For over a century, remarkable innovation and advancements in modern medicine have achieved profound gains in global life expectancy. In the last few decades alone, we have witnessed a generational shift in how technology-enabled care is delivered and received. This said, we are also aware that the current care paradigm can cause healthcare organizations to focus more on digital transformation and less in service of quality of care. This results in new challenges that include provider moral injury (burnout), administrative burden, and a digital divide that doesn’t allow for equitable access to healthcare.
Cisco’s belief is that technology can be used to positively impact care delivery, reimagining and transforming patient and provider experience, without technology becoming a burden to those who use it. As we look towards the future, we plan for clinical and patient experiences to be powered by secure technology that helps improve outcomes.
Re-inventing clinical experiences
As healthcare is delivered in various care settings, Cisco’s solutions enable patient-centered interactions across virtual and physical spaces.
Looking at the virtual space, Cisco’s video enabled virtual care offering enhances the virtual interactions between the care team and patient, helping to provide a more personalized and on-demand care experience in a clinic or at a home. Today, Georgia Department of Public Health is scaling virtual visits across the patients they serve, allowing critical healthcare consultations to continue even amidst social distancing practices.
We continue to enrich the virtual care ecosystem with Cisco Webex’s Multi-disciplinary team solution, which gives providers the ability to virtually consult with remote specialists to manage complex care situations, helping to reduce travel and ultimately, the time between detection and treatment of medical conditions. Multi-disciplinary teams at Oslo University Hospital in Norway have realized gains in productivity by reducing the time from detection to cancer treatment from seven weeks to one.
As we gain efficiencies in the virtual care space, Cisco has also made great strides in optimizing collaboration and decision-making in the traditional physical hospital setting. Smart applications of wayfinding and clinical communication technologies allow for more effective conversations amongst the care team, which can lead to faster intervention and allow providers to focus on delivering quality care instead of on administrative tasks.
We also find that today, patients are more aware of and engaged in their care than ever before. Proliferation of wearable and connected devices allows the care ecosystem to proactively engage with patients and utilize medical devices effectively for more informed patient care.
Re-imagining patient experience
Innovation in patient experience involves understanding many aspects of the customer care journey that are managed inside and outside the healthcare setting. With the shift to omnichannel models, care teams can engage with patients to provide seamless and guided experiences across digital, remote, and traditional channels. Additionally, healthcare staff managing contact centers are the bridge to recognize medical issues and route calls faster for appropriate care. San Francisco Suicide Prevention uses Webex Contact Center to coordinate and manage lifesaving care.
Enhancing Infrastructure, Securely
This increasingly connected healthcare ecosystem needs infrastructure that can scale and be reliable to effectively deliver results throughout the care journey. Despite the numerous benefits connected devices, IOT sensors and applications provide, they also make health data particularly vulnerable to cyber security threats. Managing new age digital solutions means collaboration across healthcare entities to secure connectivity and scalability of infrastructure.
Using INFRAM, an Infrastructure Adoption Model developed by HIMSS in partnership with Cisco and others, healthcare facilities are using a standardized way to assess infrastructure needs and digital readiness of hospitals. Readiness includes threat vectors to assess cyber security breaches, and Cisco Secure is well positioned to detect potential vulnerabilities, mitigate risks, and avoid disruption to care delivery.
Future of healthcare
A new generation of technologies such as hands-free smart devices, Wi-Fi 6, and 5G will fuel the care delivery paradigm. Adding to this layer, immersive experiences using Assisted Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) devices allow care teams to broaden collaboration. With Webex Expert on Demand, we bring Assisted Reality (AR) to Google Glass so clinicians can use the hands-free and voice-activated device to consult with specialists, securely view shared medical information or record patient encounters for educational and research purposes. Webex Hologram transcends the limits of collaboration as we know it and enables a truly immersive experience – providing the much needed element of personalization to the care paradigm.
The rise of innovative technologies will continue to redefine the future of healthcare and Cisco remains steadfast in its journey to reinvent care delivery, reimagine patient experience, and enhance operational efficiencies while ensuring a secure, and patient-centric health ecosystem.
Join Cisco at HIMSS22 in booth #1559, where we will showcase an immersive patient and provider experience and talk with the Cisco Healthcare practice to learn how we can help you with the clinical, operational, and financial outcomes you’re striving to achieve.
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