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Integration of Telehealth and EHR can Contribute a Lot to Healthcare

Integration of Telehealth and EHR can Contribute a Lot to Healthcare

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Integration of Telehealth and EHR can Contribute a Lot to Healthcare

Introduction

Electronic Health Records (EHR) is a well-known source for patient care, analyzing patient data, and reducing extremely high costs. Also, the EHR systems have benefited the healthcare industry to decrease mortality rates for acute and chronic diseases of patients.

Integration of Telehealth and EHR can Contribute a Lot to Healthcare

The system of remote patient monitoring and care has been introduced since the 1960s when astronauts started to explore space. However, it took a long time for us to integrate the software and healthcare platforms in but with the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the global lockdown has stimulated the telehealth adoption process in our daily lives. 

And it’s not surprising that the industry of healthcare software development has risen more than before as there are reputable companies providing several medical software solutions to patients and doctors, such as: 

  • Interacting in-real time
  • Appointment settings and tokens
  • Laboratory tests assignments & Results
  • Collecting and maintaining private health information (PHI)
  • Video calling with medical experts

By integrating the best technologies, these software solutions help doctors, patients, nurses, lab technicians, pharmacists, etc. For instance, a touchless patient identification platform like RightPatient can help ensure patient data integrity, prevent duplicate and overlaid medical records, and enhance patient safety. 

As we all know that throughout the pandemic, patients have shifted to telehealth services to receive medical care, thus, it became hard for providers to monitor patients’ data to the EHR system. 

At this point, the healthcare providers started to search for interoperability, hence, the next need becomes the integration of EHR with telehealth solutions.

Now the whole world is leaning towards digitalization, hence hybrid telehealth matches the innovative care model, care providers would require to integrate telehealth solutions within the EHR system to enhance clinical workflows. 

Moreover, modern telehealth providers are generating solutions in a way that would help them to integrate with common EHR solutions, through increasing interoperability. When these platforms are tangled they assist to streamline patients’ data in an exclusive window. 

This, eventually, benefits providers to deliver a more reliable care delivery system. In this post, we will find out why integrating telehealth is a great idea and what are the benefits that come with Electronic Health Records (EHR) and telehealth integration.

What is Telehealth integration?

Integrating telehealth into the EHR system can benefit providers to enhance clinical workflows. Most telehealth providers now generate solutions that mix with popular EHR systems, which improves patient care and grows interoperability.

Whenever the platforms combine, such as EHR systems and telehealth solutions, taking care of patients becomes an easy task.

A perfect telehealth experience will be the same as a virtual visit to the office instead of FaceTiming with your family.

With an integrated telehealth solution, it’s simple for the administrative department to check in the patient while the nurse interacts with the patient.

What is EHR integration?

An electronic health record (EHR) is the electronic storage of a patient’s health data or paper health chart. EHRs often cover medical history, analyses, diseases, immunization records, labs, radiology pictures, medication history, medical data, and other related financial records.

EHR integration is a critical start for any health software that aspires to take advantage of the wide range of data prepared in digital health systems. 

The mass of digital health records is collected in EHRs, including both data regarding specific patients and more extensive knowledge about healthcare systems and communities.

Integration of Telehealth and EHR

Nowadays, telehealth providers started to develop systems that can be integrated with EHR platforms that help patient data to transfer quickly. When utilized simultaneously, telehealth and EHR systems can excellently enhance the care delivery system. 

There are several different business cases for integrating with EHRs. So, after integrating with an EHR, the apps that serve specific customers can produce more satisfying expertise and conceivably even drive upgraded health outcomes by developing standard healthcare activities such as scheduling, telehealth, and billing. 

When there is a way to access organizational data saved in EHRs, digital products easily can help healthcare systems to enhance business and patient results organization-wide, with processes and simplifying business necessities like patient data interchange, profits cycle management, and acquisition.

Benefits of EHR and Telehealth integration

There are so many EHR integration solutions that render methods to progress healthcare data between EHR systems and applications and services. 

  • Automate Data Entry: Integrating these two systems reduces the requirement for double data entries. When providers take records throughout a telehealth visit, this data directly accords into the patient’s health record, easing the data entry process. 
  • Synchronize Patient Insurance Data: Telehealth and EHR systems can check patient fitness before appointing them for a virtual telehealth visit. This guarantees providers are compensated for their experience and services, decreasing confusion and expensive obstacles in the workplace. 
  • Streamline the Provider and Patient Virtual Care Experience: Installing telehealth technology within the system’s EHR system delivers providers easy access to the patient’s health records, using the same method they are now familiar with.
  • Advanced Clinical Workflow: As the pandemic falls, healthcare providers will regard the hybrid telehealth example, where patients will get benefits of both in-person and virtual meetings. In such a situation, managing clinical workflow like administrative duties such as appointment booking & notices, answering inquiries, etc. gets simple with EHR telehealth integration. 

Conclusion

Integrating these two systems facilitates the stream of information, decreases the possibility of mistakes while updating a patient’s records, enhances patient outcomes, and analyzes the billing process. Providers contemplating implementing a telehealth system requires a platform that perfectly integrates with their current EHR system. This way, they will be able to provide the best outcome to their customers.

How to Address the RCM Inefficiencies To Enhance Cash Flow

How to Address the RCM Inefficiencies To Enhance Cash Flow? 

