Healthcare 2014: Driving efficiency through technology. Part two: Chronic Disease Management and Preventative Health

Transcription

1 Healthcare 2014: Driving efficiency through technology Alex Holderness for Australian Healthcare Week 2014 Technology is sitting right at the heart of the healthcare efficiency drive and it s easy to see why. Data-sharing and analytics, collaboration and digital practices will be the driving force behind delivering healthcare services predictively. Ahead of Australian Healthcare Week 2014, I took a look at some of the biggest emerging areas where technology is driving efficiency to find out what s on the horizon. Part two: Chronic Disease Management and Preventative Health Chronic conditions currently account for 70% of all diseases in Australia with predictions expected to increase to 80% by Systems like remote patient monitoring will ensure that quality care is delivered at all time Latest news: Telehealth to relieve healthcare pressures worldwide Challenges facing healthcare sector Governments in Asia Pacific understand the need to prepare for their greying population. In Japan, 23 per cent of the population is over 65 years old. In India, the over-65s will make up 19 per cent of its total population by the year 2015, he cites a few examples. The rising cost of healthcare is another major concern. Chronic diseases cost 3.5 times more to manage compared to regular diseases. Governments are also exploring ways to prevent patients with chronic conditions from escalating into acute episodes which again, are more expensive to manage. Based on a study in Australia, it costs A$967 (US$848) a day to have a patient in hospital. Inpatient healthcare spending has increased by 95 per cent over the decade, he says. There is therefore an urgency to change the way we approach healthcare. Instead of fixing problems only when they happen, governments and healthcare providers are looking at a preventive approach with a focus on wellness.

2 How telehealth can help There are three key areas where telehealth can play a role in relieving these pressures: prevention and wellness, transition of care and post-acute care, continues Emerson. In general, telehealth increases the access points so that healthcare providers can reach people where they are. With preventive health analytics today, we can better educate people on how to enhance their wellness and prevent diseases. These can be done in real-time over audio or videoconferencing, live-streaming or recorded sessions, he says. Better transition of care can improve clinical outcomes. Telehealth can facilitate effective care coordination by bringing stakeholders together. When a patient is discharged from the hospital, we have to connect them not just to the healthcare team, but also to the social structure that will support them in their homes. Technology-enabled live interaction can effectively connect the nurse, GP and the patient s family members, no matter what device they are on, adds Emerson. Finally, telehealth can improve post acute care to reduce the rate of unnecessary hospitalisation re-admission. In US, unnecessary hospitalisation re-admission within the first 30 days costs US$26.1 billion. Remote health monitoring technology has now allow healthcare professionals to track large population of patients. However, distance between the patient and healthcare provider can hamper meaningful and timely follow-up, explains Emerson. With videoconferencing technology, doctors and nurses can easily reach out to patients and swiftly respond to data, that can help decrease rehospitalisation rate and provide huge cost savings, he adds. Emerson believes that real-time videoconferencing technology provides great opportunities to enhance patient satisfaction, increase access to care and lower the rising cost of healthcare. Story originally published at Future Gov:

3 HETT featured speaker spotlight: Philip Nesci, CIO at Monash health I ve spent most of my career on leading change initiatives as an integral part of the business, rather than focusing on technology, says Dr Philip Nesci, CIO for Monash Health, Victoria s largest health care provider. I m not interested in the technology per se, but only what it can do to improve business. Like his view of technology, and as with many other CIOs, Nesci s background doesn t show the IT focus that might be expected of someone who has been global CIO for international chemicals company Orica, and director for IT for Energy Australia. Instead, he has a doctorate in nuclear physics and authored a book titled Inelastic Proton Scattering as a Test of Nuclear Spectroscopy in the late 1970s. He is also a graduate of the executive program at the Michigan Business School. The most useful courses have been those that have focused on commercial business management and those that develop soft skills such as leadership, collaboration and influencing, and people management, he says. This people-oriented attitude is critical at Monash, a public health service which provides integrated health care to a quarter of metropolitan Melbourne s population. This includes 193,000 people admitted to its various hospitals in the last year, 180,000 emergency presentations, and more than 9000 babies delivered. Being in the public healthcare industry, we are not for profit. Our main drivers are about providing access to healthcare and improving the quality of care for our patients. I spend most of my time working with the business to achieve that rather than the technology initiatives, he says. Nesci is working on getting the organisation to embrace an electronic medical record system, something he says will be critical for improving the way it delivers better patient care. It will eventually have a major impact on the organisation. Another key technology area is mobile technology. Gone are the days when you could mandate what devices staff use, he says. Read the full story on Phillip here:

4 Sponsor spotlight: Austco Taking preventative measures: Infection control What are some of the main challenges with infection control, where are some of the risk factors in healthcare facilities? One of the challenges is education, establishing how we drive down the risks of (Healthcare Acquired Infections) HIAs. There are things that can be done to reduce and control HAIs, it s going to happen, but the risk can be minimized. Educating staff is key. Staff workflow is also a challenge, basic routines such as hand washing can be neglected if you have a patient screaming in pain and not enough staff to cover. The last challenge would be the length of stay; the longer the patient is in the healthcare facility, the higher the risk they have of contracting a HAI. Do you have any statistics you could share on the impact this is having on efficiency? Yes and they re very working. Research that has been done in Australia demonstrated that 7,000 a year have died after contracting an infection, 200,000 actually contract a HAI whilst in hospital. There are 850,000 lost bed days in Australian hospitals each year because of the extra time that people have to stay once. The average length of stay is between extra days of care if you contract a HAI. How are you seeing healthcare facilities in Australia use technology to reduce infection rates? Have you any examples? One of the challenges is human to hum or human to device contact, we ve developed hardware that has antibacterial solution that lasts for 20 years, we re working to drive down these numbers where other devices may spread infection. With software we ve focused on workflow and bed management solutions that can help staff to remember to carry out certain tasks. For example a device called a four button call point, it tells the staff what activity they should be doing and communicates up the chain the next step of the workflow. There s also a full audit trail of the cleaning log so everyone can see a clear picture of the rounds being done each day. This can help identify weak spots to improve HAI numbers.

5 Are there any key areas where you think there s still work to be done? It s such a simple thing, but washing your hands. Everyone has to use medical devices in the hospital, we do it so often but it s so crucial to bring this number down. We re working to lower the risk and speed up the time that patients are kept in hospital. Smart technology can really support with these reminders. Where s your focus, how can you help and what projects are you currently working on? We re looking at the high level clinical workflow with efficiency, it s a big topic in the US and we re seeing it come to surface now in Australian. Having systems like Nurse Call work automatically on a ward, improving workflow and knowledge is a big focus for it. It s about spending more time with the patient and making technology that works well with the end user not against them!