How Automation Is Revolutionizing Healthcare Sector?
In the past few years, the healthcare industry has undergone an ample amount of changes. These changes are more in the ways how the healthcare industry stores data.
Moving backward in our distant past, remind us of the old paper-based method to keep health records. It doesn’t exist anymore in our present.
Instead, we have new data-keeping methods, i.e., online digital records where storing & sharing information is easy. Its implementation in the healthcare industry looks favorable and beneficial.
The data digitalization made it easy for hospitals, dispensaries, and healthcare professionals to store information. With a single click, one can get instant access to any patient's information. Moreover, the data sharing among healthcare communities is a work of minutes.
In short, healthcare data is now available online to everyone!
Who to credit for this? The answer is “data automation!”
Data Automation indeed is revolutionizing the healthcare industry with technology advancements and making it more cost-effective for healthcare organizations.
With the help of healthcare automation solutions, the day-to-day operations look more sorted and give services to the patients quickly. However, there is a large section of society that daily questions the integrity of data.
I read a lot, write a lot and can say that the maximum of the data collected over the internet goes into an understanding of user’s/online visitor’s behavior.
It is just like Newton’s third law, “Action is proportional to Reaction!”
We understand service providers’ websites by visiting them to get the best and cost-effective products. Subsequently, they react by providing us the products as per our needs, following our data.
Thus, easy data collection helps healthcare service providers to sell us more. Yes, they store our data; personal, financial, etc. but can’t get into our bank accounts to make transactions. Neither they can read messages nor it interests them!
There are standards, rules, regulations, and data measurements about software, IT products, applications, services, and solutions that run online. And all the healthcare software solutions and services run by the same.
Did you ever read about HIPAA or the government programs like HITECH?
No, then for a moment remember them as standard, rules & regulations that are driving the healthcare industry towards automation.
Before I go deep in automation, a small overview of the healthcare sector is important to read. The healthcare industry is doing good efforts; especially, the US government is sharing a big part of their financial budget to spread wellness among the people.
The last 10 years' innovation and R&D have contributed a lot in the human society to give better medicines, surgeries, healthcare tech solutions, treatments to invasive health issues, improved diagnostic aids, and healthcare software solutions.
In this short span, we have achieved a lot in healthcare services for billions of people. And one big credit goes to the healthcare IT solutions & service providers in USA who lead the way!
Today, this article is all about mentioning technological changes and the automation processes, that the healthcare sector silently underwent these 10 years.
Also Read: Impacts Of Wearable Technology On Healthcare Automation Industry
HIPAA, Healthcare Automation, & Security
The digitization & automation of healthcare data has enhanced the services of various healthcare organizations. With the help of healthcare automation software & solutions, manual data entry is now becoming digital data entry.
Today we have various types of healthcare software solutions such as
- EHR: Electronic Health Record
- EPR: Electronic Patient’s Record
- Doctor-Patient Appointment Management Systems
- MDS: Medical Diagnosis Software
- HMS: Hospital Management Software
- E-prescribing software, etc.
These software systems are fully automated and with secure coding to prevent data security-related issues. The automatic systems are less costly because the software can store more than we do in the brain or on paper.
By automating daily healthcare practices, healthcare professionals now have more time to focus on building good relationships with the patients. It sounds productive, and helps in making patients more satisfied!
Hospitals and healthcare organizations store a lot of data from the patients. Thus, it is obvious if we get concerned about our data security. However, to help you out in this, all healthcare organizations go under HIPAA compliant system!
HIPAA has a standard set of guidelines for data security concerns which is a must to follow for the healthcare automation companies. HIPAA has a set of rules for the healthcare software architectures to protect data security breaches and security compromises!
“Every healthcare organization must remain compliant as per the HIPAA-compliance.”
Those organizations that don’t follow security rules, their security concerns are always high. HIPAA’s Privacy and Security Rules are mandatory to follow in the healthcare organization companies anywhere in the world.
By following set rules, we can prevent data security issues and promote this revolutionary data automation in other industries and sectors.
"Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Mobile Applications, Websites, and Software Development nowadays automate the entire hospital systems. All the technologies and healthcare IT products are developed in a way such that they always remain HIPAA Compliant.”
Technologies Automating Healthcare Services
Today, automation is key to increase human thinking and potential. As healthcare organizations are relying more on technology to provide better services to the patients, the performance of health IT infrastructure has increased rapidly.
Technologies and automation delivers seamless operations, improve accuracy, generate more valuable resources, reduce costs, and increase flexibility & scalability of the healthcare service providers.
If you ask me whether automation is successful or not in the healthcare industry, then I would say, yes it is! Because it is supporting innovations at all basic tasks without human assistance.
Calling automation a stand-alone tool for healthcare organizations would be wrong. Actually, it just performs all your repetitive tasks. It is an advanced science whose motto is to deliver a better and quality healthcare.
The data produced by the healthcare automation companies are helping in improving the healthcare organization’s business perspective. As a result, healthcare IT is constantly focusing on more changing needs to provide better health-related services.
