How Digitalization Boosts the Patient

Experience

“The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient
who has the disease. – William Osler, a famous Canadian physician” How true
these lines are! It is so necessary to think beyond the clinical needs of the
patients.

It’s all about how the patients are treated and made to feel. Let’s consider a
hypothetical scenario. There are two highly experienced and popular doctors in
the city, Mr. David and Mr. Benjamin. Recently, Mr. David has started
incorporating some intelligent software systems in healthcare that use
digitalization to improve the overall patient experience. To ensure that patients
don’t wait in the long queues, Mr. David has started using a patient scheduler
mHealth app. For saving their medical records, bills, etc., Mr. David has
incorporated a digital system, so that even if patients forget or misplace their
documents, all the records will remain intact. However, Mr. Benjamin is still
following the same traditional methods to approach and treat the patients.

What do you think? Whom will the patients prefer over time?

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Technology is making a massive difference in the healthcare industry.
Automation, healthcare IoT and other technological advances are greatly
improving the medical practices and ultimately the patient experience.

What Factors Enhance the Patient Experience in Hospitals?

Along with in-hospital experience, patients are also influenced by pre and post-
treatment experience. Technology can be used to engage the patients by
providing them proactive information and guidance about their health
conditions or appointments with doctors through dedicated medical apps.
There are mobile apps that make it easier for patients to approach the facilities
of the hospital. Likewise, to get feedback about what makes them satisfied, it
is necessary to talk to them and also conduct surveys to get better information.

Today, advanced technology is playing a crucial role in enhancing the patient

experience. Using digital transformation and IoT in healthcare can help to
organize the patients as well as the hospital staff. A mobile app that is
designed for scheduling doctor appointments enables the patients to do it
sitting at their homes in their available time zones. Digitally managed clinic
staff schedule software improves the communication between staff and
enables them to handle more tasks without any hassle. Electronic medical
records or EMRs are helpful in saving digital versions of different medical
papers, charts, etc. related to patients.

When hospitals and clinics incorporate such tools and technologies, it certainly
improves the quality and efficiency of care. However, the safety and security
of the data is an important factor in healthcare. So, healthcare apps need to be
HIPAA compliant. The data like personal information of patients (like their
names, contact details, etc.) and other medical information in the hospitals
must be protected. This can be assured when the apps are HIPAA compliant.

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Biz4solutions Logo and designs are trademarks of Biz4Solutions LLC. All trademarks and logos
referenced herein are the properties of their respective owners.
How Digital Technology Influences Patient Experience?

Digital technology is a key enabler of a successful patient journey. Many

hospitals have already started using certain tools, software, apps, etc. for
enhancement of overall patient experience; a few of them are specified here.

Electronic Medical Records (EMRs)

EMRs have been playing an important role in improving the healthcare

industry. EMR is a tool that digitalizes patient records and keeps track of the
vital information related to patients. These files and records can be accessed
and used by concerned doctors to provide the care quickly and accurately.
EMRs increase efficiency and they reduce documentation errors. The doctors
and other staff don’t need to spend time in searching records in files, as the
information is available at the click of fingertips through EMRs.

Practice Management System in Healthcare

Practice management system in healthcare (or PMS) is software that deals

with several day-to-day tasks of clinics and hospitals. PMS helps to automate
some tasks like paying and tracking bills, documenting clinical tasks,
maintaining a list of insurance payers, measuring practice performance of
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Biz4solutions Logo and designs are trademarks of Biz4Solutions LLC. All trademarks and logos
referenced herein are the properties of their respective owners.
doctors, etc. It can also be used in automating the tasks at multiple branches of
a hospital. Practice management system in healthcare helps to streamline
many time-consuming tasks which ultimately increases productivity and
provides better ROI.

A good example of PMS is an emergency physician scheduler mobile app. Such

an app connects the patients to doctors within minutes in case of emergency
and their lives can be saved. At other times, the doctors can guide the patients
to take precautions to avoid any bad health conditions.

Investment in a PMS will always be a cost-effective decision as it helps to

manage multiple tasks of the staff members. Wearable technology, monitoring
equipment, etc. embedded with IoT in healthcare play a vital role in tracking
patient health. The reports of their health are automatically saved and
reminders are sent to the concerned departments. When PMS is integrated
with EMR, scheduling different tasks, billing, etc. becomes much faster and
easier.

Billing to Payers and mHealth

When patients have any insurers or third-party payers involved while paying
the hospital bills, billing to payers and mHealth (mobile health) facility
automates some tasks. Depending on the insurance policy, that the patient has
a tie-up with, a particular billing amount is automatically deducted and the
patients can instantly pay the remaining amount. mHealth is also useful in
guiding and educating the patients, giving reminders of appointments, taking
feedbacks from them, providing remote care to them, etc. It is necessary to
develop mHealth apps that are HIPAA compliant for the protection of all the
medical data. HIPAA compliant apps build trust in patients.

Home Healthcare and e-Prescription

Home healthcare includes various services like monitoring health status,

assisting in daily activities, medical tests, wound care, etc. which are provided
to patients in their homes. An example of a home healthcare app is Phlex65.
The senior citizens may find it difficult to get professional caregivers instantly
in case of an emergency. Phlex65 connects them with caregivers in real-time
whenever necessary. Caregivers can guide them in daily activities like personal
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care grooming, assisting in the transfer, taking medicines on time, cooking,
assistance with bathing, light housekeeping, etc. The caregivers can also take
them to doctors in case of emergency.

In case of emergency, when patients cannot visit a hospital, the doctors can
instantly send e–Prescription to them for time being a relief. It is directly sent
to the pharmacies through dedicated software. Instead of waiting for
handwritten prescriptions, the electronic prescriptions also help to avoid the
errors which sometimes result in the selection of incorrect medicine or dosage
and omission of certain information.

As a preventive measure, people can use wearable devices like heart rate and
blood pressure monitoring cuffs, glucometer, etc. to check their fitness levels,
track heartbeats, monitor glucose levels, etc. Whenever the levels are below or
above the normal limits, these wearable devices send the data to patients and
make them aware of it. The patients can immediately take e-Prescription from
the doctors and consume preventive medicines. IoT plays a crucial role here as
devices are connected to software systems to provide accurate health
information.

Conclusion

Profits of a hospital are directly proportional to the satisfaction of patients. So,

it has become crucial for hospitals to be proactive and incorporate advanced
technology. To survive in the cut-throat competition, hospitals have to take
steps to deliver special care experience to their patients. Digital technologies
like EMRs, PMS, patient scheduler apps, e-Prescription, mHealth, etc. are
transforming the healthcare industry at a fast pace. They give more power to
the patients to choose the best for them in their convenience. These are more
efficient and save a lot of time of both- the patients and hospital staff.

Ultimately, the hospitals delivering the best patient experience using digital
tools will be the ones who excel and profit.

Copyright © Biz4Solutions LLC. All Rights Reserved

Biz4solutions Logo and designs are trademarks of Biz4Solutions LLC. All trademarks and logos
referenced herein are the properties of their respective owners.