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How to Address the RCM Inefficiencies To Enhance Cash Flow

Healthcare providers are adopting strategies to protect their patients from financial hardships and improve the bottom line. Moreover, the latest economical havoc is adding additional pressure to the US healthcare industry. Every financial outlook of a medical facility is affected by this storm. It is now more important than ever before to fortify cash flow and revenue cycles. 

How to Address the RCM Inefficiencies To Enhance Cash Flow

The major impact is the increasing financial responsibility of the patients from the insurer’s end. This is reshaping how the medical facilities struggle to keep going and collecting revenues after shifting towards healthcare consumerism. It is crucial to manage this shift and ensure the successful collection of patient financial responsibility. 

Meanwhile, according to the Federal Reserve’s report about the US households’ economic well-being, approximately forty percent of patients aren’t able to meet the 400$ emergency with credit, savings, or cash. For ensuring the strong financial health of a healthcare business it is necessary to have a well-managed or efficient revenue cycle management. 

Robust revenue cycles ensure accuracy from submitting and reviewing claims to conducting charge capturing or performing medical credentialing. So, medical professionals can enhance cash flow, improve financial performance, and reduce costly reimbursement delays. 

Address Revenue Cycle Inefficiencies

Insurance Eligibility Verification

Guiding patients from the first visit helps them to comprehend the charges module of their visits. Once you verify eligibility in advance it will help you to notify your clients about their financial responsibility and allow facilities to precisely charge for visits. Patients are likewise prepared to pay for the administrations they get when they are already informed about their estimates before their appointments. 

On the other hand, insurance regulations change swiftly and confuse patients. It is very crucial to check the eligibility first so that the consumers get the data they require and understand their benefits. At this point, this will protect the patients from seeing large surprise medical bills. Moreover, it also saves the facilities in the case when policies/laws do not cover specific processes and when the insurance of patients has lapsed(no longer valid). 

Many medical practices are still utilizing manual methods to verify eligibility. This procedure no doubt will lead to human errors and obviously, it is hectic or time-consuming too. Taking professional support from a trusted medical billing company will allow you to automate this step. 

Digital methods will save you money and time. In this way, you don’t have to give your entire attention to insurance verification and can focus better on your patients. 

Different Payment Options 

Client convenience becomes a significant thing when payment expectations begin to rise in health care. Consumers expect the same experience which they have already experienced in various industries. So, it becomes more important now to provide them with distinctive payment choices across multiple platforms. 

Patients can enhance their healthcare experience with capabilities such as flexible payment options, simplified medical bills, and self-service portals. This enables them to fully pay their financial responsibility which grows in time and improves their financial experience efficiently. 

A recent study shows that half of the consumers who were taking healthcare services they required stopped seeking care due to out-of-pocket costs. In addition, one in eight said that consequently, their medical situation has become even worse. 

DCHS analysis says that those practices will have higher profitability when having higher scores of patient-reported experience. Therefore, the key to enabling consumers to get quality care and a good experience is to utilize convenient payment methods or implement modern technology. 

Furthermore, automation eases your work and enables patients to utilize mobile pay functions, set up payment plans, etc. This way, medical practitioners can protect themselves from the bad debt as well. 

Underpayments & Rejections 

Claim rejections and underpayments oftentimes occur when practitioners follow inconsistent procedures. Healthcare providers must utilize advanced approaches to address issues like rejections related to medical necessity, insurance eligibility, untimely filing, authorizations, medical denials – ensuring positive patient identification can help with that. It is highly essential to adjust workflows, track success, and monitor improvements accordingly once all the procedures are in place.  

Moreover, chances of errors increase when manual methods are utilized. Based on the specific factors consider using smart solutions that can flag encounters. Integrating an efficient practice management system can help you focus on acquiring the maximum revenue by saving your administrative time. The Healthcare sector as a whole is spending 315$ B yearly on medical billing/coding, claims processing, bad debt, and payments. 

With the help of specialized technology, you become able to see operational insights, analytics, and actionable data that in the past was not designed to deliver via traditionally siloed systems.  

Skilled RCM experts of a top-notch medical billing company can work with a medical practitioner to pinpoint areas and concerns that hold the practice to boost its profitability. They help you adopt best practices and cutting-edge technologies to boost revenue or cash flow.

Upfront Payment Estimate 

It is an important step to prepare consumers about their financial responsibility and make them aware of fees associated with their visit by providing them estimates before seeking care. To be very honest, only 27% of the professionals use digital upfront payment estimates. It signifies that the rest of them may use manual methods or not do anything. 

Medical facilities should provide a precise estimation of the out-of-pocket costs for the particular procedures that factor in relevant data. Besides, the estimation must comprise the data about co-insurance, co-pays, and deductibles. 

Consumers wouldn’t be able to make better decisions about their payment choices without this critical information. Being aware signifies that clients will and can act as consumers. 

Utilizing a payment estimator will help you ensure that the consumer information is updated and accurate. At this point, your administrative staff would be able to save time and provide the data to the patients while decreasing the manual workflow. 

Spark the change. First for you, and then for others. Embrace tech advancement that provides realistic financial reporting to providers, workflow automation to the staff, and real-time accurate data access to consumers.

7 Need-To-Know Stretches To Relieve Knee Pain 

7 Need-To-Know Stretches To Relieve Knee Pain 

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7 Need-To-Know Stretches To Relieve Knee Pain 

Everybody wants to move around without any constraints. But when you feel an ache in your knees each time you walk or climb the stairs, your range of motion would naturally be limited.

