As part of our National Health IT Week blog series, we are concentrating on modernizing health infrastructure, with a particularly focus on the impact to patient, clinician, and IT experiences. We will look at how the consistent and systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health-related data can be used to change how care is experienced, delivered, and managed.

To understand the role of health IT infrastructure, let’s take a look at one patient’s journey through the health system:

At the soccer field

Meet Morgan. Unfortunately, he got hurt. He took a bad fall while playing in a soccer game, and his parents are worried that he might have a concussion. It doesn’t seem like it’s an emergency, but his dad wants some expert advice on what they should do.

Morgan’s dad logs into his healthcare provider’s patient portal and messages with an AI chatbot that is connected to his healthcare provider’s virtual triage contact center. After a brief evaluation, the contact center agent recommends Morgan go to the nearest urgent care clinic for further evaluation. An open appointment is found and made for Morgan. To help make this as easy experience as possible, Morgan’s dad receives a text with directions from the field to the clinic.

See how Mercy is using the contact center to triage patients

At urgent care

Morgan has some tests done to assess his condition. Using collaboration technology, his doctors are able to get a tele-neuro consult using Webex Teams. Instead of having to go to multiple places to understand his condition, Morgan, his family, and his care team at the clinic can come up with a plan for Morgan.

See how vRad is using collaboration technology for live video diagnosis

The physician overseeing Morgan’s care communicates with the rest of the care team using a mobile application on her iPhone. This clinical communication and collaboration interaction is enhanced by the Cisco and Apple partnership.

See how Parkview Medical Center is using wireless technology to improve clinical communications

In the end, Morgan gets to go home and rest. After he has recovered, he is ready to get back on the field for the next game.

The IT operations experience

The care Morgan has received may seem simple, but what is happening behind the scenes can be complex. From managing the contact center, to deploying telehealth, to securing clinical communications, to making sure all these solutions stay connected at the clinic – depends on a strong IT infrastructure foundation. All your systems – Network Transport, Wireless Mobility, Collaboration, Security, Data Center — need to work together seamlessly to support the future of care.

These are the ways that your healthcare organization can deliver care to one person at a time… And to all your patients at once.

Digital transformation with Cisco

At Cisco, we have a unique perspective on digital transformation. We see an industry perspective across 10 different market segments. We wrote two books on digital disruption because we are at the center of it. And, we’ve created tools like HIMSS Analytics Infrastructure Adoption Model (INFRAM) – a maturity model that defines your technology needs based on a healthcare systems roadmap.

To learn more about how digital transformation is evolving the healthcare experience, take a virtual tour of a clinic.

Check back for the rest of our National Health IT Week blog series to learn more about IT strategies that can help:

• Expand access to broadband and telehealth
• Improve public health and population health
• Address social determinants of health
• Accelerate workforce development