The long term care industry is slowly but surely starting to embrace technology and everything that comes with it. This might be due to the fact that numbers suggest that more than 28 million Americans will require long term care by the year 2050. That number is significantly high than the 12 million recorded in 2010.
It is because of the lack of patient tracking that the long term care industry is starting to embrace the potential benefits of IT. Nowadays, patient tracking and information-sharing problems are solved through electronic health records, or EHR’s. Mobile devices are slowly becoming more optimized to cope with the needs of the health industry and long term care industry in order to provide assistance to care homes and hospitals.
The adoption of IT in these industries is further backed by doctors and specialists who have advocated on the use of EHR’s.
Why is there a need for such technology?
Most hospitals and nursing homes are slowly moving away from the fee-for-service model to a better value-based model. If hospitals and nursing homes are to successfully transition to this model, they will need to fully embrace EHR’s and mobile devices to further aid them in treatment of patients in need to long term care. According to Radius Executive IT Solutions, the use of EHR’s and mobile devices in long term care and health will be crucial for improving the care of patients in hospitals and nursing homes.
Img source: healthinnovationnetwork.com
The current model, which is 40 years old, does not fill in with the way we live. Nowadays, people get old and put to nursing homes where they stay there for the rest of their lives. Physicians would visit these patients once per month, or every other month, but this is far from what the patients need.
The long term care and health industries need to move to a model where there would be better communication between hospitals and nursing homes with physicians and patients. This is where EHR’s and mobile apps come into play. They can be used to help bridge the gap between all parties and ensure clear communication across all parties.
A new market full of potential
The EHR and mobile apps market is definitely a new one. But it has huge potential for doing something humane and good. The long term care settings are dreadful in the United States and changes are definitely required. One way to force these changes is to make the market more competitive. As you might know, healthy competition is good for everyone. It’s good for the manufacturers of such devices, and it is good for doctors, physicians, and patients. If there is a healthy market, then there will be competition for domination for that market. This means that companies who will be manufacturing these devices will strive for greatness and the hospitals and nursing homes will benefit from it.
Img source: pewtrusts.org
More and more nursing homes need to use these devices
EHR’s and mobile apps are used by a very small portion of nursing homes in the United States. Technology has a lot of potentials to improve health care, and both industries can benefit massively from it. But what is stopping nursing homes and hospitals from using technology? If it’s not the financial incentive, then what is it? There is huge value in using technology to improve care in nursing homes patients, and these organizations need to see the benefits from them.
