What HealthTech up to - An overview on Digital Product Transformation in the Healthcare
From the day man drew his footstep on the lunar surface, we realized it is possible to achieve more. A simple & accessible platform that uses interoperability to avail different medical disciplines is the vision for the future in the healthcare industry. With a few clicks on our smartphone or computer, and we can get professional healthcare services instantly.
The telehealth framework has gone through major evolutions. Well-defined technologies and clear goals impacted life of both patients and parties that treat them continuously. We can now safely prevent avoidable harm with effective and improved healthcare services. This article will go forward by explaining what we intend to do, how we did it, and what more can be achieved.
Immerging technology has widened our view towards what can be done today or in the future. Traditional systems in healthcare organizations have many boundaries to follow, but digitally it is possible to leverage more on the same idea. And can utilize more data. We wagered our vision of the healthcare industry on digital product transformations.
Here are a few notable implemented use cases of Technologies in healthcare:
Machine Learning & AI
Machine learning, one of the key aspects of technological transformation, is vastly contributing to the healthcare industry. ML brought huge simplifications to automation in billing, care guidelines, support decisions, and many more. Programs are made in such a way that, they can detect and implement the simplest solutions for the patients and provide reusable data into the system. Machines are great at finding optimal solutions to complex problems by flexing through advanced algorithms. Healthcare professionals can now take fast decisions by examining through the most accurate outputs.
One of the earliest adopters of newer technologies is the healthcare industry itself. Though in many places’ old DVD drives and fax machines are still being used. An article published in the NewYorker titled “A.I. VERSUS M. D.” said, “It’s easy to diagnose a stroke once the brain is dead and gray.” Confronting fast implantation is necessary in emergency cases like this.
TensorFlow
Global leaders in technologies are contributing in this regard. Nvidia, one of the leading manufactures for producing integrated graphics chips, has a sector named TensorFlow. TensorFlow is developing new ways to use ML, as a primary component for AI. From creating sequential APIs to modeling advanced forward pass by utilizing new Keras API. This resulted in improved products for the healthcare industry.
Using the common learning methods of diseases and various tests, TensorFlow included hundreds and thousands of data in their respiratory. Developers don’t need to waste time on the inputs but will contribute towards the algorithm that will help the healthcare personals, they can just drive data according to the need. Deep image processing, color noise correction, and medical prognosis can help avoid future health problems of patients.
Source: TensorFlow website
Did you know, many people are contributing to the research of Covid-19 from their homes? Folding@Home is another great example of new technology contributing directly to the healthcare industry.
Folding@home (FAH or F@H) works as a distributed computing project — all you need to do to participate is download their software kit and contribute computing power from your home computer. The idea uses computing powers to solve complex algorithms and receive cryptocurrency in return. It is quite the same but outsources a wholly different result.
Instead of mining cryptocurrency, the computing power helps researchers and scientists to simulate movements of proteins implicated in lots of diseases. A link of global volunteers that contribute their computing power for researching many cases like SARS-CoV-2, Covid-19, and more. Satya Nadella — CEO of Microsoft, DR. Lisa Su — President & CEO of AMD, Jensen Huang — CEO of Nvidia, Bob Swan — former CEO of Intel are to name a few among the top ambassadors of the program.
Watch this video if you want to learn more about the project:
COVID Moonshot structures Source: Folding@Home
Source: Folding@Home Wiki
PathAI
A good example of implementing intelligence in the healthcare platform is PathAI. It is helping pathologists to make accurate decisions towards the experimentation and prevention culture faster than ever.
Source: PathAI website
From the field of research to the rich design libraries brought together many sleek and modern platforms together similar to PathAI. People with years of experience in software, compatible hardware, and top-notch physicians made it possible. PathAI implements state-of-the-art ML techniques with modern healthcare subjects, together made it possible to collaborate and invent new strategies. Many internal and external partners such as yourself help to contribute to the new and fast-paced environment. It is very exciting for everyone.
Care on fingertips — Patient-Centered Care
Source: ForSee Medical (FSM) website
Integrated electrical medical record or EHR is currently in at least 60% of the systems. ForeSee Medical implemented EHR to their system a long back and now the systems are very advanced. Even training speech patterns from the professional end, help train the medical data to achieve an accuracy rate of over 97%. Platform’s very own engine The ForeSee Medical Disease Detector’s NLP is used to extract the same data we mentioned earlier and use them for smart solutions.
