By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    benefits of using protein powder to build muscles
    Protein Powder for Muscle Mass: Everything You Need to Know
    December 12, 2021
    changes brought on by blockchain in healthcare
    Technology In The Healthcare Industry
    March 28, 2022
    What Does Core Body Temperature Say About Health?
    August 17, 2022
    Latest News
    Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
    May 16, 2025
    Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
    May 16, 2025
    Choosing the Right Supplement Manufacturer for Your Brand
    May 1, 2025
    Engineering Temporary Hospitals for Extreme Weather
    April 24, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    FDA Approves Diabetes Pill
    May 2, 2011
    Patient Gets Drunk on Hand Sanitizer
    June 20, 2011
    Cultivating Health Improvement
    July 20, 2011
    Latest News
    Building Smarter Care Teams: Aligning Roles, Structure, and Clinical Expertise
    May 18, 2025
    The Critical Role of Healthcare in Personal Injury Recovery: A Comprehensive Guide for Victims
    May 14, 2025
    The Backbone of Successful Trials: Clinical Data Management
    April 28, 2025
    Advancing Your Healthcare Career through Education and Specialization
    April 16, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Getting Value from Technology in Healthcare Is All about People
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > Hospital Administration > Getting Value from Technology in Healthcare Is All about People
BusinessHospital AdministrationTechnology

Getting Value from Technology in Healthcare Is All about People

Bill Crounse
Last updated: November 6, 2014 9:00 am
Bill Crounse
Share
6 Min Read
SHARE

I was highly intrigued by an article on ZDNET today. It was Steve Ranger’s piece on “Predicting the next decade of tech: From the cloud to disappearing computers and the rise of robots”. For anyone interested in technology, it’s a good read.

I was highly intrigued by an article on ZDNET today. It was Steve Ranger’s piece on “Predicting the next decade of tech: From the cloud to disappearing computers and the rise of robots”. For anyone interested in technology, it’s a good read. I particularly enjoyed the back half of the article and its focus not on the predicted hardware and software breakthroughs of the next decade, but rather on what is all too often forgotten–how people factor into the equation.

health techI won’t belabor the technology predictions. Those are well enumerated in the ZDNET article complete with the obligatory Gartner Hype Cycle. But I do want to elaborate a bit on the human factors. The article quotes one of my Microsoft colleagues, Dave Choplin, who holds the title of chief envisioning officer. He says, “What we really need to figure out is the relationship between humans and technology, because right now humans get technology massively wrong.” He goes on to reflect on the fact that most people use technology to do things the way we’ve always been doing them. He says the point of new technology is to enable us to “do things fundamentally differently”.

While the focus of the ZDNET article isn’t about healthcare, I find what is being said is perhaps more true of healthcare professionals and the healthcare industry than perhaps most other sectors of the economy. In healthcare right now, the very ground underneath those who work in the industry is shaking violently. Clinicians are being asked to improve quality, see more patients, and lower the costs of care. Payment systems are shifting away from volume (getting paid for what you do) to value (getting paid for the quality outcomes you achieve). That means clinicians must be able to measure every thing they do and continuously improve upon it without adding to cost. The only way to do that is to also improve workforce productivity, and that likely involves an increasing reliance on technology. However, as Mr. Choplin points out, most people think productivity is just about improving processes when instead it should really be leading us to better outcomes.

More Read

Will HITECH Money beThere Tomorrow?
HIMSS 2013: Radiology IT Undergoing Radical Changes and Meaningful Use is Just the Beginning (Part I of II)
IoT Mobile App Development: Points To Ponder Before Building
A Culture of Safety in Hospitals and the CEO’s Role
The Diagnosis That Could Have You Paying an Extra $40,000 Per Patient

improving health process with techI’ve been saying for some time now that information technology has matured to the point where it can actually add tremendous value in health and healthcare. It’s far from perfect, of course, but I don’t think it is technology that holds us back. What holds us back are the human factors. As stated by ZDNET, “the big stumbling block to IT’s bright future in any organization is their own staff and their ways of working. Figuring out where to invest in technology is a lot easier than persuading staff, and whole organizations, to change how they operate.” I find that particularly true in healthcare and especially for physicians. We spend our young adulthood immersed in the scholarly pursuit of a medical degree. We take four or more years in specialty training. We are indoctrinated in how to approach the patient, assimilate information, organize our thoughts and reach a diagnosis. It’s all about following a certain process, a definitive kind of workflow. And, all too often today when we deploy technology into clinical workflow we are using it simply to “do things the way we’ve always been doing them” instead of doing things “fundamentally differently”.

Fortunately, many healthcare organizations around the world are beginning to use technology to do things differently. They are getting value from the digital data they are capturing by applying advanced analytics to deliver actionable insights to patient care. They are embracing mobile devices and applications to improve clinical workflow. They are applying universal communications technologies to deliver care outside the walls of the organization. They are using these same technologies to train healthcare professionals how to think and do things differently, including how technology can improve the ways care teams communicate and collaborate. They are embracing cloud technologies to streamline IT resources and focus more of those limited resources on that which healthcare systems are all about—providing care to patients and increasingly, focusing on ways to improve population health and disease prevention.

If you are deploying technology in your healthcare organization, ask yourself first if your people are ready. If they are not, you are setting the stage for failure. Getting value from technology goes hand in hand with having a workforce that has been well prepared and is ready to improve the changes that technology will bring about. 

Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

Do You Grind Your Teeth at Night? Here’s How Night Guards and TMJ Treatments Can Help
Do You Grind Your Teeth at Night? Here’s How Night Guards and TMJ Treatments Can Help
Dental health
May 21, 2025
The Secret To A Confident Smile: Top Tips For Better Teeth
The Secret To A Confident Smile: Top Tips For Better Teeth
Dental health
May 21, 2025
Clinical Expertise
Building Smarter Care Teams: Aligning Roles, Structure, and Clinical Expertise
Health care
May 18, 2025
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
Health
May 15, 2025

You Might also Like

eHeath medical records
eHealthMedical RecordsTechnology

Enterprise-Wide Medical Deivice Integration and CIS Workflow

May 15, 2013
Business

5 Effective Strategies to Help Grow Your Physical Therapy Business

February 2, 2020
senior living communities
BusinessGlobal HealthcareHospital Administration

HealthKeeperz President Reflects on 50 Years of Healthcare

October 5, 2022

Using Facebook Ads and Power Editor for Hospital Recruitment

August 5, 2013
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?