Contents 3
Technology takes health care into the 21st century
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Cyber security steals the limelight as health care goes digital
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Solving the data interoperability problem
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The future of smart hospitals beyond COVID
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CData tackles health data connectivity
12 Customer-centric cosmetics: How digital solutions can deliver a health care experience that is more than just skin deep
www.sdtimes.com Editor-in-Chief David Rubinstein drubinstein@d2emerge.com Art Director Mara Leonardi mleonardi@d2emerge.com Publisher David Lyman 978-465-2351 dlyman@d2emerge.com Marketing and Digital Media Specialist Andrew Rockefeller arockefeller@d2emerge.com List Services Jessica Carroll jcarroll@d2emerge.com
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Technology takes health care into the 21st century BY DAVID RUBINSTEIN
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ealth care software system providers have been working for over a decade on modernizing and digitizing those systems, with data collection and sharing, and advances in electronic medical records (EMR) so far leading the way. Yet it took a global pandemic of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease for the health care community to re-evaluate all that they do and how they do it. There has been a rise in telehealth solutions, as patients often need to remain isolated from others not infected with COVID-19 and as hospitals are overwhelmed with a crush of people who need treatment from the disease. This has forced others recovering from surgeries, or who are on medical maintenance for chronic conditions, to get the treatments and services they need outside of traditional medical facilities. A number of startups are entering the field, reimaging how surgical suites are run, how health insurance is delivered, and how hospitals can go mobile. These advances are changing the way the industry thinks about delivering health care. For those who are living with lifetime conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, COPD and many others, the use of wearable devices — known in the industry as remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices — will expand greatly. One research firm predicts that 30 million patients in the United States alone will be using some sort of device by 2024. Devices such as implanted pacemakers and defibrillators send signals back to devices that collect the data 24/7 and trigger alerts when an event occurs.
Think of the Internet of Things for health care. The use of telehealth appointments, using technology such as FaceTime or Zoom, can keep patients connected to their physicians without having to leave their homes, and the use of telehealth already has grown to be about 40 times greater than it was pre-pandemic. While record-sharing, data access and filling prescriptions electronically (to avoid the mistakes that occurred due to unreadable scripts written by doctors) were the low-hanging fruit, some areas seeing innovation include providing remote services to underserved communities, the creation of ‘smart hospitals’ that can offer virtual services, and the use of artificial intelligence in diagnosing such maladies as skin cancer and heart disease. Artificial intelligence can also be used to analyze data about how people use urgent care facilities, to seasonally adjust schedules and hours to reduce patient wait times, and to ensure they have the right amount of tests and other supplies to meet recurring demand. These advances have already begun to optimize delivery of medical services and solutions around the globe. The goal is to bring health care to people who lack mobility to go to a medical facility, and to places where there are limited facilities or where none exist at all. Innovators like some of those highlighted in this guidebook are helping to ease access to health care, through lower costs and more availability of services. We hope you find this most useful. :
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Cyber security steals the limelight as health care goes digital BY SUDIP SAHA
I Sudip Saha is chief operating officer at Future Market Insights.