Knee pain seems to be a common condition among individuals, particularly adults. According to a podiatrist Sunshine Coast residents trust, its causes could range from sprains or injuries to overexertion or an underlying health complication like arthritis. Once it becomes unbearable, you might need to visit a specialist.

7 Need-To-Know Stretches To Relieve Knee Pain 

Luckily, there are ways you can relieve that sensation and keep your knees healthy over time as well, and one of those is doing some stretches. If you’ve been experiencing discomfort in your knee, here are seven stretches that would help ease it:

Seated Knee Stretch

Extension exercises can help strengthen your knee muscles while ensuring that your joints are in good shape. Integrating your regular workout routine with knee extensions will help you avoid injury and enable you to be more flexible.

Here’s how you can perform knee stretches:

  • Sit up straight with your shoulders down and back.
  • Lift and extend one leg.
  • Hold the position for a few seconds, tightening the muscles in front of your thighs before moving your leg back down.
  • Make sure your movements are slow and precise.
  • Switch legs, being sure to maintain a full knee stretch (leg completely straight).
  • Perform five times per leg.

Kneeling Lunge

Curtsy lunges are thought to be fantastic for developing and conditioning your derrière, which is great for improving your posture. With powerful gluteal muscles, back and knee discomfort may be avoided or alleviated, decreasing your chance of getting injured.

To perform a kneeling lunge, bend your knees and hips to move into a lunge position. Pause for a moment, and then lift yourself back up. Maintain a vertical angle between your right shin and the ground to prevent your knee from pushing over your right foot. Do five rounds of left and right kneeling lunges in a row.

Hamstring Stretch

Hamstring stretches are common exercises performed by dancers, joggers, and sprinters to increase the flexibility of their muscles during their warm-up routines. Aside from that, they can help one prepare for more strength-based knee therapy.

When doing a hamstring stretch, shift your weight onto your right foot with your left heel flexed upward. Lean forward from the hips, and then bend your body to the right. While doing this, straighten your right leg and flex your toes up. A 30- to 60-second stretch should be done around the back of the knee before you change sides. If you’re unsure how to correctly perform these steps, you can search the internet for videos.

Half Squat

A half squat is when you squat halfway down then hold it for five seconds. A stretch like this may be a good place to start for those with knee pain.

To begin, stand with your feet hip-distance to shoulder-distance apart. Lower your body to a tolerable depth while keeping your back flat and your core supported. Push your hips backward, and bend your knees as you lower your body. Push yourself back to its starting position after a five-second pause. Perform 10-15 repetitions. If it’s too easy for you, you can try holding five- to 10-pound dumbbells.

Single-Leg Raises

Exercises like leg raises are beneficial for building stronger quadriceps—the big muscles in the front of your thighs that connect to your knee joints. If you wish to do this movement, begin by performing one set of four repetitions on each leg.

Lie on your back on the floor or bed with your arms at your sides and your toes pointed upward. Then, gently raise your leg several inches while keeping it straight and straining your leg muscles. Finally, before you gently lower your limb, be sure to tighten your abdominal muscles and hold for a count of five. Repeat with the other leg.

Leg Stretch

Leg stretches are also an excellent method to strengthen your quadriceps. They’re done by sitting on the floor with both legs straight out in front of you. Do this with your back straight and while you’re supporting yourself with your hands on each side of your hips. Now bend one knee until it feels stretched but not uncomfortable. Hold that posture for five seconds, and then gently extend your leg out as far as you can, keeping that stance for another five seconds.

Wall Slide

Wall slides are a rehabilitative warm-up activity that improves shoulder mobility and flexibility. But other than that, it’s a challenging quad workout for strengthening the knee joints. However, be very careful not to strain your knees while performing this exercise.

To do this, stand erect against a wall, pushing your back and buttocks flush against the surface. Next, place your feet 12 inches apart from one another and six inches apart from the wall. To slide down the wall, push gently downward, and then hold a 45-degree bend in the knees for five seconds. Finally, return to the upright starting position by gently sliding up the wall.

Conclusion

The easy stretches and simple exercises discussed in this article may help you relieve minor knee issues without taking medication or going under the knife. Keep in mind that your knees are among the most crucial joints in your body’s fundamental structure. So regardless of your age or profession, take excellent care of them in order to live a healthy, pain-free life.

The Biggest Public Health Issues of 2021

The Biggest Public Health Issues of 2021

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The Biggest Public Health Issues of 2021

The world is currently facing the most significant healthcare challenge, which is the pandemic of COVID-19. It has caused millions of deaths worldwide and created chaos in the healthcare sector. The biggest challenge for the healthcare industry was to make people aware of how to maintain social distancing to keep themselves and their loved ones safe from this deadly coronavirus. Apart from the pandemic of COVID-19, there are other healthcare challenges that the healthcare industry needs to consider. 

The Biggest Public Health Issues of 2021

Only healthcare organizations are not responsible for helping people in crises. People are also responsible for having the proper knowledge and awareness to take good care of themselves. You should adopt a healthy lifestyle to stay away from health issues. It will also ease off the burden from the healthcare institutes. Every day different health epidemics are affecting people all around the globe. From mental health issues to obesity, there are other root causes of public health issues. Let’s explore the most significant public health issues of 2021. 

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic seems to go nowhere because the virus starts spreading again whenever the situation becomes stable. Just like in 2020, in 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic will be one of the most significant public health issues. This deadly and infamous virus has put the entire world in an emergency state – changing reality for all of us.

