Checking Up on Medical IT

One industry that is particularly well-known for its technology troubles is healthcare. It has the unique issue of trying to make the jump to digital after having been a strictly paper-based industry for a long time. Electronic Health Records, or EHR, have provided this opportunity to providers that want to update their practices to match those of 2019.

Optimizing EHR

Electronic health record implementation has been seen as a priority for healthcare providers for nearly a decade, and for good reason. Proper implementation of an EHR system can eliminate many of the operational deficiencies found in a healthcare workplace, and it can result in improving the quality of care, the workflows involved, the intelligence with which the practice is approached, the number of patients seen, compliance with state and federal mandates, and how they get reimbursed for their services.

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

VR and AR are more commercially available than they have ever been before, and the medical industry will surely be using these innovations to make some astounding progress in the future. Think about it; the concept of simulating a healthcare procedure could help in both training and preparation, providing more insight into what the repercussions of failure are or how complex systems like the human body play into the procedure. If software can create a visual representation to aid in medical practice, the possibilities are expanded by quite a bit.

Artificial Intelligence Growth

There are many industries that try to leverage artificial intelligence in a more effective way, including healthcare. Whether it’s systems that can help healthcare providers communicate with patients suffering from severe neurological diseases or trauma, monitoring antibiotic resistance in patients, or using data analysis to predict medical problems, artificial intelligence is primed to aid in some of the bigger developments in medical technology.

Expansion of Virtual Care

Virtual care can be defined as one-on-one health consultation via the Internet, and it’s a practice that has seen considerable growth thanks to the increased connectivity of today’s online world. 96 percent of health systems--almost the entire market--have been investing in virtual care systems and “telehealth,” and plan on expanding even further in 2019. It’s actually been shown that these telehealth solutions have been improving patient health care and understanding of health services, making it valuable indeed. Virtual care provides many possibilities that would otherwise not be accessible or affordable.

Overall, healthcare providers have had to get creative to leverage the bountiful benefits that can be provided by technology. To learn more about how our IT professionals can help you take advantage of medical IT, reach out to us at (509) 534-1530.