When we think of the footprint of technology in our lives, it’s no wonder consumers gravitate toward technologies labeled “smart.”
From our TVs to home air conditioning systems, we clamor for technologies that integrate seamlessly with our daily lives. The ones that can deliver on promises of making life easier and better are the ones that get our attention.
This return on investment with daily technologies is increasingly important in the healthcare landscape for providers and patients. A significant number of hospitals have already begun the journey on becoming a smart hospital, and this number is expected to increase exponentially in the coming years. The benefits provided through modernizing our healthcare facility infrastructure are too impactful to ignore.
The Opportunities in the Industry
Besides keeping up with new technologies, other factors motivate a hospital’s digital transformation. Current industry challenges make upgrading hospital infrastructure critical to staying competitive.
Certain technology is becoming increasingly important: technology that encourages current staff to remain on board by allowing for greater flexibility in work schedules and streamlining, or in some cases even eliminating, the mundane tasks involved with daily hospital operations. Lightening the load by automating or virtualizing certain aspects of healthcare enables valuable staff to focus their efforts where they are needed most and alleviate some of the pressures that lead to the dreaded burn-out.
Evolving care delivery models and the increasing popularity of value-based care are also challenging for hospitals to evolve. Systems that boost efficiency and accuracy in diagnosis and treatment while at the same time presenting the lowest possible cost to the patient are in high demand. This ongoing pivot from a traditional fee-for-service model to a more value-based one is gaining traction, and healthcare facilities that aren’t agile enough to transition may get left behind. Having reliable systems that can easily shoulder massive amounts of data is imperative.
Key Technologies Transforming Smart Hospitals
Underpinning any modern approach to a hospital’s operations is connectivity. For all of the new, interconnected systems and devices to function correctly, you need a reliable network with quick and secure access that can be trusted to stay online during critical events. Emergencies are a part of normal operations for a hospital, and you need to know that the new technologies won’t fail you in your hour of need because the network is down. Whether you’re talking about broadband access to communicate with other providers and patients outside your facility or the WiFi network used to transmit data within your hospital, a dependable solution to keep everyone and everything online is imperative.
This network also needs to be secure and built to handle large-scale interconnectivity. The quality and volume of medical data generated by our advances in healthcare technology are increasing rapidly, and you need to know that this information is not only protected but transmittable. A private network solution offers increased security for your patients’ protected health information, as well as the ability to create dedicated bandwidth for the areas of your hospital deemed most operationally critical or emergent.
Cloud computing is an important part of this network infrastructure. By employing the sizeable storage space and accessibility the cloud, hospitals can rest assured that there’s plenty of room to capture all the important data they collect throughout the day. Using a powerful and secure cloud solution also means that priceless data is available to the staff that rely on it, and AI and MI learning require extensive data input for the best results.
Finally, a robust and dependable Real-Time Location System (RTLS) solution offers additional opportunities to improve the patient experience, monitor a hospital’s important (and expensive) resources, and streamline operational workflows. RTLS offers features like wayfinding that help patients and visitors navigate the facility, integrated tags for tracking and monitoring mobile medical equipment as well as and easy-to-use systems for managing staff duress situations and hand hygiene compliance.
Why Cox Business Is an Ideal Partner
Cox Business not only offer smart solutions to the many challenges modern hospitals face, but we also integrate seamlessly into a hospital’s evolving ecosystem. From the Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) approaches, where we can harness the power of linking individual devices to a powerful and reliable network, to the increased asset management provided by an advanced RTLS solution, Cox Business has a full stack answer to the questions posed by today’s market.
Not only can we help you address the pressing needs of the industry, but we can position you to be adaptable to what’s coming down the road.