In a general context, consumerism can be defined as a social and economic order that is geared towards encouraging the purchase of goods and services. There is no doubt that consumerism has huge impacts on various sectors of the economy. Particularly, the public health sector has come a long way in terms of advancement in the use of information technology in service delivery. This essay, besides outlining the role of information technology in public healthcare service, seeks to describe the impacts of consumerism in regard to I.T, claims management, and member services when dealing with healthcare providers.
Impacts of Consumerism
Health care providers have an enormous task in ensuring that they are always offering high quality service to the numerous people who are always on their counters. To keep up with today’s modern world, it is imperative that the health care providers embrace information technology because it is only through it that they can be able to adapt the use of specialized tools that are custom made for claims management and member services. Research by Eisenstein, Lobach, Kawamoto &Anstrom (2009) supports the fact that developer tools designed for the public health industry have the potential to revolutionize the service rendered by health care providers if used and managed efficiently. Claims will be managed and executed more effectively with the help of tools such as the quantitative tool which is used for workforce planning in healthcare (Eisenstein, Lobach, Kawamoto & Anstrom, 2009).
Role of IT in Healthcare
Now, what is the role of information technology in healthcare? According to Henderson and Venkatraman (2010), IT plays an important role in enhancing performance in the health care system. People are served better because service delivery is enhanced with efficiency. Secondly, treatment of diseases such as diabetes has been simplified due to the introduction of modern machines which are direct products of information technology. Thirdly, production of various drugs has also been made easier due to the integration of I.T in their manufacture. Finally, I.T has generally created a better platform on which health care service delivery is offered (Tan, 2010).
Conclusively, it is necessary to state that I.T plays an integral role in improving service delivery in the public health sector. On its part, consumerism encourages the players in the health care industry to keep offering quality services that will encourage people to use them.
References
Eisenstein, E.L, Lobach, D.F, Kawamoto, K., & Anstrom, K.J. (2009). Evaluating Implementation Fidelity in Health Information Technology Interventions. Journal of Perspective Health, 45, 78-81.
Henderson, J.C., & Venkatraman, N. (2010). Strategic Alignment: Leveraging Information Technology for Transforming Organizations. Journal of Health Information Technology, 27,231-254.
Tan, J.A. (2010). The role of IT in Public healthcare Service [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqj8YepbQBI