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n recent years, data security has become a major concern, particularly in the health care business. With the emergence of different norms and regulations relevant to patient data protection, the health care business has undergone a digital transition throughout the years. In today’s technologically advanced world, new technologies such as the cloud and next-generation databases are being used to store and manage patient-related data in hospitals and clinics. With the increased deployment of modern technology and internet penetration, the incidence of cyber attacks and data breaches in the
health care business is on the rise. Reports suggest that nearly 34% of health care organizations were hit by a cyber attack by the end of 2020. Authorities fear that such an increased rate of cyber attacks will cause ample losses to the organizations. In order to address these cyber attacks and prevent them from happening frequently, health care organizations are paving their way towards digital transformation. Putting these factors in a nutshell, the analysts at Future Market Insights project the market for global cyber security is likely to exhibit 10.5% CAGR through 2032. This article focuses on the need for addressing data security in the health care sector and what actions the top economies are taking to steps to forestall the accelerating spread from the ongoing cyber attacks. How are health care organizations addressing the need for data security? Protecting sensitive information related to the patients and their medical history is prompting organizations to deploy diversified technologies and strategies to identify risk elements. The percentage of risk involved with the technologies being used is dramatically increasing the number of attacks on health care organizations. In July 2021, the Oregon Anesthesiology Group (OAG) experienced a cyber attack, potentially impacting about 750,000 patients and 522 current and former OAG employees. After the attack, the company was briefly locked out of its servers. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported nearly 500 health care data breaches and 239.4 million cyber attacks attempted in 2020. This number is predicted to rise owing to the rapid digitization of the health care industry. For attackers, it takes just a few seconds to invade the organizations’ data, but it takes several weeks to identify the breach, take protective measures against it, and penetrate the suitable tools for the prevention from such breaches in the future. To protect important data from attackers, health care organizations are increasingly investing in improving their overall cyber security infrastructure. This ultimately turns
out to be an opportunistic situation for the industry leaders in the global cyber security market. For instance, in February, the Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS), announced the launch of a no-cost ransomware protection service, Malicious Domain Blocking and Reporting (MDBR), for private hospitals in the U.S. CIS fully funds this service for all private hospitals in the U.S. as part of its nonprofit mission to make the connected world a safer place. Increased demand for such advanced security services to mitigate the risk of cyber-attacks has fueled the demand for network security firewalls. Data security systems preventing cyber attacks on medical health record systems The privacy of patients and their information is one of the most essential factors taken into consideration while opting for an electronic medical health record system. A health care organization well-equipped with an effective health care security program has an edge over other organizations owing to the safety and security of the medical records. As the presence of data security programs is increasing, cybercriminals are finding it difficult to attack critical medical health records. An effective health care security program tells the patients about the credibility and commitment of the organization towards the protection of their medical records. In May 2021, HCA Health care announced a new multiyear strategic partnership with Google Cloud focused on analytics-driven process improvement and digital transformation. The partnership is aimed at building next-generation operational models focused on actionable insights and improved workflows. In addition, the goal is to build and refine workflows and improve clinical decision support to enhance quality, safety, and efficiency. Current regulations pertaining to the security protocols for health care organizations seeking to adopt a secure electronic health records system are improving patient care and treatment. Both patients and health care professionals are guaranteed efficient utilization of the data for analysis and measures. In 2020, Forescout Technologies, Inc. announced that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has deployed the Forescout platform across 1.3 million unique devices at more than 280 physical locations, hitting a critical cyber security milestone for the Agency. Additionally, in February 2021, the U.S. Government Accountability CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 > SDTIMES.COM | 5
Solving the data interoperability problem
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n health care, there seemingly is no limit to the amount of data that needs to be collected, understood, analyzed and shared. Some of that data is refined, much of it — primarily medical notes — is not. And the problem of having data interoperate with other data from other systems has not really been solved yet, though Bob Stanley, senior director for special projects at data quality company Melissa, said some people think it’s not a problem. “I’ll propose that [data interoperability not being a problem] is maybe something accurate, but usually not,” Stanley said. Early in health care’s digital transformation, groups were trying to define standards that would be authoritative, but they weren’t recognizing the changes in the field, he noted. But new standards like Fast Health care Interoperability Resources (FHIR) for data interoperability are coming out and offer promise, but these efforts are ongoing, Stanley said. That ties back to a notion first shared a few years ago that dirty data is the industry’s dirty secret.
