4 Technologies Healthcare Organizations Should Adopt

Healthcare organizations are essential worldwide, yet some remain incredibly bogged down when it comes to technology.

Learn how leveraging the right solutions, platforms, and technologies can help streamline processes and overcome barriers across the healthcare industry.

Top Technologies for Advancements in Health Organizations

Healthcare teams can improve processes and better serve patients with the following technologies:

1. Tighten security to protect patients and avoid fines
2. Leverage data to reduce errors and identify risk factors
3. Adopt Telehealth to increase patient access
4. Implement automation to save costs and reduce errors

Tighten Security to Protect Patients and Avoid Fines

Data security is a concern in nearly every industry, but perhaps none more so than in healthcare. The FBI’s Cyber Crime Report found that the healthcare industry faced more ransomware attacks than any other critical infrastructure sector.

High frequency of data breaches stem from a few key reasons;

Healthcare organizations and hospitals rely heavily on technology to treat patients and maintain records, and they store a high volume of sensitive data. If hackers gain access, they can use patients’ personal and financial data for blackmail and fraudulent billing.

Healthcare is also the sector most likely to pay a ransom. One report found that 60% of respondents who experienced encryption in the healthcare industry admitted to paying the hackers ransom, compared to a cross-sector average of 46%.

The healthcare industry faced more ransomware attacks in 2021 than any other critical infrastructure sector.

Ensuring your organization is in compliance with HIPAA and HITRUST guidelines is vital, both to protect the security and privacy of your patients and to avoid up to eight-figure fines. Tightening the security of your business’s data is key to surviving and succeeding in the healthcare industry.

AIM Guides Complex Security Project, Helping Large Healthcare Company Increase Efficiency and Avoid Costly Regulatory Fines 

Leverage Data to Reduce Errors and Identify Risk Factors

The Future Health Index, a survey of nearly 3,000 healthcare leaders, reveals that although healthcare leaders are confident in the value of data, they remain frustrated by common barriers to effective data usage.

Common barriers to data usage include:

• Siloed data (51%)
• Technology infrastructure limitations (23%)
• Difficulty managing high volumes of data (20%)

To overcome these challenges, healthcare leaders cite their desire for support from data experts. Yet most healthcare organizations lack the internal expertise to utilize the data they have available fully.

As a result, nearly half of healthcare leaders view data as more of a burden than an asset.

However, the benefits are palpable when healthcare organizations strengthen their data capabilities.

Opportunities when data siloes are eliminated, and data is fully leveraged:

• Greater insights into risk factors that lead to disease
• More accurate and quicker diagnoses
• Reduction in medication errors
• AI-Powered Smart staffing and personnel management
• Streamlined public health surveillance

Adopt Telehealth to Increase Patient Access

Unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic caused demand for Telehealth to skyrocket. Fears of catching and spreading the virus during in-person medical visits drove greater interest in providing and receiving healthcare through technology.

What are the benefits of Telehealth?

• Safer remote practices (demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic)
• Convenience
• Cost savings
• The ability to provide care to people with mobility limitations
• The ability to provide care to people in rural areas who don’t have access to a local doctor or clinic

As we see telehealth grow in popularity and use, we will likely see an increase in the diversity of populations served by healthcare organizations in terms of geography, economic status, and ability.

Implement Automation to Save Costs and Reduce Errors

Digital process automation, also known as robotic process automation (RPA), can significantly improve efficiencies and provide cost savings for healthcare organizations.

What day-to-day tasks can automation streamline?

• Appointment scheduling
• Billing
• Patient communication
• Managing the data from electronic health records (EHR)

By automating time-intensive or low-value business processes, healthcare organizations enable their teams to shift their time to more valuable and impactful work. This benefits both patients and the organization as a whole.

How Can Healthcare Organizations Start Upleveling Capabilities?

The possibility of saving costs, protecting highly sensitive patient data from breaches, increasing the speed and accuracy of diagnoses, reducing errors, and streamlining processes is undoubtedly attractive.

But organizations may hesitate on how to start reaping those benefits.

AIM’s team comprises experts with deep experience providing solutions across data analytics, automation, and application security. Let’s tackle your technology initiatives together.

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