Imagine the following scenarios: 

• An electrocardiogram necklace that helps the physician track the patient’s health. 

• A chip in a pill is used for sending data to a web portal from the body and also the capability of your doctor to check the patient’s treatment progress. 

• A fetal monitoring device that observes the women remotely with pregnancies of higher risks. 

The above are some of the visuals which can happen in the future of Healthcare and medicine. These types of unsetting technologies are redefining the patient experience and transforming outcomes in the clinics of the healthcare industry. Different data points show this effective modification. The life expectancy has increased to 60 years from 30 years between 1800 and 2000 at 1.5 years average rate per decade. The likelihood has now expected to be 90 years by the end of 2020 and at a 15 years per decade average or 10 times faster than that and this is what we call a Patient centricity world. In this blog, we will check out patient-centricity in-depth and how technology is used to enhance them. 

What is Patient Centricity?

There are three significant aspects when it comes to defining patient centricity. Let’s check them below. 

Making use of patient data efficiently for better treatment, monitoring, diagnosis, and R&D. At present, the evidence in the real world is reliably becoming significant, especially in the FDA providing new drug approvals. Correspondingly, the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) is increasingly accomplishing providers to prefer measures and address outcome data via the execution of the meaningful use regime. 

Patient Centricity also deals with improving patient experience and engagement to mold them into active attendants in every decision that is care-related and also enhances the excellent patient experience. The trend has now moved to human clinical trials, especially during the drug development’s advanced stages to engage patients actively. 

Patient Centricity helps to enhance the outcome of the patient by shifting the focus to a population health management approach to individual encountering that targets interferences on particular cohorts and holistically at the patient risk. 

Digital technologies can be influenced by Healthcare Software and Life science organization to allow patient centricity in a way that creates excellent health outcomes, transform the patient experience, and the boom line, and also boost customer loyalty. 

Data encourages Customer Insights: 

Enhancing the patient experience takes more time than expanding technologies and also needs data-driven insights. Data is the only fuel that powers an enterprise’s patient-centric strategies. Device data, inventory data, customer data, systems data, etc. offer a 360-degree view which forms the substratum of patient-centric decision-making, sound, and process optimization. 

The ability to define more information and in-depth insight is vital for discerning the health journey of the patient and developing outstanding experiences. When you apply AI to the data wealth, Healthcare and life science organizations can expand their understanding of the expectations and experiences of the patient. With this knowledge, they can enhance app features and interfaces, offer customized and individualized experiences, and streamline the process at every point along the journey of the patient. 

The combination is Key: 

All the technologies and digital data in the world will do little to enhance the experience of the patient in case they do not work in concerts. There is an entirely expandable digital platform that supports the complete journey of the patient, and this is mandatory to offer an outstanding experience. 

Adequate healthcare and life sciences amid digital platforms are rooted in a simple, user-friendly, and intuitive design which makes it easy for both healthcare professionals and patients to communicate, share, and access data along with various systems and also initiate actions. These management tools and platforms that include automation enable healthcare and life science enterprises to influence athletic abilities across the enterprises. 

Support staff and clinicians can communicate with patients and colleagues in real-time and remotely, the people in the group can reply to the requirements, collaborate rapidly on new services and products, and enterprises can more rapidly take the opportunities advantages. 

The healthcare and life science system which efficiently utilizes digital technologies and data to enhance the experience of the patient is OSF Healthcare which analyzes and expands internal and external social, financial, clinical, and operational data to improve the organization and patients. This information is daily updated, enabling OSF to execute new processes and monitor real-time bed availability. 

The truth is that OSF can enhance capacity management and efficiency, decrease readmissions by offering physicians a readmission risk score of their people each day, and also gain the insight advantages coming to the system, allowing rapid discussions that focus on the patient requirements. 

Bottom Line: 

To achieve strong patient-centricity, Healthcare and life science need to expand digital tools and platforms in a way that enhances processes and people to deliver the best goals as per the customer requirements. The technology is required to function as the best part of this type by connecting customer knowledge, facilitating data collection, empowering responsiveness, innovation, and more. It can also play an essential role in operationalizing feedback and measuring performance to make sure the strategies in customer-centric approaches are on track and also can be adapted continually to deliver new value. 

