The healthcare sector has struggled over the last couple of years to contend with the various disruptions of the pandemic and skyrocketing prices of everything from medicines to surgical equipment.
However, this did not hinder the initiatives to make healthcare more accessible to the public.
On the one hand, government policies and supportive frameworks may eventually help lower operational costs. But on the other, the onus is on healthcare institutions to ensure that people have access to the right help at the right time to manage their health challenges.
This is where healthcare is leveraging technology as a key component of making healthcare more accessible to the masses. And what better way to do it than transitioning into a mobile-centric strategy for healthcare technology development.
Why Should Healthcare Tech Be Mobile-Centric?
The plain simple reason is the massive penetration of smartphones amongst the public. In 2021, studies estimated that 85% of the US adult population owned a smartphone. This means that there is no medium as close to consumers that can connect them with the nearest healthcare options when needed.
With this in mind, let us explore the three key roles played by smartphones in making healthcare more accessible:
1. Universal Inclusion
Taking a clue from the smartphone penetration stat mentioned earlier, mobile phones help healthcare organizations tap into even the most isolated or deprived communities. That could be from a perspective of age, location, gender, or any other social category.
Smartphones can play a major role in helping establish a connected care system. Here, the information and insights into patient health can be seamlessly transacted and made available for all stakeholders, including government and insurance bodies. They can, in turn, administer benefits for people with difficulties across a range of health, financial and societal challenges. This can play a crucial role in administering benefits like Medicaid, as even low-income households have members who use smartphones.
2. Connected Care DeliveryPost the pandemic, the connected home experience, which witnessed a boom over the pandemic, remains in good shape. In the US alone, an average household has 22 connected smart devices. Today, these also include Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices that assist with health and wellness, such as smartphones with health sensors, fitness bands, smart diagnostic devices, etc.
From a care administration perspective, healthcare organizations can leverage this connected network of devices at patient homes to their advantage. For example, a smartphone app can record the routine activities of patients through signals from their fitness bands or smart diagnostic devices that they use on their own. Notifications can be sent out automatically to concerned stakeholders if abnormalities are spotted in measurements.
This can help significantly in preventive healthcare as signals surrounding patient conditions can be remotely monitored, and actions can be taken without waiting for them to experience severe difficulties and then pay a visit to the nearest clinic.
3. Smoothen Back-Office Administration
Settling insurance claims and collecting data about patient conditions to validate their eligibility for specific care programs or insurance products, etc., can be a herculean task for hospital administrators. Besides, it is not a good thing to leave patients lurking in the dark without knowing the progress of their claims or making them take long trips back and forth to the hospital for status checks or trivial information gathering.
A dedicated smartphone app can solve these problems to a great degree. It can:
- Collect all data about the patients when they are admitted through easy forms.
- Track metrics needed, such as daily doctor advisory, medicine info, etc., for verifying eligibility toward benefit schemes.
- Help notify patients about the status of their claims or other settlements, and much more.
A classic example would be patients checking their insurance claim status by simply talking to a smartphone assistant like Siri or Alexa, and the relevant data being fetched from an integrated hospital or insurance app automatically. It can make back-office processes significantly less complicated for both staff and patients.
In a Nutshell
Smartphones can go a long way in enabling better healthcare access for the public. From getting a notification alert when sugar levels go down to helping doctors communicate remotely with patients, the possibilities are expanding. The pandemic proved that digital channels are a great way for Payers and providers to stay connected with patients irrespective of where they are. Smartphones are the gateway that enables this connectivity without disruption.
Building a competitive edge in the digital health space requires not just awareness of mobile apps but also insights into how different mixes of technology and emerging innovations, like AI, machine learning, IoMT, etc., work with real-life medical use cases. This is where an experienced partner in Kyyba Tech can help you build digital interfaces that offer connected solutions extending EHR systems or providing real-time data back to payer or provider systems to take real-time action and save patients. We do end-to-end testing of your digital channels, covering mobile apps, wearables, and IoT solutions that go hand in hand to offer a flawless experience to all users involved. Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can help. Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can help.
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