In such crises, healthcare experts with good knowledge and qualifications can deal with such situations efficiently.

Moreover, there are several innovative solutions that can help healthcare providers deal with such emergencies. One such solution is RightPatient – a touchless biometric patient identification platform that ensures patient safety, reduces infection control issues, and even prevents medical identity theft. Patients are identified easily without any physical contact – helping ensure both hygiene and accurate patient information usage.

If you are currently working in the healthcare sector, you should also seek high-level education to strengthen your academic profile. 

If it is difficult for you to pursue further education with a full-time job, you may opt for distance learning opportunities on the internet. In this case, you can go for a virtual program like a master’s in public health online to help you harness the required knowledge and skills. It will prepare you to deal with global health issues like the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare organizations guide wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, using sanitizers, and other measures. Many medical experts and nurses have come out of retirement to serve people in this pandemic.

Drugs Abuse

Substance abuse has always been one of the significant health concerns for the relevant authorities and organizations. Before the pandemic, drug abuse was one of the top public health issues. It has been reported that due to the pandemic, drugs usage has increased in homes by 18%. Drugs addicts mostly have poor immune systems, which make them vulnerable to getting infected by a coronavirus. So, you can see how public health issues are connected. 

Fortunately, there’s a ray of hope, as rehabilitation centers currently offer the best treatments for the addicted. Those dealing with substance abuse are admitted to rehabilitation centers for treatment, where they are kept in isolation and cannot access any substance. 

Mental Health Issues 

Mental health issues were already a significant concern worldwide for healthcare organizations. But COVID-19 has further increased mental health issues among people. The anxiety and stress of quarantine and remote work have affected people’s mental health from all age groups. Restrictions on family gatherings have also caused stress among people. The rate of depression increases continuously among people, which is an alarming sign for the healthcare industry. 

According to a statistical study, around 70% of teenagers are dealing with mental health issues worldwide. Another research revealed that 60% of youth are not getting the necessary health treatment they need. With the rise in mental health issues, the demand for mental health workers and public health will increase too.

Heart Diseases 

Health issues related to the heart are one of the leading causes of death all around the world. Cardiovascular diseases are growing exponentially, and the influence of COVID-19 will increase it more. It means that heart health is going to be the top concern of public health workers and physicians. There are different causes of heart diseases like stress, improper food, smoking, or it could be due to your genetics. 

HIV

Unfortunately, even now, HIV/AIDS causes millions of deaths each year. There is still no vaccine or medication that can help patients to recover from HIV. It remains a challenge for the healthcare sector and the most significant public health issue. People also lack basic knowledge of HIV that what they have to do to prevent this deadly disease. According to a study, over 70 million have HIV infection, and 33 million have died due to it. Another study showed that there are around 38 million currently living with HIV. These are alarming figures and still create a big challenge for the healthcare industry.

Healthcare organizations have to take sound measures to deal with the most significant public health issues this year. They have to harness the latest technology and guide people to protect themselves from diseases and viruses. Once people have the proper knowledge, they will take correct preventive measures to attain good health. With the advancement in healthcare, hopefully, these challenges will be resolved soon.

Reduce Neck Pain At Work In 6 Steps

Reduce Neck Pain At Work In 6 Steps

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Reduce Neck Pain At Work In 6 Steps

A typical desk job has never done your neck good. Many Australians often experience neck pain or stiff neck due to the sedentary position it requires. You probably feel the strain on your neck after a few hours of continuous work while sitting. Answering the phone by cradling it between your shoulder and ear while typing on the keyboards also provides discomfort somehow. 

Reduce Neck Pain At Work In 6 Steps

Your neck conditions might worsen gradually, as they become sore all the time if you fail to take the necessary steps for prevention. With as little effort as stretching, they can do wonders to make you feel more relaxed and your neck at ease. It’s best not to wait until your neck develops burning pains.

Consider doing the steps below so you can reduce neck pain at work:

Maintain A Good Posture

Having a good posture while working in an office in Queensland and other areas goes a long way for you to keep your neck and spine healthy. The proper position to follow is to sit at your desk, ensuring that your feet touch the floor while your back is against the chair. Place your head in a neutral position, and don’t slouch while working on your desk.

It’s crucial that you don’t round your lower back. One way to avoid slouching is to adjust your chair’s height if you feel it’s too high or low to your liking. This will also enable your thighs to slide down a bit more and position you more comfortably. By remaining in this position, you keep your weight evenly distributed over your lower hips. 

Visit Your Physiotherapist 

In many cases, physiotherapy is used to treat neck pain conditions that have gone from bad to worse. Although this might not be the case for most office workers, fortunately, it’s still best to take a proactive approach to ensure your overall wellbeing. Visiting a Brisbane physiotherapist will be vital in spotting the signs of work-related and occupational diseases. This way, you can treat them earlier than having a more serious neck pain condition. 

An in-depth understanding of working habits is common among professional physiotherapists. They know the nuts and bolts of office working postures, tendencies, symptoms, and possible pain points. In addition, they can identify the factors contributing to these work-related conditions. 

Therefore, it’s best to depend on them so they can prescribe strategies and early treatments for your increasing neck pain at work. With digital health being revolutionized, you can even consult through telehealth via protected communication channels managed by the concerned health professional. 