Technological advancements in the healthcare industry are giving better healthcare solutions, keeping a constant watch on data security concerns. Below are the top 5 technologies revolutionizing the healthcare industry.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
AI & ML has given some new ways for identifying disease, and to diagnose it! AI & its algorithms have made new treatment plans and clinical trials that make healthcare operations more efficient. Healthcare automation software solutions easily assist medical professionals with clinical problems.
AI, ML & Big Data today processes the best software and tools to monitor health epidemics. The recent advancement in computational power and data collection by the healthcare system help doctors in predicting the diagnosis conditions.
Deep learning and machine vision help doctors to know the blood loss during childbirth! Additionally, guides in setting care conditions to decrease the mortality of mothers from the post-partum hemorrhaging.
These advanced technologies also view CT-Scans and detect tumor spots, cardiovascular illnesses, and other neurological disorders. Furthermore, many research projects are going on to treat cancer and for that, a lot of data is being collected!
Today, AI & ML is not only transforming the healthcare sector into the IT version of healthcare but is also enhancing genomic medicine and pharmacology.
Also Read: Benefits of Automation Software Solutions
With the help of these technologies, doctors can make a replicate of patients’ specific organs with 3D printing; thus making it cost-effective. Dentists and the orthodontics department have started using 3D printing.
Moreover, till now these technologies have successfully supported healthcare automation solutions!
“Currently, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is in action among healthcare organizations and is becoming ready day-by-day to revolutionize the healthcare industry anytime!”
IoT/ Wearables: Mobile Applications
The capability of the healthcare sector to provide telemedicine in an under-served area has increased due to the quality network speed. With 5G internet connectivity, IoT enabled devices and mobile applications, the new and revolutionary age of healthcare can go deep into every part of the world.
Today, 80% of people in USA wear fitness wearable devices that collect tremendous data to make the best healthcare automation software. Healthcare smartwatches are the best example of IoT devices.
The ECG devices monitor atrial fibrillation, blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, etc. and put the data in the installed healthcare app that works with IoT. Also, the data is stored in the healthcare software and a daily report is sent to the appointed doctor.
“By the end of 2018, the mobile healthcare application market’s net worth was around $30 billion, but by 2025 it would cross $100 billion.”
Cloud Innovation
The HIMSS Analytics Survey tells us that more than 84% of healthcare organizations in USA use the existing cloud technology. The healthcare data needs are in high demands and the Cloud is continuously gaining acceptance from the market as “A secured healthcare data storage platform.”
Larger healthcare organizations and hospitals with multiple locations prefer cloud-based solutions as it allows the physicians to quickly access all updated information of a patient.
Though this worry healthcare organization with the security issues, till now Cloud has been protecting data effectively with more secure encryptions. That means its security can never put your information into the wrong hands.
Along with the Cloud, Big Data automation in the healthcare industry is creating some more efficient, robust, & effective healthcare software systems that can benefit patients and medical professionals.
Blockchain
Now let’s look at the source “the data” for which the healthcare industry leaped with the technologies and revolutionary automation. Healthcare data has grown worldwide and the future looks bright.
Today one of the biggest IT trends that are automating the healthcare sector is blockchain technology. The blockchain development provides powerful ways to the users to control data in healthcare electronic record systems.
Though data breaches and cyberattacks are the dangers to data, blockchain is modern healthcare’s safest way that is giving additional value to data even across the dark web.
If we talk holistically about it, then the blockchain is not only protecting the data but is successfully meeting all the data related challenges. The medical record keeping is improving with blockchain; thus, making EHRs more accessible.
Tracking and managing pharmaceuticals and clinical trials with the blockchain is easier and is enhancing interactions between patients and doctors!
“Soon, we might see all the healthcare systems integrated on Cloud in a secured blockchain healthcare solution.”
Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality
Virtual care increasingly becomes popular while providing expensive care in cost-effective measures. AR and VR are helping in surgery simulations and can play a very beneficial role in patient caring.
While the virtual reality helps the patients of cancer, visual disorders, autism, and depression, augmented reality provide support to healthcare practitioners in brain surgeries and blood vessel reconnections.
There is an extended version to AR & VR, where virtual and real-world combines to form MR - Mixed Reality. The MR has increased the medic education capabilities and help the medical professionals to understand their patients easily.
These extended reality technologies can manage chronic diseases and with the collected data, help in making therapy decisions.
“These technologies are based on NLP - Natural Language Processing, Deep Learning & Speech Recognition. Together they can start a cognitive approach in healthcare, i.e., CPA - Cognitive Process Automation!”
The technological advancement for better patient care is revolutionary. Digitization & automation are walking hand-in-hand to meet the challenges in healthcare operations.
All these trending technologies have made healthcare services cost-effective and easy-to-get for billions of people. The automation has transformed the entire healthcare industry with healthcare software solutions, applications, and faster improvements.
The bottom line is quite simple! And the automation in the healthcare industry is a golden goose!
