Most Significant New Technology Requirements in the Healthcare Industry
Indeed, it is true that we live in an era whereby technology plays a crucial role in our daily lives. This is the current state of affairs and, in almost every industry, the major players are using the latest technology to improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase the quality of services provided. The healthcare industry has not been left behind, and has had an opportunity to use advanced medical technology to diagnose with accuracy and save many lives in the process. Nevertheless, the potential of medical technology has not yet been achieved, and there are some areas that need special focus in order to reap the full benefits of medical technology. These areas include information technology, medical research, and medical equipment. According to Fichman, Kohli and Krishnan (2011), although electronic medical records and telehealth services have been with us for quite a number of years now, their uptake is quite slow. Some hospitals are still using manual records, and the incorporation of video conferencing in the healthcare industry is not yet fully grounded. In terms of medical technology and the necessary research, such efforts need to be sustained. However, healthcare providers need to form partnerships with the relevant players in order to fast track the full implementation of these new technology requirements; therefore, this will require synergy between all the healthcare industry stakeholders.
Basic Technology Underlying Healthcare Information Systems
In the recent years, healthcare information systems has come out strongly as one of the most important frontiers in the healthcare industry, and its usefulness in medical technology cannot be gainsaid. The technology underlying healthcare information systems is the collection, storage, sharing, and retrieval of health care information, data and knowledge in order to facilitate communication and decision making. In the healthcare industry, there is an immense need to innovate and modify the existing medical technologies, and this will require the input of the latest healthcare information systems. Technological innovation and modification is required in the healthcare industry, and this comes in handy especially in tackling some of the health mysteries which have evaded mankind for many years. A good example is in the area of cancer treatment. Although, chemotherapy treatment has helped cancer to stay alive for long, there is a need to come up with better technology which can eliminate the loss of life.
Recommended Innovation/ Modification
One area that I can recommend innovation or perhaps modification is personalized medicine. Personalized medicine has the capacity to allow for precise diagnosis, enable cheaper and effective treatment, and minimize the treatment of side effects. This is an area the local hospitals in the community can zero in, and improve the health outcomes of the people within the community. This is facilitated through better health information systems, which have knowledge of an individual’s unique physiological makeup and medical history to tailor medical acre most appropriately to the individual.
Key Action that Senior Health Care Leadership Can Take
In order to realize the benefits of information technology management within the community, the senior health care leadership needs to have a strategic plan that clearly maps out the medical technology gaps that need to be filled, and the course of implementing the strategic plan. This will guarantee a steady progress, and the community will benefit from improved health outcomes. For example, if personalized medicine is prioritized, it will be easier to treat people within the community because the medical history will be available, and the treatment can be tailored to meet their needs.
References
Fichman, R. G., Kohli, R., & Krishnan, R. (2011). The Role of Information Systems in
Healthcare: Current Research and Future Trends. Information Systems Research , 22 (3),
419-428.
Glaser, J. D. (2008). Advacncing personalized health care through health information
technology: An update from the American health information community’s personalized
health care workgroup. J. Amer. Med. Inform. Assoc. , 15(4), 391-396.
Pentland, B. T. (2007). Narrative networks: Patterns of technology and organization. Organ. Sci.
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