Stretch And Do A Self-Massage 

While sitting at a desk, range-of-motion stretches can be done quite easily. You can do so even while working. All you have to do is move your head forward, back, and sideways. These are an excellent way to stretch the muscles, tendons, and soft tissues. However, ensure that the stretches don’t produce more pain and strain to your neck.

Another effective practice you can do is massage. Use your hand and fingers to massage the sore spots of your neck deliberately. You may use massage tools and liniments to make them feel calm and relaxed. 

Position Your Computer Screen And Keyboard Properly 

The focal point of the screen should be at nose height when you place the computer monitor in front of you. This should be the proper positioning of your working equipment so you can maintain a good posture. Angling your head downward when watching a monitor that is too low will cause you to put more stress on your neck. Hence, elevate it by using some computer accessories.  

As for the keyboard, it’s best that your elbows and hands can quickly type on them with comfort. The keyboard should be high enough that you won’t have to slouch your shoulders down. Also, place the mouse beside the keyboard and ensure that it’s accessible and comfortable to hold and navigate. It’s crucial to invest in accessories that’ll support your gadgets’ positioning to have a good office and desk set up. 

Go For Ergonomic Office Furniture 

Sitting straight up at a 90-degree angle can sometimes make your body too stiff and sore. This isn’t a comfortable position. It’s best to recline your posture to 20 to 30 degrees more. Find an ergonomic chair that you can easily adjust to recline the backside as well as adjust the height. 

Also, always keep your feet reaching the ground so you’ll have the correct posture. Opt for a chair with a removable armrest just in case you want to let your shoulders and hands down sometimes. 

Set An Alarm To Walk Around The Office 

Ultimately, it’s best to walk around your office to improve your blood circulation, muscles stretch, and bones come into use. By moving around, you can avoid having neck strain and pain. This is incredibly best if you can feel numbness or tightness developing along your body. The thighs, hips, back, spine, and neck usually are the spots that get tight with less movement. 

Getting up and walking around is believed to be good for your body and your blood circulation, so it’s best to do it often. Simply set a reminder alarm that’ll go off at a schedule so you can avoid neck and body pain. 

Conclusion 

While neck pain isn’t something between life and death, it’s still essential to prevent and treat them early on before they become chronic and affect your daily life. With the pointers mentioned above, you can eliminate neck pain and continue working productively in the office. Your health should be prioritized, so visit a physiotherapist early on if you want to strategize more neck exercises, stretches, and improve your body posture.

How Technology Helps Improve Patient Care

How Technology Helps Improve Patient Care

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How Technology Helps Improve Patient Care

There’s no denying that technology plays a significant role across all industries. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation for many businesses – and health care facilities are no exception. 

How Technology Helps Improve Patient Care

Implementing new tech to improve patient care is nothing new – the health care industry has continuously improved its quality of care by using new tech for years. For example, augmented reality helps patients during treatment sessions. 

Whether it’s an older adult with a cancer diagnosis or a child with the common cold, medical providers consider the quality of care they deliver a top priority. Each patient deserves top-tier treatment no matter the physical or mental challenges they may be facing. 

While patient care is a top priority, digital health tech can also positively impact the rising health costs many people worldwide are facing. Depending on the country, the tech could drive 10%-15% savings in health care costs. 

Here are some specific examples of how technology is leveraged by physicians, nurses, surgeons, and other medical professionals to enhance patient care.

1. Reduced Medical Errors

Medical errors are defined as unintended acts that lead to failures to achieve an intended outcome. While professionals in the health care industry work tirelessly to deliver quality care, it’s challenging to eliminate all instances of medical error. 

For example, in July 2021, a patient at the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center received a kidney transplant intended to be used for someone else. While the patient is recovering and the transplant has not caused harm, the significant error caused the caregivers responsible to be put on administrative leave. 

While the incorrect transplant is an extreme case, medication issues are also considered medical errors. 

Prescribing errors can harm the patient receiving care. Medical alerts, clinical flags, and medication reminders can assist medical professionals when choosing drugs, keeping patients safe in the future. 

Fortunately, solutions exist that reduce medical errors – RightPatient being one of the more effective ones. It is a touchless biometric patient identification platform trusted by several healthcare providers to identify patients accurately across the care continuum – preventing duplicate medical records, patient mix-ups, medical errors, and more. 

2. Enhanced Drug Safety

Doctors are fully responsible for ensuring their patients receive the correct drug and dosage and ensuring medicines won’t interact. Using electronic systems can enhance the safety of prescribing drugs, which naturally improves patient care. 

When patient information is stored in cloud-based solutions, it becomes much easier for prescribers to understand which medications will treat their conditions or disease. It minimizes the chances of miscommunication between prescribers, pharmacies, and patients. 

3. Remote Patient Monitoring

Remote patient monitoring can provide positive outcomes to help patients manage these chronic illnesses, such as heart failure, stroke, COPD, asthma, and hypertension. 

By implementing patient data management systems (PDMS), health care providers can remotely monitor a patient’s condition and interpret gathered data to decide on the correct medical approach needed for treatment.

PDMS technology helps physicians with decision-making and integrates with existing patient medical record systems. In other words, physicians spend more time providing patients with quality care rather than charting or completing paperwork. 

4. Accessibility to Virtual Care

When more people spent time indoors due to the pandemic, accessing traditional health care appointments became more challenging. Patients were forced to weigh the risks of exposure while booking appointments. 

As a result, telehealth apps became more prevalent, allowing patients to visit their doctors via teleconference or phone call. Patients could rest assured that they could receive medical care from home, a game-changer for the health care sector.

