Blogs

In the words of W. Edwards Deming, “Every system is perfectly designed to achieve the results it gets.” This is one of the most agreeable statements in the healthcare industry, and the most certain way to change health care is to change how the system works, improve quality and contain costs. To guide these improvements in healthcare space, we need to learn from the past, predict future, and quantify the concept of ‘good care.’

On an average, chronic conditions claim 7 out of every 10 deaths in the United States, accounting for more than 1.7 million Americans every year. The amount of money being spent to treat patients with chronic diseases is skyrocketing; according to CMS, 93% of United States’ total Medicare spending is distributed among beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions. These stats are truly reflecting the real picture and make us wonder why there is need to drive focus towards chronic care management.

Unstructured data has always been a complication everywhere, and more so than anywhere in healthcare industry. Invaluable information is at stake, all due to unstructured data and the difficulties in accessing it, making it difficult for the quick change in expectations for preventive care, wellness and speedy diagnosis and treatment.

The story of Geraldine Alshamy explains how a minor complication in healthcare network can be catastrophic! The patient started experiencing severe headaches, and she was rushed to an emergency room. Since she didn’t have a Primary Care Physician, she had a previous condition of hypothyroidism. But due to lack of proper communication channel, her care process wasn’t the best that she could have gotten and unfortunately she had a heart attack!

The ideal healthcare of our dreams is far from where we are right now. A healthcare system where patients and their families don’t have to worry about being unassisted, where providers perform their duties with ease. A system where clinically vital information about patients is accessible to providers and patients alike, where patients are tended to even after their discharge. An infrastructure where the system is marked with progressive innovation and is driven towards making healthcare a birthright, extending to each and every citizen.

Whatever we do in the healthcare space, it is eventually meant for the greater good of patients, which is why today the aim of modern healthcare is shifting towards value-based reimbursement and with that the process is getting modified accordingly. Gradually, patient-centric care is becoming prevalent. The current standards require enhanced patient experience, and that comes with improved quality, coordinated care at a reduced cost.