Digital Transformation And Healthcare
How are the CIOs in healthcare space embracing Digital? We spoke to three leading CIOs
The CIO Handbook 2018 we did recently throw some interesting insights on how CIOs are digitally enabling their enterprises across verticals. Let’s look at the Healthcare vertical per se and how it’s facing the digital disruption. USE CASE 1: INDRAPRASHTHA APOLLO HOSPITALS Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi is a multispecialty tertiary acute care hospital with 710 beds. A state-of-the-art modern facility in the heart of the capital, it is spread over 15 acres and has a built-up area of over 600,000 square feet. Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals offers 52 specialties under one roof.
“Our Digital Transformation play is spread across four pillars. The business focus for digital has been on process efficiency and improved patient care by streamlining the IT management function, automating routine processes, adding new functionalities, and building innovative
services,” says Vishal Gupta, Head-IT, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals.
Gupta further elaborates the initiatives under the four pillars:
TASK MANAGEMENT APPLICATION
In the hospital, there are several routine tasks and predefined check-lists maintained by various departments as per distinct roles & responsibilities. More than 1200 checklists were digitized under this initiative, which can now be accomplished using mobile devices. The result of process and workflow automation is higher speed and better control & efficiency.
REGISTERS DIGITIZATION
The hospital operations generally require various paperbased files & registers to be maintained in order to record critical data. It is a time taking process to not only record but also to retrieve and meaningfully use the information. These registers which were used for various heads such as patient related records, staff and inventory records were digitized with information now being fed and used digitally.
E- SIGNATURES
A frequent problem across hospitals that it takes 6-8 hours for completing the formalities before issuing the discharge summary. It’s a lengthy process that involves multiple approvals. To make the process faster and convenient for the patients, e-signatures of consultant doctors were enabled on the discharge summary workflow, which empowers them to review, edit and sign the discharge summaries of the patient from anywhere, anytime on their mobile devices. It has tremendously helped in reducing delays; the entire process can now be done in just 10 minutes. This initiative has also helped in reducing the printing and manpower costs.
TELE STROKE ICU
Tele Stroke ICU is a unique initiative by Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals. The biggest enabler, of course, is technology, which enables neuro stroke-related cases to be addressed by an expert consultant within the golden period of the first 20 minutes. Many smaller hospitals/ nursing homes are connected with the central system at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi. When a patient arrives at any of these locations, the CT scan and other reports can be uploaded through a high-speed link for reviewal by an expert consultant in the central office to see and prescribe the initial medication. And that can be very crucial to saving a precious life. As of now, there are 50 such locations connected in the periphery of 300 Kms. in and around Delhi NCR, which is expected to grow and spread with time.
BUSINESS IMPACT
The digitization drive at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals has brought benefits in terms of speed, efficiency, and better patient care. The digitization of paper-based registers and files has helped in eliminating 1800+ of them which has resulted in substantial reduction in operational costs as well as in creating digital competencies by making the information available at the touch of a button. The E-signature drive has helped in reducing the time taken for discharge summary from 6-8 hours to flat 10 minutes.
DUE TO THE ABSENCE OF HIPPA OR EQUIVALENT LAWS IN INDIA, GOING DIGITAL IS NOT SIMPLE LIKE BANKING WHICH HAS REGULATION FROM RBI AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS - Rajesh Batra VP – IT, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital
EMERGING TECH
We are exploring to implement advanced business intelligence techniques to get more filtered data, which would eventually help, in further improving the quality patient care.
USE CASE 2: WOCKHARDT HOSPITALS
Wockhardt Hospital’s existence is the result of a 50year tradition of caring and innovation nurtured by Wockhardt Ltd, India’s 5th largest Pharmaceutical and Healthcare company with a presence in 20 countries across the globe.
Within a short period since its inception, Wockhardt Hospitals has become a leading health service provider with its strong presence in the western parts of the country i.e. Mumbai, Nagpur, Rajkot, Nasik, and Surat. This group of 9 hospitals fulfills the need of the community in its chosen field of super specialties like Cardiology, Orthopedics, Neurology, Gastroenterology, Urology, Aesthetics and Minimal Access Surgery.
“The digital platform opens up various segments for healthcare to use such as Big Data Analytics including Predictive Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, NLP, Cognitive Computing, Deep and Machine Learning to name a few.
THE DIGITAL PLATFORM OPENS UP VARIOUS SEGMENTS FOR HEALTHCARE TO USE SUCH AS BIG DATA ANALYTICS INCLUDING PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, NLP, COGNITIVE COMPUTING, DEEP AND MACHINE LEARNING TO NAME A FEW - Sumit Singh, CIO, Wockhardt Hospitals
Further, along with IoT, Hyper Automation Miniaturization, Robotics and the advent of 5G and beyond, a vast new toolset is at the disposal of organizations to leverage and deliver better outcomes as mentioned earlier along with opening up even new revenue streams that were not in reach earlier,” says Sumit Singh, CIO, Wockhardt Hospitals
DIGITAL @ WOCKHARDT
Wockhardt Hospitals is already using Big Data Analytics using a sophisticated BI tool hyper-automation for reporting, predictive analytics, new insights and decision making for a cost of various services rendered at all our hospitals. Quips Sumit Singh, “Next project we are getting into is in the space of clinical data analysis such that we can not only have a very crisp understanding of each of our patients digitally but also to be able to provide customized communication, services and thus resulting in revenue growth. Plans are also being drawn to look at the Supply chain process through advanced computing.”
USE CASE 3: KOKILABEN DHIRUBHAI AMBANI HOSPITAL & MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital & Medical Research Institute is India’s one of the most advanced tertiary care facilities. As the flagship social initiative of the Reliance Group headed by Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, the hospital is designed to raise India’s global standing as a healthcare hub, with emphasis on excellence in clinical services, diagnostic facilities, and research.
UNIQUE CHALLENGES
According to Rajesh Batra, VP – IT, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, “Due to the absence of HIPPA or equivalent laws in India, going digital is not simple like Banking which has regulation from RBI and other financial institutions. However, that does not mean that Healthcare institutions will not do digital. Most of the modern hospitals have an active EMR inside and physicians/surgeons enter complete patient history. And as a strategic move Pharmacy and Path Lab and Radiology cannot work without EMR sending an order to them. This controls the biz flow but also reports Antibiotic stewardship which is a government regulation. Besides this, we have online appointments and path reports etc. through the website.”
A PHASED APPROACH TO DIGITAL
Quips Batra, “The board of governors wanted a phased plan to go digital as there is no clear legal mandate what can be done or not done. Hence, it has been a slow journey. The second phase is now being done, wherein if the patient has done his online appointment and paid, and they have the hospital app, using beacons directly to the OPD cluster.
“Once at the cluster with the app, the patient will be displayed in the queue using FIFO method. This phase eliminates the need for standing in the queue for payment, thereby allowing online payments and registering yourself at the cluster. All phones after 2009, have inbuilt beacons and the hospital app will use the WiFI beacon and the phone beacon to reduce the wait time. Also, Beacons will be used to guide the patients to the cluster using the phone (Google map style...) and thereby reducing the time to get to the cluster. The last phase will be making patient records available to them online. The thought process has been initiated but the load of work needs to be done before getting into it, “adds Batra.
THE DIGITIZATION DRIVE AT INDRAPRASTHA APOLLO HOSPITALS HAS BROUGHT BENEFITS IN TERMS OF SPEED, EFFICIENCY AND BETTER PATIENT CARE - Vishal Gupta Head-IT, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals