human, though one that lies beyond our own ego. It takes the perspective of the person who is struggling and seeks to understand their life, their struggle, and their worldview. It also resolves to value and validate their perspective and experience — something that donating money to a social impact cause does not.
In its broader definition, empathy is a shared interpersonal experience which is implicated in many aspects of social cognition, notably prosocial behavior, morality, and the regulation of aggression.
Empathy has a host of positive after-effects when applied as an interpersonal experience. If a social impact organisation is preoccupied with raising capital, then it is likely to disregard the practical worth of empathy for those who truly want to achieve its mission.
Immersive empathy
One way that behavioral science can contribute is to utilise tools that can help augment the experience of those in need for those needing to understand those needs. Both AR and VR can help people visualise and follow the stories of those who require compassion. These create virtual environments for partners, governments, and consumers to experience with the people they seek to help.
But of course, much of human behaviour is geared toward seeking pleasant experiences and avoiding unnecessary pain. Our in-built hedonic valuation systems guide decisions towards and away from experiences according to our survival instincts.
This is precisely why business owners who want to encourage empathy in their customers go the easy route, but should seek a more participatory frameworks to inspire and provide experiences for those on board with a social mission.
Then there are issues like financial literacy in underserved populations, access to clean water, education for women and girls, and environmental conservation, to name a few of the problems that social impact companies are attempting to tackle.
If a company is trying to tackle an issue such as access to clean water, then rather than start there, it should first ask exactly how this issue arose and developed. It should question the beliefs that underpin this chronic social inequality, those that inform policies, practices, cultural taboos, and beliefs about water and people’s access to it.
To simply respond to an issue in its developed form is to leave it unfixed. We must be willing to reverse engineer the origins of that issue that got us to where we are. In other words, human behaviour is not the only component to consider in this.
The main behavioral framework public servants should take with them is to develop a nudge unit solely based on the relationship between behavioural science and technology.
This is mainly because technology is an inevitable part of how we now relate to one another. Immersive Compassion meanwhile should embrace tools like AR/VR that seek to create empathetic environments and valuable impact longevity.
To fully embrace empathy as an organisation is to create relevant and rigorous responses that go as far as to alter the infrastructure of its target goals. Optimising social impact comes down to optimising human experience.
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Healthtech Security
Article | November 29, 2023
Global efforts to tackle gender inequality have grown in recent years. But there is still so much to be done. Figures from the United Nations show that outcomes for women and girls continue to lag across a range of issues, including poverty, education, work and health. And according to the World Economic Forum, at the current rate, it will take 108 years to close the gender gap.
Although healthcare is founded in objectivity and science, gender bias is still remarkably common. We wanted to understand more about female perceptions of healthcare, so we undertook consumer research that delved into the experiences of women compared to men. The results pointed to a clear disparity, finding that women are less likely to visit the doctor when they have symptoms of ill health and, in some cases, are taken less seriously when they do seek medical advice.
Women being left behind
According to our research, a significant proportion of British women feel disappointed in the healthcare they receive, with one in five reporting they weren’t taken seriously when presenting symptoms to a healthcare provider. What’s more, a staggering one in four said they are reluctant to seek medical advice at all for fear of wasting a GP’s time. These statistics suggest that, not only are female experiences of healthcare damaging their relationship with clinicians, but they could be eroding confidence in recognising and acting on warning signs and symptoms too.
This sentiment is particularly evident when focusing on cardiac care. One in eight women (13%) feel ignored when presenting symptoms of heart disease to healthcare professionals, compared to just 4% of men. And of UK adults who have received a coronary heart disease (CHD) diagnosis, women experiencing symptoms were 55% more likely than men to visit the doctor multiple times before receiving a referral for further investigation. On top of this, women are five times more likely to receive a false finding from the cardiac stress tests that are traditionally used to assess heart health.
“There does appear to be a gender bias in onward referral to secondary care and for diagnostics in the local area, which is influenced by the attending healthcare professionals’ risk assessment. Traditional teaching has led to gender bias, as we are programmed to attribute a lower level of pre-test probability and risk to females. This may have contributed to a general lack of awareness around cardiovascular health in women. For example, in a survey I carried out among more than 600 female employees working within North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, 82% said they didn’t feel informed about their cardiovascular health. Considering participants included some of the most medically informed women in the UK, the results speak volumes about how we view cardiac health among women.”
- Dr Rebecca Schofield, consultant cardiologist at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust
These widespread misconceptions around heart disease and heart attacks are often exacerbated by what we see in the media – think of the countless TV stereotypes of male characters clutching their chests and falling to the floor.
