One of President Obama’s main initiatives will be the introduction of the American health system in the 21st century. Our lagging health infrastructure has resulted in enormous medical inefficiencies, high insurance premiums for the average citizen and the general effect of a “leaky faucet” that contributes to the accumulation of problems facing our economy. The Obama administration has proposed a five-year initiative worth approximately $ 100 billion to fix our health system with innovative new technology that includes the creation of electronic versions of all medical records.
Although the creation of electronic medical records is a great step to “align” our health system with modern information Techstandards, there is a less popular concept for introducing high-tech network technologies in the field of health. For doctors and patients, one will have access to medical data and the other to transmit this data.
From the Cisco system blog:
“Web 2.0 technologies are beginning to change the practice of medicine,” said Lynn A. Dunbrak, director of the Health Industry Insights program, a research and consulting firm in Framingham, Massachusetts. “We now have a significant number of doctors who have grown up with the Internet, and want to use collaborative Internet technology to keep up with the incessant demands of increasing speed and efficiency.”
Medical communications technology still needs to catch up with the rest of Web 2.0 technology, whether it’s the ability of patients to easily see a list of potential doctors or primary care centers, or the functionality that allows a doctor to access and instantly update patient records through your iPhone. Despite the fact that medical technologies have achieved enormous success in their main task: the diagnosis and treatment of patients, they must still adopt a new wave of communication technologies and networks.
This can be a difficult task. One of the obstacles to the task of digitizing medical documents is that doctors and medical specialists are accustomed to the old way of life. Moving completely from paper to the digital world can be extremely difficult because it is a 180 degree change in daily routine and work process. The same goes for the use of new health networks and communication technologies.
The obstacles to entering here are huge costs and risks, both for government agencies and for private practices, to make the digital leap of faith. There are ways to mitigate this blow.
Large network providers, such as Cisco Systems and Juniper, can help public health facilities by providing the necessary network infrastructure for the equipment. Private practice fears technological change, because it seems like a risk (and investment) that could postpone them for several years or, worse, ruin your business. However, some of the costs incurred by private medical facilities and practices can be reduced by buying used network equipment and computer equipment, such as a used router or a restored server.