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Data quality, as well as data plumbing, harmonization and interoperability, Stanley said, “All of those are our sort of dirty secrets of informatics and data science, or even just trying to have a good customer outreach.” Stanley thinks data quality issues persist because “if you’re a project manager, or a new CIO, in one of these roles where in theory data quality would be really important, it’s just not something that gets you a feather in your cap. They aren’t coming in to the business and saying, ‘We’re going to need to spend this much money, time and effort’ for data quality. It’s just not exciting. It’s not the end game anyone is seeking.” But, he pointed out, “It’s like, you’ve got to do the dishes before you can cater the next party. Everybody just wants to party.” But there are a lot of challenges in the space, particularly with data coming from what they call real-world evidence, hospital systems, electronic medical record systems, and things like that, Stanley noted, citing a customer with whom a medication was refer-
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enced 190 different ways from within a single EMR system. Because of this, it’s important to look not only at the reference for what data the person is entering, but also looking at the context of where the person is entering the data. Stanley explained: “If it’s for this patient, I got this little string, and it’s suggesting this drug. I’m gonna say, ‘Yep, this is the drug I’m giving that person.’ But if the drug is contraindicated with other medications that patient is taking, then you can get a little popup that says, ‘Are you sure this is the drug you were thinking about? It shows a conflict with the other drug.’ “ The improvements being made in these systems are on the data entry side, which makes it easy for people downstream to do better work. And there are big ambitions for where this is all going. But, as Stanley pointed out, “there have been big ambitions for 20 years in this space. Ever since the Human Genome Project, we’ve really had high hopes for informatics and data-driven insights in health care and the life science space.” :
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Office (GAO) reported that the Veterans Health Administration has made progress toward implementing a modernized electronic health record system to gain better and more valuable insights into the medical records. The biggest advantage of an effective health care security program is that it enables organizations to respond to any data breach in a better way. A good communication system along with outstanding security programs guides the IT staff, security officials, communications team, and other authorized people in the organization to ensure minimal damage and quick recovery. Keeping this in view, many health care data security organizations are working on their offerings and launching innovative products. For instance, in February 2020, GE Health care introduced a new cyber security solution known as Skeye for hospitals for detecting, analyzing, and responding to security threats in real-time. Data privacy and protection: A priority of the health care sector It is imperative for health care organizations to protect sensitive health care data from the growing cyber threats. Designing a unique and efficient framework regarding data security is turning out to be one of the top priorities for the global health care sector. The data security framework should not just focus on safely maintaining the records but also offer protection against cyber attacks. Cybercriminals have a thorough understanding of how health care organizations are desperately protecting the data from any kind of cyber attack. Therefore, they have started opting for different ways to attack and get control over sensitive data. For instance, in September 2021, Universal Health Services lost $67m to a Ryuk ransomware attack, forcing them to suspend all user access to its IT applications and related operations in the United States. Given the sensitivity of stored data and the growing need for privacy and protection, the deployment of several security safeguards has been done through the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and
the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. Under these acts, the implementation of a variety of technologies has been suggested to tackle volumes of health care data. For instance, the frequency of data breaches in the health care sector over the last 2–to 3 years has prompted health care organizations to deploy contactless and radio-frequency identification (RFID) readers. RFID technology is actively helping organizations in meeting their safety and security needs. One of the top industry leaders, ELATEC, addresses the critical cyber security and HIPAA vulnerabilities such as user authentication deficiencies, endpoint data leakage, and excessive user permissions within hospitals and health systems. Furthermore, with health care becoming vulnerable to cyber complexities, only matured and experienced cyber experts can keep the massive health care data safe from cybercriminals. Conclusion As we enter into an all-new era of technologically driven health care, the need to comply with norms relating to patient data privacy and transparency are rapidly increasing. New and advanced IT solutions for the health care sector should come with the guarantee to control cyber threats. It has been rightly said that “Cyber security is much more than a matter of IT.” Mounting complexities associated with cyber frauds prove that it is very important for hospitals to start taking cyber security seriously. The adoption of cutting-edge technology solutions and cyber-hygiene should go together. Furthermore, health care organizations are required to form protection strategies and solutions to share data, both internally and externally, while keeping the company standards in view. Therefore, data security systems are used to offer protection between the internal and external networks to prevent frauds and data breaches. All in all, data protection has turned out to be one of the top priorities of any health care organization over the past few years and is projected to stay in the limelight for the upcoming years. : SDTIMES.COM | 7
The future of smart hospitals beyond COVID