5. Improved Lines of Communication

Technology allows physicians to communicate more effectively with patients regarding their medical issues. Patient portals are increasing in popularity, and people can now check their medical records, contact their doctors, and book appointments digitally. 

Patient portals help improve engagement, which can determine the success of outcomes. The more engaged a patient is, the more likely they will receive quality care and take hold of whatever medical conditions they may be suffering from. 

6. Increased Collaboration Among Physicians

Patient care is improved when physicians work together. For example, virtual conferences come in handy if doctors are in different time zones. 

Relying on technology to bridge the gap between doctors is a crucial component of the health care industry. There’s evidence to suggest there’s a significant nurse shortage in the country, so increasing the number of collaboration tools within the health care sector can potentially make up for it.

The Future of Tech in Patient Care

These are only a few examples of how tech is being leveraged to provide quality patient care. More technologies must be used by the health care sector, as many people rely on a dependable facility to attend to their medical needs.

As Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) technologies continue to develop, it’s only a matter of time until new applications emerge in the health care sector. All medical professionals can use new tech to improve the care they deliver to patients across the board.

6 Healthcare Innovations That Has Benefited Mankind in Recent Years

6 Healthcare Innovations That Has Benefited Mankind in Recent Years

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6 Healthcare Innovations That Has Benefited Mankind in Recent Years

Betterment and new technology have made health care superior in recent years. Healthcare IT has advanced since the invention of the microscope and ultrasound devices. Furthermore, it has come a long way tenfold during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The advances have been evident with the rise of the aging population, mobile phone internet, and early disease detection. These technological feats spurred education, reskilling, and continuous learning for the medical industry practitioners and workforce. Here are six medical technology innovations that we are fortunate to have at our disposal should the need arise.

6 Healthcare Innovations That Has Benefited Mankind in Recent Years

Drug development

The invention of several safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines in a short time is one of the most remarkable feats in medicine. Pharmaceutical companies collaborated for rapid drug development as a giant leap of faith for humankind to end the pandemic. Medical tests are fast-tracked with the help of online and virtual clinical trials that paved the way for more extensive group sampling. 

Robotic surgery

Robotics has been making waves since the 1980s and has grown exponentially since. In this day and age, nanobots can be injected into the bloodstream to identify diseases. Thus, it aids in both diagnosis and prevention. Robotic surgery has also been paired with laser surgery like the Laser-Assisted Situ Keratomileusis.

LASIK eye surgery is a famous laser refractive surgery procedure to correct vision. It is a common and long-term alternative to glasses and contact lenses. In LASIK surgery, a specialized cutting laser changes the shape of the cornea to improve vision.

Several people find glasses a nuisance, and prolonged use of contact lenses may place an individual at risk of dry eye flares due to irritation and debris. Dry eye flares lead to severe conditions like inflammation. Prescription eye drops such as Eysuvis can quickly relieve the symptoms of dry eye flares. These prescription eye drops can offer a solution to discomfort and chronic pain. Careful diagnostics and assessment are needed to develop a long-term eye care solution like LASIK. Dry eye diagnosis and treatments have come a long way and utilize new technology for eye protection and comfort.

Cancer immunotherapy

One of the most valuable and promising areas of medicine today is immunotherapy. It works by curing previously dead-end diseases like cancer by altering the immune system to target and destroy cancer cells that reduce tumors and their symptoms. 

Telemedicine

Telemedicine was probably one of the good things we got from the COVID-19 crisis. A bulk of healthcare facilities and organizations fortified their telehealth system to address the need for medical advice thru the telephone and online. This advancement paved the way for virtual patient visits to protect against infection and prevent hospital crowding. 

While many experts are worried about issues such as medical identity theft during virtual visits, a touchless patient identification platform like RightPatient can prevent such cases. After scheduling appointments, patients only need to provide a selfie and a photo of their driver’s license – the platform compares the photos and validates the actual patients and red-flags fraudsters, preventing medical identity theft in real-time.

Nanomedicine

The application of nanotechnology in medicine has improved diagnosis, sensing, imaging, and medical logistics procedures. However, the most outstanding achievement to date is the nanotech drug that attacks viruses and bacteria.

Digital assistants

Digital assistants are taking on a significant role in healthcare, highly similar to how Siri and Alexa changed our lives. These digital healthcare assistants play ambient listening and recording and natural language processing in medical data capturing and analysis.

The global pandemic hastens healthcare technological advancements and innovations that ensued promising procedures, equipment, vaccines, and medicines in the last year. These innovations will give birth to better healthcare IT landscape that is beneficial in the post-pandemic world.

4 Tips On Finding The Best Live In Care Services

4 Tips On Finding The Best Live In Care Services 

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4 Tips On Finding The Best Live In Care Services

Having a senior loved one means going the extra mile in making sure they’re well taken care of all the time. As their family, you want to give them the best personal care possible. However, as your life responsibilities start to become just as demanding, you’ll reach a point where you’ll realize the best thing to do is to entrust their welfare in a nursing or elderly care facility. 

4 Tips On Finding The Best Live In Care Services

But before you do so, take some time to consider all your options first. Have you thought of live in care services for your aging family member before? It’s a long-term solution that might be a better choice for both you and your elderly loved one. 

How To Find The Best Live In Care Services For Your Elderly Loved Ones

Live in care has grown pretty popular lately compared to conventional care homes. This is because seniors prefer to spend their later years in their own homes instead of staying in a facility where they may not feel comfortable or at home at all. 

