Impact of digital transformation on the healthcare industry

Impact of Digital Transformation on the Healthcare Industry

Managed Outsource Solutions 8596 E. 101st Street, Suite H Tulsa, OK 74133

The healthcare sector is undergoing major changes while moving to complete digital transformation, utilizing outsourced solutions to ease the transition.

Impact of Digital Transformation on the Healthcare Industry Digital transformation is fundamentally changing companies and their business models all over the world. The healthcare sector is also undergoing significant changes and is moving towards complete digitial transformation, utilizing outsourced solutions to ease the transition. The electronic health record is one aspect of this transformation; in spite of its many benefits, it doesn’t gel well with physicians. EHRs or electronic health records organize knowledge in a unique manner that is quite different from

how doctors are

trained to practice. In other words, there is a cultural as well as lingustic divide between a physician and an EHR specialist. This makes it difficult for a physician used to paper medical records to adjust to the electronic version.

Problems Posed by the EHR •

The EHR is objective; however, all clinical concepts cannot be measured objectively. You can count a patient’s pulse, but you cannot measure or count a patient’s pain.

•

Even the best designed EHRs fail to completely and effectively capture individual decisions. Medical diagnosis and treatment protocols can be complex; the detailed intuitive thought process behind an accurate diagnosis and treatment decision cannot be easily captured by the digital record. Therefore physicians have difficulty

adjusting

to

EHRs

whereas

insurance

companies,

health

plans,

governments and patient groups are votaries of EHR because of the greater transparency and accountability the electronic record provides.

•

For the physician, the EHR reduces efficiency and brings more administrative tasks that consume the time set apart for care.

•

Another issue with EHR is that it is designed to facilitate medical billing before helping with medical decision making.

Doctors Turning into Data Entry Clerks When doctors have to make entries in their EHR systems on their own, it becomes quite harassing. This increased demand is also considered a major reason for the crisis of physician burnout.

Inputting patient data into the EHR software can take two thirds of a physician’s day.

They have to work after clinic and spend many hours on data entry. EHR causes an agonizing alienation from physicians, other patients and possibly even from one’s clinical insight. Continuously spending time on EHR software and using drop down menus and checkboxes turn doctors into data entry clerks.

www.managedoutsource.com

(800) 670 2809

The EHR “Divide” In the traditional way of practicing medicine, there is an unwritten contract between patients and their treating doctors. Patients expect qualities such as competency, altruism, honesty, responsibility, transparency, objectivity and a commitment to public good from their doctors. In return physicians are entitled to trust, autonomy, self regulation, a funded healthcare system, inclusion in public policy, monopoly and prestige. There has been a definite “connect” between physicians and their patients, a definite warmth and trust. The entry of computerization has begun to rewrite the social contract between doctors and society with EHR forming the basis for the industrialization of medicine. While this is bringing about a distancing between physicians and their patients, the healthcare industry focuses on the perceived advantages of the EHR, mainly its capability of co-ordinating care.

What Could Be a Solution?

Since the electronic health record is here to stay, the question is whether there is a solution to the issues posed by it. The contention here is between the doctor’s pure intuition and the EHRs mechanical knowledge. Experts in the field speak of how technologies could complement and enhance the physician’s ability to integrate research with practice.

•

NLP or Natural Language Processing and dictation will allow physicians to use their preferred terminology while recording their notes into an EMR thus avoiding the tediousness of dropdown menus and check-boxes.

•

Artificial intelligence (AI) programs could perform research for the physician and assist in medical decision making.

•

Advanced technology could also help physicians to connect with each other and share information.

The Use of a Medical Scribe Another alternative is the use of a medical scribe. A medical scribe is a paraprofessional who specializes in charting physician-patient encounters in real time. A medical scribe is essentially

a personal assistant to the physician, performing documentation in the

EHR, gathering information for the patient’s visit and partnering with the physician to

deliver

superior

quality

patient

care.

This

reduces

the

burden

of

medical

documentation for physicians and also improves patient satisfaction.

www.managedoutsource.com

(800) 670 2809