The role of IT in Healthcare set to grow in India, are your ready for the future?

Published by Dileep V S on April 29, 2018April 29, 2018

The role of IT in healthcare in India is set to change given the recent policy initiatives from the government. This comes at a time when we could say that we have not been successful in achieving the fullest of our potential. We still lack the enabling role of information and communication systems in healthcare to optimize wellness management in India. If we are to look deeper, we are yet to integrate the marvels of modern communication devices and technology with our healthcare and wellness practices to deliver enhanced and personalized treatments.

However, the proposed tech-integrated initiatives from the Government of India such as Indian EHR standards, Digital Information Security in Healthcare Act (DISHA), Mental Healthcare Act 2017(NMHA) and National Health Policy 2017 appears to change things for good and arrive as a welcoming change in the healthcare sector. The Chief Information Officer of Asian Institute of Medical Sciences shared his thoughts to Elets News Network on the tech integration with medical facilities. Here, we have summarized the excerpts for you.

Insights from and expert on the role of IT in Healthcare

Mr. Lakshman shares that one of the most notable initiatives with respect to technology in healthcare has been the Electronic Health Records. In initiatives such as E-health, the Information Communication Technology (ICU) is used to deliver better healthcare to a wider audience through efficient monitoring and achieve better availability and affordability of healthcare.

He notes that the penetration of mobile devices and internet connectivity has surged over the couple of years and this is an advantage for technology to make health records of patients available through messages, call or web-based services. The scheme comes with an intention to pave way for the accessibility of online health records, health consultation, medicine supply-chain management and patient information exchange. The Indian Government intends to roll out a unified way to manage and provide health information to hospitals, clinics and wellness practitioners in the country.

He added that the creation of an integrated health information exchange is to strengthen the development of standards compliant electronic health records for Indian citizens and ensure interoperability of the records across the country. The benefits of such an exchange include reduced expenses on healthcare, increased health reporting, reduced paperwork, better and customized wellness agendas and treatments, pan-Indian accessibility of health data, seamless deployment of healthcare services and more.

Mr. Lakshman also brought out the role of Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Yoga and other alternative medicines in Indian healthcare. He stated that there has been a paradigm shift in the way healthcare and wellness is perceived. With increased stress due to work, current lifestyle and lack of exercise, there is a dire need for better and optimized healthcare services in India. Today, it is not just about curative treatment agendas but preventive wellness practices. This requires HIT systems that can manage and share data across AYUSH & modern medicine.

EHR.Network – our universal EHR platform

At Healthelife, we believe that it we can pave way for better health and wellness for patients and individuals by integrating electronic health records across AYUSH and modern practices. An integrated EHR can help in better diagnosis and treatment of ailments and diseases by any system of practice. It will also allow cross pollination of learning across systems and help them improve.

We have built EHR.Network, our cloud based EHR as a platform solution for application developers with the above belief. Our clinical data repository is flexible and agnostic to any system of medicine. We have had experience ranging from mental healthcare to AYUSH wellness care where our platform helped deliver solutions quickly and economically.