But given that CHD is responsible for one in 13 female deaths, it appears that public health efforts have failed to make people aware of the risks for women. It is, perhaps, not surprising then that 42% of women with CHD did not immediately recognise their symptoms as signs of heart disease. In short, women are missing out on time-critical diagnoses and treatment due to a lack of awareness and education among both healthcare providers and the public.
Technologies making a difference
Thankfully, progress is being made to improve healthcare outcomes for women. Innovative technologies are increasingly providing diagnostic solutions that can reduce incidences of human bias and give clinicians greater clarity on the presence or severity of different conditions in their female patients.
For example, AI is already being used to detect diseases such as cancer more accurately. Its adoption is facilitating reviews and translations of mammograms 30 times faster, with 99% accuracy, reducing the need for unnecessary biopsies.
There’s extraordinary potential for AI and healthcare, and it’s something the NHS continues to recognise, most recently with the launch of its Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI Lab) and NHS England’s (NHSE) MedTech Funding Mandate. The latter aims to accelerate the uptake of selected innovative medical devices, diagnostics, and digital products to patients.
As part of the NHS efforts, NHSE has mandated the HeartFlow Analysis for use in hospitals across England for patients, male or female, who might otherwise be sent for a cardiac stress test. The HeartFlow Analysis is a gender-neutral technology that takes data from a coronary CT scan of the heart and leverages deep learning (a form of AI) and highly trained analysts to create a personalised, digital 3D model of each patient’s coronary arteries. This then helps clinicians to quickly diagnose CHD and decide the appropriate treatment for patients of any gender. Time spent in hospital is minimised for patients and often layered testing and unnecessary invasive diagnostic procedures can be avoided.
Final thoughts
While AI is helping us tackle gender bias in certain areas such as oncologic and cardiac testing, healthcare professionals are not absolved of responsibility when it comes to confronting this problem. It remains incumbent upon clinicians to recognise unconscious bias that would deter them from referring women or minority patients for much-needed testing.
Outside of the hospital, public health education efforts must expand so that far more of us can recognise shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, back or jaw pain, and other symptoms beyond chest pain to be indicators of a heart attack in a woman. Knowing what to look for and overcoming personal bias that might lead to these signs being disregarded, may allow us to help one of the more than 100 women who will experience a heart attack in the UK today.
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Article | February 26, 2021
Worried about how to improve your healthcare sales? Wondering where to begin? Of course, these questions demand genuine consideration. Healthcare professionals are some of the most valuable and vital members of the societiy. And you will have to take care of their unique needs if you want to sell your products to them.
Over the years, selling in most of the industries has changed; the healthcare industry is no exception. The healthcare industry has been booming over the last decade. The boom has increased the necessity of managing patient care and innovating medicines exponentially. To cater to such rising needs, newer technologies are being adopted by the industry.
Flatiron Health, a well-known healthcare technology and service provider, is using data analytics to tackle cancer. They believe that the technology industry is essential to solve healthcare issues. This New York-based start-up uses its cloud-based software platform and big data to connect to various cancer centers across the country. The key asset of the company is its ability to use data analytics to make meaningful recommendations. The annual revenue of Flatiron Health is US$100-500 million. Yes! you read it right.
So, all you need is to have a smart healthcare sales and marketing strategy. Having an effective strategy will help you conquer the healthcare industry and increase your profit margin. One of the easy ways to increase your healthcare IT sales is to have a firm understanding of the ohospital's organizational structure Apart from that, you can analyze the organization by asking the following questions:
• How does this particular healthcare organization compare with its competitors in this
specific arena?
• What is their current position in the industry?
• What makes them stand out from their competitors?
• What makes them unique?
Just like the tips mentioned above, this article is all about tips and strategies to increase your healthcare sales leads. These tips will undoubtedly help you skyrocket your healthcare technology sales by reaching out to a wider audience.
Attract Your Target Audience with Content Marketing
Healthcare is always been trending on search engines through relevant keywords. People search for a related term like healthcare and wellness tips, local medical professionals and medical facilities, and jobs in healthcare.
• One in every 20 searches is related to healthcare
• 70% of visitors of hospital websites come from organic web search
• 77% of all online health queries begin with a search
So, using content marketing to attract audience is the best way to increase healthcare sales. Offering healthcare and wellness information through different online channels will help you improve your credibility and visibility. This step will strengthen the relationship between staff, patients, prospective employees, and the community and increase credibility. According to CMI B2B Content Marketing Report, 2019, 62% of B2B marketers said that they were more successful with content marketing than ever before.
