| | July-August, 20178UTLOOK Healthcare Tech Transforming Healthcare with TechnologyBy Philip Loftus, SVP IT & CIO, SSM Health1) What do you see as a big challenge in technology to meet the challenges of your industry? If you were to write down a wish list, what solutions do you look forward to and your expectations from technology providers for the enterprise?The biggest technical challenge for health care providers is balancing the need for transparency and open access to information, with the need to protect sensitive health, financial and personal information. In terms of a wish list, here are my thoughts:· The general availability of two-factor authentication on desktop and mobile devices that can be used both for user authentication and delivering secure encrypted communication to caregivers, patients, and family.· Voice recognition would greatly simplify the ability of patients, family, and the public to communicate with us and electronicallyconduct key transactions, such as paying bills, making appointments, and communicating with care teams.· Artificial intelligence (AI) systems to provide clinical data support­based on analysis of the electronic health record and best practices ­ offeringreal-time clinical decision making support to physicians and care teams.2) Organizations have to integrate data across the enterprise to have a 360-degree view of the customer, but it's not an easy thing to do. What are your thoughts on getting this act right?Data integration in health care is a major challenge. While electronic health record (EHR) systems are getting better at sharing information, the limitations are such that we're in the process of merging our three Epic EHR platforms, despite the fact that it's an expensive, time-consuming and technically challenging task.The other need is for improved health care communication and information exchange standards, many of which have been around in similar form for more than a decade. For example, Health Level 7(HL7) standards, which were developed by an organization founded in 1987, is still one of the primary data sharing mechanisms. In addition, EHRs still share information primarily using continuity of care documents, which can be slow and cumbersome.Universal multifactor authentication and encryption systems are also needed to ensure adequate compliance with the growing number of data security and privacy requirements. 3) What specific types of technology will give leaders/players within your industry the competitive edge?The winners in this game will have a number of key attributes. · They will have standardized systems based on a combination of evidence and best practice procedures that are used system wide.· Recognizing that they are often data rich and information poor they will streamline their systems making them simpler and more intuitive to use, avoiding unnecessary collection of data.· Their systems will be integrated across the full continuum of care from hospital and ambulatory, to home care and hospice, and rehab, skilled nursing facilities and long term nursing homes. This is likely to be through the use of strategic partnerships with agreed ways of sharing key patient information between them.4) Despite the advancement in technology and availability of some cool technology solutions, there isn't a day when we can say `all is fine.' There are several pain points within the enterprise for which solutions do not exist yet. In your business environment what are some of the solutions which are not available or not up to the mark and if available, would have made your job easier. Can you share 1-2 things on what keeps you awake at night?In My OpinionPhilip Loftus
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