Patient Needs Should Drive IT Decisions In Hospitals

Alignment of IT with the clinical requirements is among the many challenges that hospital CIOs face. But, the key to any IT decision lies in keeping the patient’s requirements ahead of anything else. Speaking to Biztech2.com, Suresh Kumar, Head - SevenHills e-Health, highlights the challenges and the dearth of the right solutions to meet the specific requirements of this sector.

What are the specific nuances of the hospital sector that are different from any other vertical? What should the hospital CIOs specifically look out for?

The requirements in the hospital segment are different from any other vertical because this sector in itself has many dimensions, and the technology requirements differ according to the varying needs. For example, the technology used for open heart surgery is completely different from the one used for tele-medicine.

CIOs in the hospital sector should look at the patient’s requirement and take a decision based on that. The first priority in terms of technology adoption for CIOs should always be providing quality service to the patient. At the same time, they should also keep in mind the comfort of the staff. While implementing any new technology, CIOs should make provision for training the staff and making them savvy with the new operations.

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What are the challenges that CIOs of hospitals face vis-à-vis their counterparts in other domains?

The basic challenge that CIOs face in a hospital is the right alignment of IT with the clinical requirement. The second challenge for CIOs is to educate the hospital staff, as there is lack of awareness, due to which they fail to foresee the change that technology can bring. Another major challenge is dealing with the hesitant nature of the doctors towards technology; they can be uncomfortable with new IT initiatives. Also a key challenge that CIOs face is lack of funding, due to which IT deployment in this sector is still at a nascent stage.

Are the existing applications available in the market enough to meet the requirements of this sector? Is there a dearth of right solutions, and why?

There is definitely a need for the right solution in the hospital sector because the available resources in the market are in bits and pieces. At present, service providers in India provide technology only on the basis of business and operational needs. There are actually no providers of technology for clinical needs. Most solutions available in the market do not fulfil the key criteria of being scalable, customisable and user friendly.

It is extremely difficult for any hospital to customise and upscale their IT architecture in the given scenario. To put it in better words, the hospital sector cannot do without a user defined system.

What are the technology adoption trends in the hospital sector?

We have observed a transition in the focus from clinic-centric technology to a patient-centric model. With this transition in place, the upcoming technology areas include tele-medicine, preventive hospital, remote patient monitoring and home hospital.

Other technology areas like ERP, HR system, inventory and SCM are deployed in hospitals for operational purposes. But, if we actually count the number of computerised hospitals, it is very low.

Where do you see cloud in the hospital segment?

Cloud holds the potential to reinvent the hospital sector. With cloud in place hospitals can maintain health records and monitor patients more effectively. On the other hand, it will also make it easier for doctors to look for relevant case history to help cure the patients in a shorter period of time. It will also make emails and eDocuments a vital part of the hospital sector. In short, cloud computing will bring in agility and improve overall hospital management.