Despite a near-constant stream of advances in clinical technology, patient adoption of these solutions is still low across the board, due in large part to the fact that their preferences have typically not been taken into account when developing clinical technology.
A panel of healthcare leaders discussed obstacles to implementing patient-facing clinical technology during a session titled "Using Health IT to Improve Clinical Care" at the Becker's Hospital Review Health IT + Revenue Cycle conference in Chicago in early October.
Participating panelists were Donna Persaud, MD, medical director of homeless outreach medical services at Dallas-based Parkland Hospital; Cindy Welsh, RN, vice president of adult critical care and medical professional affairs at Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care; Claire Pappas, senior vice president of business development for MedChat; and Cindy Gaines, MSN, CNO for Philips Population Health Management.
They discussed several challenges facing both patient and physician adoption of clinical technology, including:
- Patients are overwhelmingly unhappy with portals, which are far from the "one-size-fits-all" solutions they purport to be.
- Not all patients have equal access to adequate internet services, leaving them at a disadvantage in accessing their medical data and communicating with providers.
- Interoperability issues continue to make it difficult for patients to access medical records from anywhere, at any time.
- Patients are not receiving comprehensive guidelines for safe handling of their own medical data.
- Many existing tech solutions focus on either encouraging clinician data collection or improving outcomes — not both.
- Healthcare as a whole has been among the slowest industries to adopt advanced technologies, despite their potential for improved efficiency, effectiveness and cost savings.
Don't miss the Becker's 3rd Annual Health IT + Clinical Leadership + Pharmacy event in Chicago, May 19-21, 2020. Click here to learn more and register.
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