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he emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 disrupted the health care industry like never before. However, it also brought about a paradigm-shifting change in how physicians and patients alike think about the effectiveness of telehealth and other aspects of digital health care. In particular, Medicare-generation patients considered at greater risk for COVID-19 were encouraged to use digital technology for self-monitoring of chronic conditions at home. Over time, they saw that remote patient monitoring (RPM) and virtual visits still gave them quality care outside of traditional medical facilities plus the comfort level of face-to-face contact with the doctor. Deloitte estimates that the percentage of virtual visits will increase to 5% globally in 2021 — or by 8.5 billion physician visits — compared to a pre-pandemic estimate of 1% in 2019. The “smart hospital” emerged as a successful and growing segment in health care during the pandemic. Even as COVID abates, hospitals are looking to grow and expand virtual health care services, as well as create a safe and seamless experience for patients who must physically visit the hospital for clinical visits and testing services. But what does it mean for a hospital to be smart, or mobile? Srini Samudrala, SVP, IoT at Zyter Smartspaces, said, “I think it’s more of ubiquitous health care where literally a person can get health care anywhere at any time whenever they need it. And this is kind of unfortunate but health care has been one of those areas where digitalization or digital transformation has been very slow to get to, and 8 | SDTIMES.COM
it’s a mix of multiple things, it’s a mix of people wanting to meet doctors face to face and understand. “And,” he continued, “there’s a huge human factor involved in health care, and that’ll never go away. But what the pandemic has taught us is that it is possible to live in a digital world, and it is possible to deliver health care digitally, right, whether it is tele-consulting, whether it is telling your symptoms to a doctor and then talking to them over a laptop or a mobile device, and being able to get a prescription from them delivered to your home. Whether it is having IoT sensors and devices on you to enable you to recover at home after a surgery, as opposed to taking up capacity in a hospital, and maybe even contracting more infections in there. So, there’s a number of ways in which digital technologies can enable health care and make it really, really available to not just anyone but anyone, anytime, anywhere.” Recent research forecasts a very favorable future for smart hospitals and a growing demand for telehealth and RPM solutions: • Projections from research firm Market Research Future indicate that the global smart hospital market will reach USD 77,299.6 million by 2025, with a 21.5% CAGR during the forecast period of 2018-2025. A factor driving this growth is a strong demand for IoT technologies. • Market intelligence and advisory firm Modor Intelligence forecasts that the telemedicine market will reach revenues of USD 168,396 million in 2026, representing a CAGR of 28% between 2021 and 2026.
• Current research by Insider Intelligence forecasts that 30 million patients in the U.S. will be using RPM devices by 2024. Evolving with IoT and telehealth Innovations To digitally transform a hospital into a smart hospital starts with a single, integrated platform of IoT technologies. Only then is it possible to create a digitally transformed, connected organization that benefits patients, doctors, medical personnel and operations teams. With IoT sensors connected to surfaces or worn on patient wristbands, it is possible to monitor the status of patient beds, operating room equipment, medications and vaccines, parking, HVAC, lighting, and more. Using a secure, HIPAA-compliant dashboard or mobile app, clinicians and administrators have complete visibility of what is happening throughout the hospital – patient rooms, operating theaters, location of medical equipment, at-risk patient monitoring, and more. Today’s smart hospitals are achieving the benefits of improved patient care and hospital efficiencies, including: •E nabling more effective care team collaboration •M aking quality, remote post-surgical care available at home •E nhancing physician/patient engagement •E nsuring a safe, exalted patient experience • Increasing hospital building efficiencies to reduce costs When people have surgery in a hospital, Samudrala said, their recovery typically takes three or four times longer than the time before and during the surgery. But
if you could reduce the amount of time a person spends in the hospital after surgery, Samudrala said, three things happen. “One,” he said, “research has proven that people tend to recover faster and better when they’re in a familiar environment, back in their home, as opposed to in a hospital, which can be a stressful environment as well. Two, it reduces the burden on the hospitals, because now they can make those rooms available to other people who need it more. Third, it reduces the cost of insurance and the general load on the health care system as well.” Yet despite the growing acceptance of telehealth and virtual doctor visits, there are times when patients must physically go to the hospital for tests, scans, lab work, physical therapy, and other in-person appointments. Samudrala noted that smart hospitals “are looking at smart technologies, such as real-time location services (RTLS), to make it easier and safer for patients to access the care they need.” The following digital health care trends enabled by an integrated smart technology platform stand out as shaping the future of smart hospitals: • RPM for the Hospital at Home – RPM for managing patients’ chronic conditions at home, such as diabetes and hypertension, is a widely accepted modality of care established during the pandemic. RPM technology automatically collects data from the patient’s at-home medical devices and transmits it to a physician dashboard via an LTE-enabled cellular connection. Smart hospitals are taking advantage of this proven RPM technology to discharge post-surgical patients to their homes earlier. In this “hospital at home,” patients receive quality care from visiting nurses and/or family members who use secure telehealth services to collaborate virtually with the physician and care team. Furthermore, these connected devices collect and send patient metrics, which are monitored and analyzed both by the platform (to raise alerts as needed) and by medical personnel (to make decisions about patient care). By shortening the patient’s hospital stay, the hospital reduces the risk of exposure to hospital-borne infections and viruses, including COVID-19, which could require readmissions or emergency care. Recent findings published in the Annals of Internal Medicine prove that RPM for the hospital at home delivers the promised benefits. A 2019 pilot study was undertaken by Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital to gauge the effectiveness of the home hospital mode. The randomCONTINUED ON PAGE 11 > SDTIMES.COM | 9
