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A health check for healthcare data
A health check for healthcare data

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During the pandemic, there was an upsurge in the usage of health tech and wearable devices that helped consumers track their health data and control it. Take a smartwatch, for instance – It tells you how many steps you’ve taken in a day, how many calories you’ve consumed and burned, your heart rate and when it increases or decreases, etc. The global sales of smartwatches jumped by 18% in 2020, according to a report by Gartner.

Besides wearable devices and health apps, the healthcare sector saw a spike in telehealth and telemedicine, which enabled consumers to contact doctors virtually, get a diagnosis and buy medicines without stepping outside. Telehealth services have grown exponentially since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first quarter of 2020, one clinic chain experienced a 600% increase in telehealth compared to the previous year’s period. According to Frost & Sullivan, telehealth is expected to grow sevenfold by 2025.

What is telehealth and telemedicine?

In contrast to telemedicine, telehealth encompasses a broader range of remote healthcare services. It is essential to keep in mind that telemedicine is a term that refers specifically to remote clinical care. In contrast, telehealth also refers to remote non-clinical care, for example, telemedicine training, administrative meetings, and continuing medical education. A subset of telehealth, telemedicine refers to the use of technology to provide health care and education to distant patients. With telemedicine, clinical services can be delivered to patients without an in-person meeting using electronic communications and software.

Digital health optimizes costs and provides accessibility to a broader audience.

Increasing profit margins with minimal investments is a crucial reason more health systems are implementing telehealth and virtual care options. Their cost management and on-demand scalability make them risk-free investments during uncertain economic times. Digital health becomes a value add when healthcare systems move to outcomes-driven models, deploying digital programs that engage patients and help them achieve positive medical outcomes. Patients, providers, payers, pharmaceutical companies, and specialists are able to collaborate effectively, resulting in enhanced value-based care, interoperability, better compliance adherence, and lower costs. These interactions gather an exponential amount of data every second about treatment outcomes, diagnosis, and overall patient health at every step of the process. Did you know – 30% of the world’s data volume is estimated to be generated by the healthcare industry alone, and is expected to reach 36% by 2025, which is 6% faster than manufacturing, 10% faster than financial services, and 11% faster than media and entertainment.

Digitalization of healthcare data

Traditional healthcare organizations are blending the increasingly popular telehealth and telemedicine with their current practices to cater to all age groups of patients. The GenZ population, for example, is always on the move and on their phones, and they want quick, easy solutions that won’t take up too much time. The newer generations are looking for faster resolutions without spending hours at the hospital waiting for a clinical check-up. This is possible through the digitalization of healthcare data and processes and making it available at the click of a button.

All forms of healthcare data, including prescriptions, patient history, test results, and handwritten medical notes, are now being made digital. This enables the interoperability of healthcare data. It allows physicians, patients, insurance providers, pharmacies, etc to get a holistic view of their patient’s medical history and background and enables them to access a patient’s medical data across the healthcare industry. However, to be able to utilize the data that is generated in the healthcare sector through the medium of wearable devices, health applications, telehealth services, etc., healthcare organizations need to structure their unstructured data. You might be surprised to learn that 80% of the data generated is unstructured, and only 12% of it is analyzed.

 


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