How a healthcare management system (HMS) is improving hospitals and clinics?

The global digital health market was at US$179.6 billion in 2016 and by the end of 2025, it is estimated to cross US$536.6 billion, according to the statistics from Transparency Market Research, leading research and advisory firm. These rising numbers indicate the massive scope of digitalization in healthcare.

Needless to say, technology has been a game-changer in saving countless patients and improving the quality of our lives. Hence, most of the medical organizations are adopting the latest digital trends to provide the best possible services to their patients. The organizations that do not adopt these advancements in the coming years could probably lose their patients and ranking.

Medical organizations adopting primitive style of technologies could face several issues like:

• Difficulty in coordination (sorting, filing, maintaining, and accessing) of endless paperwork
• Gathering of accurate medical data from different systems to store on a centralized platform
• Lack of communication between doctors, hospital staff and patients whenever needed
• Manual billing and claims management processes, leading to error and time wastage of staff
• Disorganized appointment scheduling
• Sensitive medical data scattered across places, threatening its security

Digital solutions like a full-fledged healthcare management system or medical app solutions for doctors are playing a big role in improving these challenges. They are enhancing the operations of many hospitals, clinics and independent medical practices in a big way.

It is interesting to know how these solutions have impacted the functioning of medical organizations. Let’s explore them in detail.  

How digitalization is influencing healthcare management?

Data integration:
Healthcare organizations need to track, organize and store a large amount of data like clinical, financial, patient, claim, pharmacy, R&D, cutting edge technologies, etc. However, the challenge is to keep it integrated and sorted. Especially in large or multi-specialty hospitals, several complex systems are utilized and so, storing the data in one system is tedious. As a solution to this, virtual data centers are used where all the data is properly distributed in corresponding enterprise systems and managed efficiently. Such data centers facilitate the electronic exchange of data and benefit healthcare organizations, care providers, insurance companies and patients.

Digital medical records and improved data security:
All the necessary patient data like medical history, test results, prescribed treatment, etc. can now be saved digitally in the form of electronic medical records (EMRs) and electronic health records (EHRs). These records can be instantly accessed by the doctors for monitoring the patient’s health and ensuring an accurate diagnosis.

To ensure higher security of sensitive medical data, modern healthcare solutions follow HIPAA compliance, so that, all the standards for medical data protection are met.

Enhanced care that empowers patients:
Leveraging technology has led to easing the patient journey. It has empowered them to a greater extent in several ways.

• Patients can instantly book appointments from anywhere using a patient scheduler app or other doctor on-demand solutions. It saves their efforts and reduces long waiting hours.
• The facility of online health assistance and e-prescriptions provides immediate help to patients, especially in case of emergency.
• Check-in and check-out procedures, payment methods, etc. can be made patient-friendly with use of technology.
• Patients have access to their health records, freedom to communicate directly with doctors, the ability to choose amongst the best doctors, and much more.

With this level of authority, the process has become more patient-centric leading to increased patient participation and higher satisfaction rates.

Automated processes with Robotic Process Automation (RPA):
Managing hospitals is a crucial task where even a small error can cost the lives of people. So, instead of a manual system, an automated system using Robotic Process Automation (RPA) avoids human errors, especially in documentation-related tasks, administrative tasks, etc. For example, software bots can track patient records like their personal information, health issues, contact details, etc. and generate reports for audits. Bots can calculate bill amount and speed-up account settlements. They can also streamline claims management. In large hospitals, RPA is used to track details like staff availability, room occupancy, operational information, etc.

Higher efficiency using the Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare:
Internet of Things (IoT) is undoubtedly revolutionizing healthcare practices. Connected wearable devices gather real-time data like heart rate, blood pressure, calories burned, etc. and proactively alert the doctors about life-threatening health situations of patients. Likewise, remote monitoring technology enhances communication and transparency among doctors and patients.

Other IoT applications include:

• Faster disease diagnosis
• Timely reminders and alert messages
• Error reduction in medical data
• Management of drugs and inventory
• Remote medical assistance

Higher ratings and better hospital reputation:
In this competitive world, any hospital willing to be amongst the top-rated hospitals should achieve good ratings from patients and insurance companies. A new-age HMS helps to establish a reputation as a technically advanced and modern hospital. It contributes to a great extent in improving the patient experience which allows them to secure a good rating.

Also, the insurance companies rely on electronic data and an HMS is an apt solution for this. It collects and sends accurate patient information to the insurance companies in digital format. The companies which send electronic data have higher chances of getting good ratings by the insurance companies.  

Improved clinical decision-making:
A good HMS tracks real-time medical data with high accuracy. Such data-driven insights make clinical and operational decision-making fast and efficient. With easy access to clear information at the fingerprints, hospital staff and other resources can be streamlined and well-managed.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Clinics and hospitals are already adopting new approaches to enhance the patient experience. They are modernizing their systems to boost efficiency and improve productivity. For example, an HMS acts as a reliable solution to different challenges faced by medical practitioners. Also, the effective implementation of emerging technologies like IoT, wearable devices, on-demand solutions, RPA, etc. is playing a remarkable role in healthcare management.

I hope it was helpful and look forward to knowing your vital thoughts on this. Which technology-driven solutions can further impact the healthcare practices according to you?