One of the missions we are seeking to advance at InScope is Telehealth- Bringing the Future of Electronic Healthcare into Focus. This is a ripe field, and InScope is aligning itself to hopefully reap the harvest.
Below are snippets from a recent New York Times article about how technology will impact the cost of healthcare:
"There is no silver bullet for reforming America's health care system, but medical experts have long agreed that digital patient records and electronic prescribing can help improve care and curb costs.
It seems straightforward. Just combine technology skills with investment money, and then develop innovative products. But to date, the push for a digital revolution in doctors' offices has brought mostly frustration for the many companies big and small that are trying to conquer the field.
...
The goal, is to deliver the better care and lower costs achieved by some large health care groups without being one... Trying to combine technology tools, cooperative relationships between doctors and insurers, and financial incentives to create the "virtual equivalent" of an integrated system.
If it is going to become a money-spinner someday, it will come from software, a business that can grow rapidly and profitably, if successful.
The right technology, medical experts say, can potentially overcome two major hurdles to the adoption of electronic health records by doctors: cost and complexity. Those obstacles are most pronounced in the market of doctors in small practices.
About one in five doctors now uses digital health records. But the percentage is far lower in small practices, while in larger, integrated health groups- Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic and others- all use digital records.
The larger groups are big enough to afford the investment in electronic records, training, and technical support. But they also use the electronic patient data as a tool to better manage patients with chronic conditions like diabetes and heart diseases, so they are healthier and less apt to require costly hospital care."
(Source: "2 Brothers Await Broad Use of Medical E-Records" by Steve Lohr. Published 3 October 2010. www.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/technology/04pad.html?th&emc=th)
For more information on InScope's stance on bringing the future of telehealth into focus, visit our YouTube site to watch a short clip on the application of technology to healthcare! www.YouTube.com/user/InScopeInternational
Monday, November 1, 2010
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