Healthcare is an industry where IoT “Smart Solutions” systems are changing the landscape of patient care. Healthcare providers have long been undergoing a wave of change thanks to recent technology such as electronic healthcare records/electronic medical records (EHR / EMR). With increasing frequency in today’s healthcare environment, wearable and embeddable devices are routinely used to monitor, record, and transmit information to healthcare providers, physicians and outpatient clinics. This trend is giving rise to new remote diagnostic procedures.
“Technology has always been an integral part of healthcare. Now more than ever, we are seeing an influx of devices, including wearables, tablets and other treatment and diagnostic machines that will help us to offer our patients innovative care and treatment options,” said Onur Torusoglu, IT Operations Director at Cleveland Clinic. “Having a service management strategy that can increase efficiency and reduce costs now, while enabling future growth, is imperative to our around the clock IT needs."
Smart Solution healthcare “networks,” comprised of servers, desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets, applications and smart objects require a service management lifecycle approach to ensure greater healthcare compliance and efficiency for in-patient and outpatient services.
The impact of the IoT on healthcare is already significant. This includes everything from patient check-in using a “virtual” electronic medical record such as a tablet to tracking hospital medical equipment, teaching surgery procedures remotely using Google Glass and outpatient self help and care. Other examples include the use of hospital "smart beds" that detect when the bed is occupied and when a patient may be struggling to get up. These smart beds can also self adjust for appropriate pressure, which frees nurses from the task of manually adjusting hospital beds. IoT connected devices can be remotely tested by technicians. If a failure is found during a remote diagnostic, a new part can be shipped accompanied by instructions for replacement.
IoT also allows for automated health insurance EHR submissions, responding to staff requests for solution changes, deployment and provisioning of Smart Solution components, and responding to incidents and problems for staff and patients. Supporting this wide range of applications and use cases requires a service management strategy and platform that can scale to service the networks of users and devices ubiquitously deployed in a highly connected healthcare ecosystem.
IoT can cut healthcare costs by allowing doctors to see more patients, automate equipment maintenance and repair and also allowing care to be delivered anywhere. With IoT connected devices, care can be delivered directly into patient’s homes, simultaneously saving money and improving patient comfort.
Having a coherent service management strategy and plan for a Healthcare Smart Solution Network results in more time spent on patient care per week, reductions in documentation time, more efficient and flexible access to patient records anywhere and anytime and more.
Kevin Smith is responsible for the Service Management Business Unit, including all strategy, go to market and customer success activities for the growing portfolio of HEAT Software Service Management applications. Kevin has a deep understanding of the Service Management market, having previously been responsible for product management, product marketing and corporate marketing for all HEAT Software product lines.
Edited by
Ken Briodagh
