Can technology help bridge a broader patient population around the world to better access to healthcare?
The recent HIMSS Connected Health Conference in Washington, DC highlighted many tech solutions that are transforming healthcare in a variety of ways and settings. Examples include “DisCo,” an online communication project implemented at Boston Children’s Hospital that connects practitioners and patient family members after a patient is discharged, reducing the amount of emergency department admissions and improving patient outcomes. AdhereTech is a company producing wireless pill bottles that collect and send adherence data in real time. Another example of interest to our work here at Innovations in Healthcare is ReliefWatch, a cloud-based system that can manage inventory supply chains in more than 190 developing countries and helps to reduce the number of expired medications and stock outs.
These organizations have proven models that are benefiting patients, family members, and healthcare organizations worldwide. Tech solutions in healthcare are adopted when they are built with a focus on the user. Users adopt solutions that are easy to use, don’t require much time or effort, and show users immediately what they need to improve on or do.
At Innovations in Healthcare we work with multiple healthcare organizations that excel at creating such tech solutions. Some examples include Sevamob which conducts mobile patient consultations; Sproxil which prevents the use of counterfeit drugs ; and Bodhi Health Education which trains health workers via a cloud based system. When patients are faced with economic and environmental challenges, technology can serve as a path to better health and a better life.