Continuous developments in information and communication technologies (ICT) are greatly impacting the healthcare industry and delivery of care. A new report on ‘New Communication technologies and Developing Segments’ by the leading strategy consulting firm TekPlus focuses on the impact of new developments in ICT on the healthcare industry.

The potential of new technologies in the healthcare communications and devices space is huge. With the migration towards paperless environments, more and more healthcare organisations across the globe are investing in networking solutions and mobile computing devices. For point-of-care, solutions like IP telephony, wireless LANs and mobile computing devices are increasingly becoming more and more useful on a mission to improve the delivery of care. Their use leads to better-informed physicians and more satisfied patients. Providers are also paid more promptly. Technologies like Internet and wireless contribute to knowledge for problem sharing and decision-making and applications like EPR, telemedicine and data warehousing enable sharing of medical and clinical information to the smallest of the healthcare organisations.

The report is divided into two distinguished segments

1. New communication technologies, and

2. Developing segments

The segment on new communication technologies provides impact of technologies like the Internet, wireless and IP communications. It also sheds light on the importance and need for communication devices (tablets/laptops, mobile carts, hand-held devices, IP telephones), solutions and applications (Virtual Private Networks, web services, unified messaging, IP videoconferencing, tele-robotics, IP contact centres and instant messaging).

The developing segments highlights the developing areas of telemedicine, on-line treatment, primary care-IT and services-application service provision. TekPlus believes that these areas are of great importance to the ICT vendors due to their contribution in the healthcare sector. It also provides guidelines on the emerging segments of bio-nanotechnology, e-procurement, CPOE (Computerised Physician Order Entry) and evidence based patient care.

Table of Contents

Part 1: DEVELOPING SEGMENTS

TELEMEDICINE

TekPlus Observation

ON-LINE TREATMENT

TekPlus Observation

PRIMARY CARE-IT

TekPlus Observation

SERVICES

TekPlus Observation

 

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

Bio-Nanotechnology

e-procurement

Computerised Physician Order Entry (CPOE)

Evidence based patient care

 

TEKPLUS ADVISORY FOR VENDORS

 

Part 2: NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

 

THE MAIN DRIVER: THE INTERNET/E-HEALTH

Patients becoming Savvy

TekPlus observation

Healthcare Providers/Medical Professionals see advantages

TekPlus observation

 

ANOTHER GROWING DRIVER: MOBILITY & WIRELESS

TekPlus observation

 

INDUSTRY ISSUES

Poor Productivity & ROI

Acute need to cut down costs and to improve delivery of care

Workflow automation and simplification

Reducing Medical Errors

Standards & Regulations

Real Time Information Availability

Expert Availability

 

BENEFITS ALREADY OBSERVED BY INSTITUTIONS

Saving Time and Improving Care

Cost reduction

Accuracy

Security and Privacy

Speeding up Response Time

 

NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE

Wireless Communications

Wireless Standards

Issues with Wireless

Security

Speed

Signals

Ease of use

IP Communications

TekPlus Infrastructure observation

 

DEVICES

Tablets/Laptops

Mobile Carts

Hand-Held Devices

IP Telephones

TekPlus Devices observation

 

SOLUTIONS

Virtual Private Networks

Web services

Unified Messaging

IP Videoconferencing

Telerobotics

IP Contact Centers

Instant Messaging

TekPlus Solutions observation

 

List of Tables

Table 1: Wireless standards

Ref: TP0185B04V01