CData tackles health data connectivity A s health care applications and devices grow, and as more ways to integrate and collect data from those different systems grow, industry initiatives such as Fast Health care Interoperability Resources (FHIR) have allowed data connectivity to make it easier for companies to access health data securely. And, it has been adopted by the industry in a big way. CData, a connectivity company, has expanded its presence in the health care space because of its ability to map and integrate Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) processes and integrate them with databases and other back-end applications. Among its clients is Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, that state’s largest health insurance company with 3.2 million members. The company was facing a tight deadline to meet new data interoperability standards and called on CData to help rework their data ingestion framework to support the FHIR EDI file format. “When we get this new encounter
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data from our partners like LabCorp and HearUSA, that is coming in the EDI format,” said Rama Kakarala, data services manager at Horizon. “We had a technical gap we needed to close. The EDI 837 file format is very complex, so very few SMEs across the company can understand the entire EDI layout. That’s why we were looking for a tool that could easily do the job.” Horizon’s data framework had been built to support JSON or CSV formats, and it chose CData’s ArcESB to create a system that could automate ingestion and file translation. ArcESB helps companies process data that they normally get in other formats, and convert that data into FHIR files. With the tool, Horizon was able in six weeks to map out what it needed and implement a solution that allowed them to receive EDI 837 format files and integrate that data with their internal CSV files to automatically create an explanation of benefits document. It also allowed them to send newly formatted FHIR documents to an outside interoperability partner.
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Mike Albritton, senior vice president, cloud, at CData, said the company is working to build more FHIR connectors, to unlock the connectivity to FHIR. CData’s ArcESB, he said, is used in a number of different health care areas. “We work with insurance companies, where our Arc product is used for transactional purposes to process things like claims, EDI, and HIPAA documents, We work with hospitals to process very similar transactional EDI and HIPAA x12 documents. We work with drug companies that use our products for processing data for regulatory processes, security analysis, and alerting for other types of data integration processes that they have. We also work with companies that connect to the FDA,” which requires documents to be submitted through an electronic gateway that uses a particular protocol, he said. CData connectors are used in all types of health care companies for the ability to unlock siloed data, connect to all types of applications as well as NoSQL databases. :
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ized controlled trial found that home hospital care can reduce costs and readmissions while at the same time increase physical activity when compared with traditional in-hospital care. Smart hospitals are also seeking RPM solutions specifically for intensive care units (ICUs) so they can offer remote care to ICU patients who may be able to complete their recovery at home. This approach could potentially make more ICU beds and ventilators available for COVID patients and others who are more critically ill. RPM solutions for ICUs also enable budget-restricted and short-staffed hospitals to collaborate with outside resources for skilled nurses to ensure consistent critical care for in-patients. And the lack of available resources is expected to escalate in the future. Despite an estimated increase of 40 million health-sector jobs by 2030, The World Health Organization (WHO) projects a global shortfall of 9.9 million physicians and nurses. • Smart Navigation for Safer, More Efficient Outpatient Visits – The lingering threat of COVID is motivating hospitals to make outpatient visits safer and a stress-free, minimal-touch experience. Using a secure mobile app designed around the needs of the patient, patients can access their appointment information before leaving home. Using real-time location services (RTLS), the app provides turn-by-turn driving directions to the hospital, the nearest parking lot, and even the closest available parking space. Patients can also access walking directions from the lot to the exact location of their appointment in the hospital building. The app automatically checks in the patient, so patients avoid close personal interaction at intake. In the exam room, patients receive alerts on how long they will be waiting to be seen, while the physician and nurses are also alerted that the patient has checked in and is waiting in the exam room. After the appointment, the physician may prescribe medication, or a test in the hospital lab or imaging department. The patient mobile app once again gives stepby-step directions to the pharmacy or lab, and will even send a reminder to the patient if they are late or appear to be leaving without fulfilling their obligation. This is just one way that smart hospitals can use digital health technology to ensure a safe, seamless and elevated patient experience.