By exploring the unique customer experience and organizing processes, technology, and teams to deliver on the vision consistently, different health enterprises can lead in the present patient-driven market successfully. 

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The healthcare sector is facing pressure to move to digital systems, both from regulatory authorities and from the general public. The government is pushing for digital systems so as to make the functioning of hospitals and other healthcare systems more transparent. The public is becoming more aware of their healthcare requirements and options and is demanding more efficient and accessible healthcare systems, and the healthcare providers are becoming more aware of this need. Many healthcare IT firms are trying to fulfill this need, and are providing a variety of software services. Let’s try to understand the different types of healthcare software used by various healthcare providers.

EHR

Electronic health records or EHRs are used for storing patient information in a digital manner. It is used by hospitals and clinics to store the complete medical history of a patient. Government health regulators in many countries are moving forward with plans to make electronic health records mandatory.

These records provide a secure and easily accessible way of storing medical records compared to paper-based records. Electronic records do not have the risk of loss of medical history or being illegible or destroyed over a long period of time. It also prevents duplication of medical records, since there is only one file that is modified over time.

Electronic health record software is used in both clinics and hospitals and usually comes integrated with hospital management software and practice management software.

Practice management software ( PMS)

Practice management software or clinic management software is used for managing clinics. Depending on the requirement of the clinic, software with various combinations of features is available. Generally, they contain appointment management, billing, and electronic health records. Software with integrated lab and pharmacy management features is also available if there are labs or pharmacies associated with the clinic. Practice management software helps to streamline the workflow of a clinic, gets error-free documentation, manages appointments and billing, and makes the system more efficient.

Specialized systems are available for dental care, ophthalmology, and other specialty clinics, with customized prescription management and health records.

Queues in the clinic can also be managed by the system, either on the basis of tokens or on the basis of appointments

Hospital Management System ( HMS )

Hospital management system has almost all the features described above, and more. They are a fully integrated system capable of managing the entire hospital. They are capable of managing appointments and electronic health records for both inpatient and outpatient departments. They are used for managing doctors’ schedules, surgeries, other procedures, and all the aspects related to them. They are also capable of handling the labs and pharmacies attached to the hospitals. The HMS systems can also manage the rooms, marking rooms as occupied, unoccupied, undergoing maintenance, etc, making it easy to allocate rooms and beds for patients.  

Hospital management systems are often linked to the websites of the hospitals and patients can use them to book their appointments, get access to their health records and treatment plans, and manage their prescriptions. These days they also come with apps for patients that aid the patients in these same tasks much more easily through their smartphones. Alerts are provided through SMS services for follow-up procedures, vaccinations, etc in some hospital management systems.

Due to the integrated nature of the HMS, all the procedures done in various departments of the hospitals, all the tests done, medicines administered, and prescribed are tracked, thus allowing easy comprehensive billing.

Laboratory information management systems ( LIMS )

Lab information management systems, as the name implies, are used to manage the functions of a lab. It will have provisions for sample collection, inventory management, accounting functions, and provisions for machine interfacing with the lab equipment.

A good lab information system will provide full automation and ensure error-free results, with alerts for abnormal results. With machine interfacing, data from the instruments in the lab are directly read by the software, and accurate records are made against the sample data. In the case of LIMS systems integrated with the hospital management system, provisions may be there to add the test results to the patient records. Stand-alone systems are also available for use by independent laboratories.

The Laboratory information management system helps lab technicians to achieve a smooth workflow and better quality control. From the point at which the sample is collected, till the results are delivered, samples are tracked using the software, which means that any technician in the lab can find out what to do with a sample at every step of the way, thus avoiding issues with sample management. The system also prevents errors, thus improving the credibility of the lab.

Billing software

Billing software has been used as part of hospitals and clinics ever since accounting went digital. Even before EHRs came, accounting software was being used in many hospitals.

Billing software helps to manage insurance claims and provides a smooth accounting of medical bills. The entire medical costs of all the patients can be easily accessed and organized in an efficient manner using billing software. Though they come along with hospital and practice management systems these days, they are still available as stand-alone systems. 

