Background:
The Covid-19 pandemic, a once-in-a-century event, shattered the healthcare industry’s status quo, a fact that we are all too familiar with. What caught us off guard was its far-reaching implications for human lives and the future of the healthcare industry.
Recollecting the scenes of long queues of patients and relatives struggling to complete paperwork in hospitals may haunt us even today. Still, we mustn’t forget our collective failure to find innovative solutions. The impact made us realize the importance of digital transformation solutions to revolutionize the healthcare sector and better serve people.
Synopsis:
The pandemic accelerated the digital transformation of the healthcare sector by encouraging medicinal discovery, OPD management, automating medicine delivery, and maintaining health records, among other things. This blog compares two healthcare scenarios divided by the pandemic and how the healthcare sector is quickly adopting healthcare IT solutions to revitalize it for better healthcare globally.
The Pre-Digital Era – A Look Back:
The healthcare sector depended heavily on paper-based data, records, and ever-deteriorating electromechanical machinery for ages. Data was manually added to papers and maintained, from appointment schedules to prescriptions to disease information. This archaic system has witnessed mistakes, delays, and inefficiencies for many years.
Consequently, the entire process of delivering superior health benefits had gone awry. Digital transformation solutions made these drawbacks more apparent and demanded an overhaul of healthcare processes.
Unsustainable record keeping: Paper-based patient data and diagnosis information were averse to maintaining life-long records.
Limited Accessibility: Patient and disease data were not centrally available to evaluate the impact of diseases.
Data Loss: Data loss due to accidents or human mistakes was prominent, increasing the overhead expenses of the medical institutes.
Error Vulnerability: Manual data entry and retrieval were prone to irreparable damage to patients, hospitals, and authorities.
Lack of Data Analytics: Without AI and automation solutions, data analysis severely affected disease evaluation, diagnosis, and medication.
The Digital Revolution in Healthcare:
A paradigm shift in healthcare saw digital technology and process automation solutions replace a paper-based database management system. AI and automation solutions were integrated into electromechanical machines, transforming care delivery.
With the advent of artificial intelligence and machine learning, real-time data analytics became prominent, consistent health monitoring became a new normal, and personalized care became feasible and cost-effective. Digital transformation solutions are vital in streamlining workflow, improving patient engagement, and reducing healthcare costs.
Key Drivers of digitize healthcare industry
Pandemic:
Three years of Covid-19 showed us the gap between the ideal healthcare system and the existing one, opening the doors for technological interventions in processes, workflow, data management, and personalization. Consequently, patient monitoring, tele-consultancy, and information sharing are revolutionalized.
Tech evolution:
Growth in technology has been unprecedented in the 21st century. Upgrades in old technology and tech innovation increase the ease of health delivery and accuracy in diagnosis and medication. Predictive analysis helps authorities curtail the spread of diseases and remediate them quickly. Personalized healthcare is becoming a norm.
Consumer Demand:
The Covid-19 lockdowns turned out to be a catalyst for eCommerce business. eCommerce stores added to the convenience customers were looking for. As a result, consumers started demanding personalized experiences, more options in products and payments, and heightened convenience. This led to the rise of self-service portals for patients seeking healthcare services online.
Supply Chain Disruptions:
The Sino-US trade war and the Russia-Ukraine war threw the global supply chain dynamics out of gear. As a result, commodity prices sour and influence inflation globally. The availability of food products, groceries, and fisheries has become scarce. On the other hand, crude oil prices are surging at unprecedented levels to thwart any efforts to make consumables available.
Digital Healthcare Solutions – Use Cases
Amidst sporadic complaints of inadequacy, the healthcare industry is flipping the script entirely. AI and automation solutions, predictive analysis, data analytics, mobile technology, and IoT devices have penetrated the healthcare sector and are bringing radical changes in how healthcare is approached.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence algorithms enable quicker discovery and development of antidotes against various diseases. AI has carried out evasive and non-evasive medical procedures with utmost accuracy and correctness. The extension of AI can be seen in detecting and diagnosing cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
Automation
Automation has resolved the issue of accurately manufacturing drugs in bulk. It also helps manufacturers control their quality, ensuring error-free and consistent manufacturing of drugs. In hospitals, automation has swiftly taken over the repetitive tasks of registration to discharge patients, identifying their medicinal needs, and automating medicine delivery schedules.
mHealth
Mobile Health is an innovative and effective concept that allows medical practitioners to examine symptoms and provide primary diagnosis. Thus, doctors can easily monitor the health parameters of patients consistently. mHealth consists of several services – from educating patients and their family members to profile free consultations.
Wearable Devices
Imagine if your health parameters were delivered in real-time to a doctor, and based on those data, the doctor suggested changes in medicines, dosages, and timings or provided inputs for diets and exercise. Wearable or IOT devices help patients instantly collect and share health data so doctors can evaluate drug potency and impact or suggest advanced treatment.
Data Analytics
Voluminous data has changed the face of every industry, and healthcare is no different. Big data analytics helps medical practitioners research and analyze disease data, mutations, and progress. It also assists in determining treatments and predicts precise outcomes. Data analysis allows researchers to identify the exact characteristics of diseases and decide on medication.
Benefits of Digital Transformation in Healthcare:
Workflow Optimization:
The process automation solution for healthcare brings order to the entire hospitalization and treatment process. On the other hand, the healthcare software solution streamlines the research and development workflow to expedite drug discovery. Moreover, it reduces the burden of paperwork.
Quick Recovery:
The digital transformation solution helps diagnose disease and recommends medication. Moreover, it automates the scheduling of medicines. The healthcare software solution evaluates the health parameters in real-time so medical practitioners can assess the drug potency and suggest changes.
Instant Communication:
The healthcare IT solution is available on mobile devices to connect with patients quickly through telemedicine or eHealth facilities. Patients can consult with doctors for treatment. On the other hand, doctors can check health parameters to suggest changes in diet, medicines, or treatment.
Cost-efficiency:
The AI and automation solution for healthcare reduces errors and delays, streamlines processes, and automates many routine tasks to reduce wastage and procedural expenses. Telemedicine reduces the need for personal consultations, bringing down patient costs.
Secure Data Management:
The digital transformation solution has data security tools and frameworks to protect patient and research data against cyber threats and malware. Two-factor authentication, SSL certificates, and access authorization help institutes manage data efficiently and effectively.
The Future Outlook:
No system can be one-sided; if there are advantages, the challenges come along. Digital transformation in healthcare is no different. Data security, cyber attacks, and vulnerable digital infrastructure are a few challenges that may cause damage to human lives and prospects.
Notwithstanding, the future of healthcare is inseparable from digitization, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence. Digital transformation solutions are all set to enhance the effectiveness of medicines, the quality of treatments, and inventiveness in drug discovery with the help of AI and automation solutions as we time travel into the future.
How Sigma Solve Can Help Improve Healthcare Sector?
Sigma Solve’s recent AI and automation solution helps kidney patients monitor their health parameters in real-time and provides critical information regarding dos and don’ts in a particular situation to improve their health parameters. For a kidney patient, these reminders of dos and don’ts are crucial for reducing pain and treatment costs and improving recovery chances.
At Sigma Solve, we have been leveraging emerging and futuristic technologies, such as AI, ML, Cloud Computing, Automation, Virtual reality, and more, to develop digital transformation solutions for the healthcare sector to enhance the ease of living a happy and healthy life.
Sigma Solve is a proven technology partner for your digital transformation solutions. Consult our digital transformation experts and IT engineers to acquire new capabilities and set a progressive path toward building better healthcare systems. Call us at +1 954-397-0800 for consultations.
