With the explosion of internet enabled mobile devices and news of players like Reliance Jio expected to improve broadband and 4G connectivity, gone are the days when the ERP systems were expected to be used only within the hospital premises and by a set of privileged top managers. Today it trickles down to each employee within the administrative, supply chain, financial and clinical departments and healthcare providers are seeing the advantage of access to information enhancing employee productivity.
Some of the key factors where mobility can add value to the organization are mentioned below:
1. Better Response Times and reduced Process Lag: There is no doubt that the improved accessibility to information will enable efficacy of decision making.
Let us take the simple example of delays in handover of Diagnostic Reports. A high percentage of Laboratory Reports which are conducted and which have values which fall within the acceptable Normal Range, still have long delays in hand over to the patient only because the respective the MD Pathologist or Radiologist may not be available all the time. But if this information can seamlessly be made available to the Doctor, he could stamp his authority on it with a quick review in double quick time. Today diagnostic centers go a step further to ensure competitive advantage by notifying the patient of the availability of the report on sign-off and even emailing the report to the patient’s email address. Web based access are also being provided to the patient to have access to his medical records via a Patient Portal.
Several other examples in the hospital can be recalled especially around those which require steps for approval or authorization that may be required to say release a Purchase Order/Request for essential goods or providing discounts to a hospital bill.
2. Improved Employee Productivity and Satisfaction: With the real-time access to information, employees may have the flexibility of logging in remotely which in turn improves their efficiency and indirectly their overall satisfaction.
3. Secure Access: Concerns over access over the internet are ensured by providing 128 bit encrypted SSL certificates to each of the employees to ensure data security in addition to Used IDs and Passwords for each mobile device, be it a laptop/tablet/smart phone.
4. Wearable Devices: with the invent of wearable devices capture clinical information via Bluetooth integrated into the Hospital Information Systems for the patient’s vitals, patient current location, patient verification etc.
5. Patient Engagement: With the growing competition amongst private healthcare providers, patient engagement is gaining traction to enhance stickiness and being marketed by word of mouth. Patient Engagement may be in multiple means - in the form of messages via SMS, email or pushed notifications via Mobile Apps. Web Applications are also built for each Organization to book appointments, expose access to the Medical Records, patient education material, etc.
So go ahead and ensure mobility to your Hospital Information Systems and enjoy the benefits and the improved perception of being an advanced organization to your patients and stakeholders.