Expanding health care to underserved areas The emerging trend of self-serve wellness kiosks enables hospitals, clinics and pharmacies to expand telehealth services to rural areas or any geographic locations where Internet availability is poor, or traditional health care appointments are difficult to access. Patient populations in regions with high rates of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, can also benefit from easier accessibility to regular remote monitoring. Patients can have their vitals taken at the wellness kiosk set up in a local shopping mall, grocery store, or any often-visited public location. The vitals are securely stored to the patient’s EHR and transmitted via an LTE-enabled cellular device to a physician for review. If necessary, the physician can initiate a virtual visit with the patient at the kiosk and recommend a care plan, or advise the patient to seek emergency care. With wellness kiosks, smart hospitals can make care more accessible to a greater number of people, when and where they need it. : Content provided by SD Times and Zyter Inc.
Zyter delivers remote Tele-ICU monitoring solution A global U.S. military health care system implemented Zyter’s secure mobile RPM solution and secure collaboration platform for use by intensive care units (ICU) physicians and nurses at all of the system’s medical centers around the world. Zyter’s RPM solution meets stringent U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) security requirements and is compliant with HIPAA and other global health care regulations. Zyter RPM also integrates with the medical system’s electronic health record system. Today, Zyter’s RPM solution continues to transform the way that ICU physicians and nurses care for critical patients across an international network of military hospitals. Using the Zyter RPM solution on a daily basis, nurses at the U.S. medical center can remotely monitor ICU patients at the Okinawa hospital, for example and immediately collaborate with the on-duty nurses thousands of miles away using secure video chat when a device alerts any change in the patient’s vital signs. As a result, ICU staff can respond faster to the patient’s issue to provide a higher quality of care and bring about a better patient outcome. : SDTIMES.COM | 11
Customer-centric cosmetics How digital solutions can deliver a health care experience that is more than just skin deep
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osmetic procedures are in high demand worldwide, with the global market on course to reach $66 billion by 2026. Yet service levels at private health care clinics, burdened by legacy technology installed many years ago, are struggling to keep pace with customer demand and service expectations. A digital facelift is in order, argues Andy Randall, Group COO at Halfords and chairman at Avayler. Private clinics must look to apply modern supply chain and CRM technology to their cosmetic health care operations to deliver first-class patient outcomes and ensure flawless safety standards.
BY ANDY RANDALL
Andy Randall, Group COO at Halfords and chairman at Avayler.
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Today there are up to 650 Consultant Dermatologists working in the NHS, many of which carry out additional elective or aesthetic procedures in private clinics. In fact, health care professionals follow NHS procedures and training, use prescription drugs such as Botox for some procedures, and private medical clinics are licensed by the Care Quality Commission. CX is top of the agenda for every consumer, no matter what they are buying Patients seeking out private clinics for cosmetic procedures such as laser hair removal and Botox have the same service expectations as customers in any industry — yet there is currently a capability gap between both customer-facing and back-end private health care operations, and the ser-
vice levels people have become accustomed to elsewhere. For many private health care clinics today, there are three ways to build and consolidate a competitive advantage: deliver consistently high clinical care outcomes, offer a seamless end-to-end customer journey, and safeguard patients with high safety standards. Government-backed organizations such as the JCCP (Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners) register of practitioners have made some progress in addressing these pain-points, but it is technology that will offer a way to get clinics over the finish line. Time to make the ‘outcomes’ switch The cosmetics industry is currently undergoing its own facelift as it realises the need to shift its focus onto patient outcomes — something that requires gaining greater control and visibility of the processes undertaken to give every treatment. Many doctors and practitioners have traditionally been allowed to follow their own ‘tried and tested’ methods for such procedures — but with so much room for inconsistency and variable results, they are now increasingly moving toward a greater focus on outcomes.