Universal health care is a hot topic for discussion these days, with people arguing for and against it. While proponents of the system argue that it is the right of every human being, opponents argue that it may not be economically feasible, and may harm a lot more people than it will help. The issue is much more complicated by the fact that there is no one system in the world that is adopted by all the countries that currently has universal healthcare, and therefore it becomes difficult to gauge its success across the world. Let us try to break this complex issue to gain a better understanding of the system, and form informed opinions.

Universal health care is a system that ensures all the people in a region or a country gets healthcare without affecting their financial status.  According to WHO Universal health coverage (UHC) means that all people and communities can use the promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship. In practice, this does not mean that everyone has insurance coverage or that all medical issues are covered by the insurance, it just means that everyone has access to healthcare.

Universal healthcare first started in Germany in 1883 with the sickness insurance law, which mandated industrial employers to provide insurance for their workers using funds made from deductions in employee wages and from employer contributions. By 1930s, almost all of western and central Europe had similar systems in place. Currently, of the 33 developed countries, all of them except the USA has universal healthcare.

Implementation strategies

Even though the definition of universal healthcare is uniform throughout the world, the implementation strategies used in different countries are very diverse and difficult to classify. Each of these systems are linked with the governing systems and the laws and regulations of that country, and therefore may even differ in different parts of a single country, as in the different provinces of Canada, where each province has reasons to determine what is considered essential, and where, how and who should provide the services.

In some cases, the government pays for healthcare from a single fund. In some countries like Canada, this would mean that the government pays private organizations which in turn provide healthcare to its public, while in countries like the United Kingdom, the government maintains a healthcare system, owning healthcare resources and employing healthcare professionals. Such systems are referred to as single-payer systems, which means that the fund for the system is managed directly by the government or a government regulated agency. In such a system, the entire population is brought together under a single health risk pool, and one set of standards for services offered, and the cost for these services. Generally, the idea is that the high healthcare costs that arise from the sicker section of the population are balanced by the low healthcare costs for the healthy section of the population.

In a multi-payer system, the medical costs are paid for by multiple entities, which may include the person or their family, their employer, and the government. Countries like Germany follow a multi-payer system, with a statutory health insurance, and private health insurance. Compared to single-payer systems, multi-payer systems provide more options to the patients, and are generally difficult for the governments to exploit, but falls below in terms of healthcare equity, risk pooling, and negotiations. Multi-payer systems are also associated with higher administrative costs.

In some countries like Switzerland and Germany, universal healthcare is enforced by legislation. In Switzerland, there are no free state-provided health services, but private health insurance is compulsory for all persons residing in Switzerland (within three months of taking up residence or being born in the country). Swiss are required to purchase basic health insurance, which covers a range of treatments detailed in the Swiss Federal Law on Health Insurance. It is therefore the same throughout the country and avoids double standards in healthcare. Insurers are required to offer this basic insurance to everyone, regardless of age or medical condition.

The advantage of universal healthcare is that everyone gets medical coverage, no matter how poor they are, and everyone gets the same standard of care. Various studies have shown that universal healthcare has lead to healthier populations, with lower infant mortality rates and improved life expectancy. Universal healthcare is also associated with improved economic well being of the population. In Thailand within ten years of the implementation of Universal Health Scheme, the catastrophic healthcare expenditure in the poorest households fell from 6.8% to 2.8%. In Mexico, impoverishment from health expenditure fell from 3.3% in 2001 to 0.8% in 2010, with the implementation of a national protection programme called Seguro Popular, funded by general taxation and modest contributions from richer households.

Implementation of universal healthcare is complicated with a lot of difficult choices. The healthy section of the population ends up paying for the sicker section of the society, the money which may well be spent on economically better ventures, which will improve the quality of life for everyone. Universal healthcare may end up crippling the economy and may even lead to poor quality of healthcare, as doctors have more incentive for treating more patients, but less for treating fewer patients with more care. People may also be less careful of their health and can lead to less healthy choices if they don’t have the incentive to stay healthy.

So the debate on whether universal healthcare is good or bad, essentially is a debate on how to achieve universal healthcare - should it be done by implementing laws and regulations specifically for universal healthcare, or should we do it improve the overall standard of living that access to healthcare is not a problem for anyone.  

The success of a universal healthcare system will depend on how it is implemented, and choices have to be made based on the size of the population, the economic well-being of the population, the available funding and the fine balance between the choice similar to as mentioned above.