With live in care, patients don’t need to leave the confines of their own house. The care provider shall be the one to move in and live with the senior person so they can take care of them and help with their needs around the clock. 

Your elderly will still have the freedom to move around the house, but this time, there’ll be a professional caregiver to look after them. You no longer need to worry about how they’re doing or if they’ve taken their medicines already.  

Sounds great, right? But of course, you can’t just let some stranger live in your elder’s house. You need to carefully select the right live in care service that you can entrust your loved one to. Here are some tips you might find helpful: 

  • Identify The Needs Of Your Elderly 

Before you start looking for the best live in care service, you need to know first if your loved one requires special care or a certain level of mobility. Knowing such information will help identify what to look for in a care service. Do they have any medical condition or were they involved in an accident in the past that led to their restricted mobility? 

It’s critical to have such knowledge because, for example, your elderly have dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. That means you’ll need to look for an at-home senior healthcare agency that can medically and professionally handle patients with the mentioned conditions. Be sure to mention their current condition to the carer or agency you’re speaking to so they can provide the right kind of service that your senior loved one requires. 

  • Look Into Their Experience 

Most of the best live in care services have been in the industry for several years already, thus acquiring enough experience to handle the job. Once you start scouting for the best care provider for your aging family member, ask how long they’ve been providing such services. Although it’s not really a hard rule for someone to be around for quite a long time, it’s one factor to consider knowing that years of experience could translate to skills and expertise in the field. 

Ask for their proof of experience. If they have a website, you can check the reviews and recommendations from their previous and present patients. That way, you can have an idea of what kind of service they give to their clients. 

  • Check Their Qualifications 

Care facilities may be required to present proof of their comprehensive training depending on where they’re from. Different local governments and regulatory agencies dealing with elderly health grant different certifications and the like to individuals and organizations to serve as proof that they meet set standards and guidelines in properly administering senior care. 

To ensure the safety of your elderly, you also need to perform a comprehensive background check. A healthcare worker is said to be required to pass such a test to be granted a license and work with patients, particularly those working to care for vulnerable adults and children. 

  • Request For A Trial Shift 

Don’t get too excited to get someone without conducting a trial shift first. The trial shift is like getting a sample of a product or service that you’re about to buy. With a trial shift from your preferred elderly care professional, you’ll closely see how they work and how the interaction between them and your elderly will be. 

Listen to your gut and observe carefully how the nurse or caregiver will move around the house. You’ll know it in your heart if the person is compassionate and pleasant to be around. Ask your senior loved on how they feel about their new companion at home. Know if they’re comfortable being with them during most times of the day.  

Conclusion 

Finding the best live in care services for your senior family relative is no easy feat. It’s not something as simple as buying a new handbag that you can return if you didn’t like it, and there’ll be no harm done. In this case, your elderly family member’s well-being is at stake.  

So, don’t hurry. Take your time and pay close attention to the abovementioned factors you need to consider. It might also help to ask for your elderly’s input when making a decision.

New Tech That Will Improve Your Medical Practice

New Tech That Will Improve Your Medical Practice

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New Tech That Will Improve Your Medical Practice

By incorporating the new technology in your medical practice, you can deliver better patient care that is timely and cost-efficient. This means that the latest technology can help hospitals meet the growing demand in healthcare and efficiently deliver health services that guarantee good health.

New Tech That Will Improve Your Medical Practice

The following is the new tech that will help improve your medical practice in the best way possible:

Electronic Health Records (EHR)

With Electronic Health Records (EHR), you and the patient will always have permanent access to the patient data regarding some of the important issues like diagnostics, cardiac waveforms, chronic diseases, and important prescriptions either from the past or present.

With this kind of data being available at all times, it boosts your interaction with the patient and guarantees better healthcare delivery.

Also, it’s very important to note that EHR eliminates the need for bulky paperwork whenever you and your patient schedule a checkup. This is because the EHR is available online, which means that only a smartphone will be required to access patient data.

However, to ensure that the correct information is being fed to the appropriate EHRs, many responsible healthcare providers are using RightPatient – a touchless biometric patient identification platform. Not only does it ensure patient data integrity, but it also avoids medical record errors, medication errors, patient safety incidents, and adverse healthcare outcomes. 

Health-tracking apps

Health-tracking apps have been a game-changer as far as tracking patients’ vitals and health conditions is concerned. Using health-tracking apps, you’re able to track the sleep period, heart rate, blood pressure, and the distance covered by your patient in real-time.

The best thing about these health-tracking apps is that they enable you to view data in a more readable form, save the data, conduct statistical analysis of the data and compare the given results with standard results in the system.

This helps you give your patients the best medical advice that will help them get better in the shortest time possible. You can also use these apps to identify and diagnose any health problems, assess the risks involved with a particular medication, and offer the ideal treatment to your patients.

5G

5G is undoubtedly the fastest network out there, and it can be of great use to your medical practice. This is because 5G will enable better collaboration among healthcare organizations since data transmission will be very fast and reliable.This means that healthcare specialists and experts will be able to review any crucial patient data in real-time and advise on the best treatment method in the shortest time possible.

Also, using 5G, you’ll be in a better position to use the Internet of Things technology where required, which will enable you to deliver the best treatment possible with the aid of AR, mixed reality, and VR.

