Hospitals are one of the few industries that still use obsolete communication technologies, such as pagers, and the cumulative effect of relying on those systems costs U.S. hospitals more than $5.15 billion every year, according to a report from the Ponemon Institute.
The report surveyed 577 healthcare professionals and found that old, inefficient communication systems cost the average hospital almost $1 million annually. Here are other major findings from the report:
• Physicians, nurses and other caregivers waste an estimated 45 minutes per day on average due to the use of outdated technology. This included inefficient pagers, as well as a lack of new technology, such as Wi-Fi. Many respondents also said the ability to use personal mobile devices, smartphones and email also prohibited productivity.
• The average patient discharge time is 101 minutes, but almost two-thirds of respondents said secure text messaging could cut that time by 50 minutes.
• More than half of respondents said HIPAA compliance can be a challenge to effective, efficient patient care.
The report surveyed 577 healthcare professionals and found that old, inefficient communication systems cost the average hospital almost $1 million annually. Here are other major findings from the report:
• Physicians, nurses and other caregivers waste an estimated 45 minutes per day on average due to the use of outdated technology. This included inefficient pagers, as well as a lack of new technology, such as Wi-Fi. Many respondents also said the ability to use personal mobile devices, smartphones and email also prohibited productivity.
• The average patient discharge time is 101 minutes, but almost two-thirds of respondents said secure text messaging could cut that time by 50 minutes.
• More than half of respondents said HIPAA compliance can be a challenge to effective, efficient patient care.
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