How Information Technology is Transforming Medicine and Healthcare

Information technology has transformed the modus operandi of our working. Manual functions have been automated with the development of personal computers, business software and Internet-based intranets. As far as business is conce
ed, developing different uses for information technology and various computer-related devices can help companies develop a competitive advantage.

Leveraging information technology in business operations can create a significant competitive advantage for business. High technology may allow businesses to advance new ways for producing goods or services at cheaper costs. Businesses may then be able to pass these cost savings on to consumers, generating a low price point for products. Healthcare industry is not an exception to the above rule; information technology is transforming medicine and healthcare as well.

Healthcare IT is considered to be a boon for the healthcare industry for the very fact that it promises to streamline the back-end processes, to cut down the time & costs spent and above all to bring about improvement in the quality of service and patient safety. The emerging IT solutions are helping to create more effective new medicines, help consumers take better control of their wellness, and enable providers to deliver healthcare more efficiently.

Looking into the above advantages Healthcare IT has been near the top of the U.S. agenda since January 2009, when President Obama set a goal of making all of the nation’s health records computerized within five years. The US administration poured in $19 billion from the economic stimulus program to support healthcare IT solutions like electronic medical records a few months later.

Some 47 millio
U.S. residents have no health insurance, and the numbers keep growing. Working families are experiencing double-digit increases in the costs of health insurance, more out-of-pocket costs for doctor visits and skyrocketing prices for prescriptions, forcing many to delay getting needed medical care or worse—to decline coverage for themselves or their families because of cost. It is therefore an urgent need to deploy a system, which would help to cut-down the cost of healthcare management, which ultimately can be passed on the patients.

There have been serious efforts all across the US. The Pacific Northwest, with its deep expertise in software and medicine and healthcare, could be a flash point for US national progress. To sort through the current state of the art, and examine the future potential, there are efforts to bring together some of the region’s leaders who are actively using IT advances to drive all sorts of innovations, which go far beyond just making electronic records.

There is no doubt that information technology is all set to transform medicine and healthcare…