Physicians are now bound to do more meaningful work by what they do best with practicing medicines and talking with patients, rather than spending more time at their desks. eClinicalWorks is a telehealth solution that works with the largest telehealth provider in the country. For remote care, it is essential, to sum up, dominant expertise and healthcare services. Bonded together, it became easy for specialists & physicians to provide a perfect solution in the name of EHR. Because better engagement means better healthcare. Patient portal, Healow apps, time-saving booking management are a few applications that helped to establish a decent platform and fine-tune Patient Relationship Management (PRM).
Telehealth accessible on any device and a contactless kiosk for appointment check-in. Source: eClinicalWorks website
If healthcare is like a game of chess, why not make every move count? Remote services of clinical functionalities like diagnosis, treatment, consultations are cited as telemedicine. We are seeing a shift from a reactive healthcare service to a proactive one. Natural language processing, predictive analysis is helping in the improvement of EHR as we know. Speech-recognition software or other forms of biometric can capture accurate audio and record it till it gets the proper encode needed. On the other hand, the predictive analysis uses typical data-mining procedures with a little help from AI t improve the care delivery system to patients.
Did you know?
Telemedicine technology was first introduced in the late 1960s to support the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Nebraska Psychology Institute. Read more
Amazon Care
Tech giant Amazon will be launching their telehealth program for broader use including amazon workers other employees. Previously the Amazon Care app was only used by Amazon employees and their families. The service provides high-quality healthcare service and it’s available for both Android and IOS. The app successfully passed a two-year pilot program for Amazon workers in Washington state. The program consists of virtual urgent care followed up by an in-person visit with a nurse. The telehealth service will be available for 50 states as an early step and has a plan to expand throughout the year.
Amazon telehealth service offers both primary & urgent care. Annual vaccination, regular health checkups, advice, and a proper report in one place. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)-compliant service allows patients to check up with the same healthcare professionals and follow full disclosure.
GoForward
GoForward is tech-powered personalized healthcare that works on a membership payment model. Excluding the insurance has helped them focus on members and their long-term relationships and outcomes. On signup, their members get a full biometric assessment upon the first visit, 24x7 care support, virtual physician visits, and tailored programs for patients to monitor potential risks as well as proactively guide them on diet, exercise, stress, sleep, etc.
Their ‘Forward at Home’ program includes sending patients home with specialized sensors for remote care.
Watch this demo of technology they use:
Other notable examples:
• Norwell Health
• athena Health
A better practice toward medical practitioners is the calling for nowadays. Many roadblocks may arise if the user experience is not fulfilled. Patients can be sent home or fall towards toxicity in simple errors. This may occur due to poor practice in the UX channel. A poorly designed medical device can be hard to read and a patient with poor eyesight may discover the application as non-beneficial. Therefore such patient-facing apps must adhere to inclusivity and accessibility guidelines.
Takeaways & thoughts
The criteria to implement optimal solutions easily and most importantly securely is a general idea. Key points to maintain a stable & successful user experience are:
· Service evaluation regularity
· Relevancy to the context of advanced digital healthcare
· Quality and usability
· Incremental approach
· Following proper healthcare guidelines and procedures— HIPPA, Interoperability, ICD codes, etc.
· Most importantly, treating humans as human
Network-based & value-driven systems are impacting the world as we know. We can facilitate interactions among healthcare professionals and with the patients regularly. Our traditional healthcare system which had an individual and acute approach is now leaning towards remote and longitudinal relationships. Digital methods of connections are streaming unprecedented data for future studies.
Healthcare professionals’ job involves making crucial decisions, and those decisions not only impact patients’ lives but also on the field of information and research. Using Big Data and Business Intelligence can assist professionals in informed decision-making. For example, Business intelligence along with data analysis has been helping Hospitals to run seamless operations by forecasting visits and admission rates.
While there is a need for creative problem-solving we also need to include Quality Assurance (QA) & security measurements to make sure the patients are comfortable using digital healthcare products. Organizations must ensure to keep all the products and employees UpToDate with information to serve the greater cause.
Special thanks to:
Assessing the impact of digital transformation of health services report of the Expert Panel on effective ways of investing in Health (EXPH).
The digital transformation of the healthcare industry: exploring the rise of emerging platform ecosystems and their influence on the role of patients Sebastian Hermes1 • Tobias Riasanow1
Eric K. Clemons2 • Markus Bo¨hm1 • Helmut Krcmar1.
Digital Intelligence Briefing by 2018 Digital Trends.
Let me know in the comments your thoughts or if you know any other Healthcare companies that are taking advantage of technology. I’d love to read and learn more.
Thank you for your time! 😊🙌