Fillers are not enough — a facelift is required A focus on patient outcomes alone is not enough. To ensure a fully successful transition, clinics must combine this with the whole customer experience — generating efficient end-to-end processes, from first customer contact and treatment through to routine post-procedure follow ups. Tap into other service industry knowledge for cosmetic success Businesses in industries ranging from retail to automotive have shifted from simply providing a product to a laser focus on CX, delivering a smooth service and a seamless customer journey. The health care market is well-placed to take the lessons learned from this transition and apply them to its own push towards consistently delivering excellent customer outcomes. Outcomes and service focused industries put a greater emphasis on optimized scheduling and streamlined workflows. For private clinics this means establishing CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 >
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methods to follow standardized, approved clinical processes to ensure consistent patient outcomes and excellent safety levels. Overhauling your legacy systems? Here’s what to look out for The current state of play in private clinics is very rudimentary, legacy systems that offer few if any dedicated features for the health care market. Indeed, many clinics currently use a system originally designed for bowling alleys which were then partially customised for clinical use! But booking a bowling lane is a far cry from undergoing laser hair removal — and there is little scope for the health care professional to focus on treatment process or patient outcomes. No wonder that scheduling in such systems is naturally very basic — there is no granular scheduling by doctor type or specialist qualifications, and no opportunity to charge variable rates per individual doctor. While many clinics may be up-to-date with standalone systems such as CRM, the benefits of this do not currently extend into transforming processes in the treatment room. Some private clinic chains have begun to recognise the dangers of falling behind the pace of digital transformation and rising customer expectations — but many have attempted to develop their own in-house alternatives to replace existing legacy systems — a slow and costly alternative to opting for an off-the-shelf solution, extensively tailored for health care. Safety is critical — underpin it with technology Patient safety is non-negotiable for all procedures – and cosmetic procedures are no exception. Yet there is often room for human error or inconsistency when relying on outdated systems or manual processes. Take laser hair removal as a prime example. In a typical private clinic today, a nurse will estimate which type of kit to use for the procedure, such as laser strength and configuration, based on a patient’s skin type. Get this setting even slightly wrong in either direction and a patient could either suffer burns or receive no hair removal due to an underpowered laser — a potentially catastrophic outcome for clinic and clinician. With a technology-guided, outcomes-focused procedure, the customer and clinician will follow a safe, stan14 | SDTIMES.COM
dardized process all the way through — following stepby-step instructions on a device such as a tablet. A technology-driven, holistic approach brings benefits for patients and practitioners alike A dedicated service platform integrating the customer journey and clinician delivery represents a powerful addition to today’s private health care clinics, offering a wealth of support for both parties. It makes sense to look for a proven service platform that has all corners covered — and the ability to ensure a cost-effective rollout with minimal disruption to business operations. At the customer level, patients benefit from intuitive, online scheduling of appointments — there’s no longer any need to phone to check availability and book a timeslot. The patient will know in advance the professional they’ll be meeting with and their procedure record, as well as being guided through next steps of the process. They will also receive post-procedure evidence such as photographs and documentation. Health care professionals, meanwhile, gain greater visibility into the booking and scheduling process — knowing in advance who is coming in for treatment and when, which type of treatment is planned, and relevant stepby-step routines on the device of their choice to deliver a guaranteed first-class outcome for the patient. Transform clinic workflows with future-proof service technology Deploying a tried-and-tested platform that can be customised to streamline service delivery for any industry is the easiest method for clinics to hit the ground running and avoid extensive and risky investment or in-house development. By tailoring such a platform specifically for health care workflows, medical professionals can augment their own training and expertise to ensure safe and consistent patient outcomes — enhancing that all-important customer experience in the process. Many organizations in other service-oriented industries have already embraced technology to enhance the customer journey and fine-tune their service offerings – and with the demand for flawless customer experiences rising, private clinics now have a golden opportunity to take their cosmetic procedures to the next level with a digital foundation. :
