Over the past decade, technology and digital Innovation has enabled several different solutions to cater to the wide spectrum of healthcare, covering not only patient information, but across all functions in the industry.
While the solutions are extremely beneficial, the biggest challenge the industry faces is integrating the data and allowing a seamless exchange of data across different functions. The healthcare industry generates massive amount of data that is very crucial, critical and needs to be strictly secured.
Data is the key player The ecosystem of the Healthcare Industry has greatly improved with abundant and relevant data. The healthcare service providers are increasingly becoming competitive and transparent to access and process data. Healthcare leaders can update data, track the progress, analyze the performance and provide extensive care. Although not as easy as it sounds, this has been possible with various levels of data integration in place.
How is the industry embracing newer technologies for integration? While other industries like Manufacturing and Transportation are open to 84% and 40% adoption respectively, the healthcare industry is still at 11% adoption rate for data integration and IoT. Security is the major concern when it comes to data integration. Healthcare industries cannot afford to lose data and security is what any solution provider has to build in very robustly.
What’s the big deal?
According to a recent survey, data integration is one of the biggest challenges faced by the healthcare industry and agency. There are various factors that make integration challenging.
Encrypted Data, yet to be shared You can expect patient information, financial details, reports, and data from multiple sources. They must be shared across multiple platforms and must be encrypted. The data can be of any format, but the final output must be in a single format. Secondly, the data must be shared and must be available only for authorized users. This can be challenging to accomplish.
Data integration to be a part of business strategy Healthcare Industry must start to think data integration as their part of business strategy and plan. They must understand the importance of data and utilize digital innovation to overcome integration challenges. Healthcare regulations are an important aspect to be considered for such initiatives and strategy. Creating and implementing this strategy is important for success.
Software tools & Service Providers Identification of the right software or service provider is critical. A healthcare player would have multiple disparate solutions from various vendors and the integration can be efficiently be accomplished by selecting the right solution and service provider. There are various options available, so selection and implementation becomes challenging.
Agility The healthcare industry is evolving, and the system must adapt to new technologies and challenges in the fast-paced world. Data integration is, of course, an evolving concept for healthcare institutes but once the data is integrated, they can offer better care and services. The continual innovation and availability of newer and better ways to integrate data makes it challenging for healthcare providers to be agile and keep up with the innovation.