The healthcare technology industry is technical, and it can be highly challeging when you sell the product directly to high-level executives or physicians. So, you must invest time to create compelling content like blog posts, whitepapers, case studies, etc. It will increase your healthcare sales as this content will establish your expertise. So, all you need to do is generate informative and appealing content to position your company as an authentic thought leader, which will help you land more healthcare sales.
Understand your Customer Better and Build Trust
You cannot imagine a society without healthcare professionals. Obviously, you will have to go out of your way to have a deep understanding of their requirements if you want to sell technology to them.
Requirements of each of your clients in the healthcare industry can vary. Hence a ‘one size fits all’ approach will not help when it comes to offering the best experience to every customer. Thus, it would help if you adapted to customer needs for successful healthcare sales. Furthermore, it is essential to realize that healthcare customers are different from other business professionals.
Don’t beat around the bush when you get a chance to talk to them. Directly give them information on what they are looking for, staying respectful and professional. This will help you grab attention and generate interest.. Be flexible despite the odds and do whatever possible to solve their problems.
Prioritize trust-building at all times. In any sales process, trust is a decisive factor, especially in healthcare sales. The reason for this is that if you are selling medical equipment, technologies, or pharmaceuticals, your clients are risking the well-being of their patients in your hands. So, to pull up the healthcare sales game, work on building up a strong relationship and trust with your clients.
Know the Buyer’s Organizational Chart
Unlike working with a small clinic with a single decision-maker, you need to deal with a purchasing department or a buying group when you sell to a big hospital. To ensure that you do not miss anybody, you may have to map out your client’s purchasing hierarchy and identify everyone in the hospital involved in the process. In the healthcare industry, every single client has a very different purchasing style.
You can obtain this information from your known contacts and network within the organization. Knowing the organizational chart of your clients will help you expand your influence with in he organization and boost your healthcare sales.
Focus on Your Client’s Customers
Even for most effective sales organizations, it is remarkably challenging to sell to a client-driven and continually emerging industry like healthcare. However, if you make it through this competitive industry, you will have endless opportunities to add to your profits through successful healthcare sales.
When dealing with a service-based industry, the best strategy is to serve your clients’ customers. Essentially, if you find a practical way to improve their experience, your clients will be happy and you can establish a long-lasting relation with them.
Whenever you deal with a client from the healthcare industry, remember to focus on the actual patients. This strategic line of thought can surely bring you more healthcare sales and increase your annual profit.
Get Started with Social Media Marketing
This is fairly obvious that, in the modern world, social media has become a part of the everyday. There is no easier way to increase your client numbers than to promote your product or service on a platform that everyone uses.
Facebook is the best social media platform. Mainly because senior people use it as they are likely to require medical assistance. A Facebook page is the best place for you to start with your social media advertising. It is an informational source that can increase the targeted traffic coming to your website.
Due to the easy availability of information online, medical professionals do not depend upon salespeople. Instead, they do online research before making a purchase decision. Social media marketing can help you increase healthcare sales and be on the top at all times.
Rapidly evolving regulatory forces, market dynamics, and consumer demands are constantly adding to the healthcare industry's complexity. Driving meaningful patient action and true engagement through your innovative sales and marketing solutions will increase your healthcare sales. This will also make you stand out from the rest of the pack, ending in a long-term relationship with all your customers.
Ace your healthcare sales with these strategies and tips. Reach out to us if you are looking for any assistance. We at Media 7 provide all the B2B healthcare sales and marketing solutions. We focus on bringing in potential clients to your business platforms, converting them, and making them your happy customers forever. To know more about us, visit: https://media7.com
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a healthcare marketing strategy?
Healthcare marketing strategy is usually an inbound marketing process. We bring forth all the resources that could bear against various threats and opportunities in a highly competitive healthcare business through the process.
Why is healthcare marketing important?
For the sustainable growth of the healthcare industry, healthcare marketing is very important and an integral part. Marketing of healthcare technologies and other new facilities in line with treatment is very important for the transformation of the industry.
What is healthcare sales?
The process of persuading healthcare clients and making them buy your products is healthcare sales. In the process, you will sell drugs, medicines, equipment, and technologies to healthcare clients.
How can healthcare professionals drive sales?
Focusing on your client’s customer is an innovative strategy for sales in healthcare. A healthcare professional is likely to buy your product if you prove that your product can make their patients' lives easier.
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