The best thing about the 5G network is that you can also monitor your patients remotely and give new prescriptions conveniently.

Laser drilling

Laser drilling is a new technology that is being used in hospitals to improve accuracy and precision. In the past, most healthcare organizations have relied on mechanical drilling, which at times might be aggressive and inaccurate, especially when dealing with delicate tissues.

Using laser drilling, you’ll be able to make precise drillings severally without causing any accidents or creating any unwanted holes. This is particularly useful in instances where small diameters are required. Nowadays, there are even more materials used in lasers to improve precision and accuracy.

If you need to guarantee more efficiency for your lasers, you might want to buy beta-barium borate crystals (bbo) crystals. These crystals guarantee wide transparency, a large nonlinear coefficient, a high damage threshold, high optical homogeneity, among many other features.

3D printing

As you might have witnessed it working in other industries, 3D printing helps with prototyping, customization, manufacturing, and research for healthcare facilities. By using 3D printing, surgeons and other health experts can replicate human body parts.

With 3D printing, you can print most human organs that might be required to perform a transplant, such as limbs, ears, tissues, among others. The best thing about 3D printing is that it is cost-effective for everyone. It’s important to note that 3D printing is also applied in orthodontics and dentistry.

Conclusion

Using the above technologies, you’ll provide better medical practice which will guarantee good health for your patients. It’s important that you always stay on the lookout for the best trends in healthcare tech that can help save lives and alleviate pain among your patients.

How Digital Health Has Revolutionized the Healthcare Industry

How Digital Health Has Revolutionized the Healthcare Industry

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How Digital Health Has Revolutionized the Healthcare Industry

In today’s world where technology has seeped into every field, how could the healthcare industry be untouched? Digitization of healthcare has taken the entire process by storm as the way the entire process works has absolutely transformed. You do not need to wait in queues to get an appointment or even visit the doctor’s clinic to get a consult. Hospitals also can ensure accurate patient identification – improving patient safety, preventing duplicate medical records, and enhancing healthcare outcomes in the process. Patients can schedule appointments, and more, all through a simple mobile app. In fact, accessing your medical record has never been easier with this technology.

How Digital Health Has Revolutionized the Healthcare Industry

Let us get into more details of how digitization has benefitted the healthcare industry.

1. Convenient Flow of Communication

As the line of communication opens up, more patients will reach out to get healthcare. These channels allow patients to connect with their doctors via the preferred mode of communication, such as email, text, phone, or video calls. The tool is such that it provides notifications, reminders and also streamlines the process of booking an appointment.

2. Prevention Before Treatment

This technology lets patients self-manage their health through regular tracking and monitoring of their symptoms. This helps with the early detection of significant disease progression before the condition can become untreatable. This also makes patients more cautious about their health; hence they are trying to stay healthy by eating a good diet and working out in reputed gyms like Gymnation to keep themselves fit.

3. Update Health Information from Any Location

Digital health systems actually enhance your experience as you do not need to collect your health data from different hospitals. All your medical data is digitally updated wherever you go; hence, it is all available next time your doctor needs to refer to your medical history.

4. Organized Information

The use of files to store medical records has been followed for ages. This way, lots of data gets lost, and it gets tough to organize so much data. Digital platform makes it absolutely easy. The data stored can be processed anytime in seconds without any errors. This method has revolutionized file management systems. This means doctors can quickly refer the patient records to access important information and give better treatment. The admin staff can spend more time on regular tasks rather than handling files.

5. Cloud-Based Systems

So any patient data is not stored in an internal hard disk but on the cloud, which can be globally accessed. The system is secure and not location-dependent. This means updates made in one location will automatically reflect everywhere. The idea of this is to make the tasks really easy for patients that reside around the world.

6. Digital Tools Give Patients Better Experience

Digital technology has pushed the limits further as digital health apps have been introduced that make engaging much easier for patients. This means patients are encouraged to enter data as it is easier; hence, the tool helps to provide a complete health status for the person. 

7. Create Patient Portal

Further, the patient portal is an interface designed to connect patients with providers quickly. There are different types of these portals, and all function more or less the same. Patients can schedule appointments, view the results of their recent tests, and get other health information through these portals. These portals also contain a chat box where the patient can digitally connect to the provider through video conferencing. This is being widely used now due to the pandemic situation. Many people can get treatment easily from their homes using this technology, hence reducing their contact with other people for prevention. 

8. Easier to Share Feedback

The digital healthcare system also makes it so much easier to provide two-way communication. This is the best way for patients to share their experience with the doctors, as it will help people make an informed decision about the doctor and whether they want to visit that doctor or not. 

9. Gateway to Communication

Many digital platforms allow you to find outpatients with similar conditions and give you a chance to connect with them. You can form a community of your own and deal with any illness with the support and encouragement of the group that is going through the same thing.

10. Expanding Healthcare Professionals Reach

Digital platforms aim to reduce the burden on healthcare professionals, as the administrative work is repetitive, which can be reduced using the platform. This actually expands their time to spend more time with the patient instead and gives them better care. This is especially important for patients and clinics located in rural areas where travel is difficult. With technology in their pocket, patients can provide their health information from any location to physicians at any time.

In Conclusion

Today is this era where artificial technology and virtual reality are being introduced in the healthcare sector. Digitization is the first step towards these revolutionary measures. Digital healthcare will ensure quality care with full transparency of all medical records and with a large network of people benefiting across the entire country. This, in turn, will make quality medical services accessible from any part of the world.