
Technology Enables Patient Empowerment


Kristin H. Darby, CIO, Cancer Treatment Centers of America®
We are entering a time of dramatic transformation within medical care with a focus on technology. Every clinician I speak with expresses elevating needs and expectations for how technology will support them in care delivery. As a healthcare CIO, it can be a daunting task to determine what the right approach is for your organization and clinical teams.
Throughout my career, the approach I have found most effective in navigating these challenges is to put the patient at the center of all decisions. If you design your environment and culture in that manner, technology will allow clinical capabilities to reach new levels of excellence in healthcare. Technology doesn’t forget the patient is first.
The cost of healthcare in the United States is high and our nation’s combined clinical outcomes do not reflect the investments being made. Although we may not be able to solve the larger problem, we must all tackle this issue within our own systems when making strategic decisions around the technology portfolio. This is where technologists must become dedicated business partners to our clinicians and hospital operators. Before we use technology to provide automation, we must ensure we understand the business at a level that allows us to drive constructive disruption. Often, if we simply reframe the question being asked so it translates to patient value, we will come to very different conclusions.
The focus of value-based healthcare is now driving us to care models that rely on evidence-based guidelines where adherence is tied to financial models. As we incorporate the functionality to enable this care model into our clinical applications and track the analytics to measure compliance, we should all be challenged to consider how to ensure patients can be easily flagged so that physicians can make care plan adjustments as needed.
As seasoned healthcare technologists, we can be challenging patients or caregivers. I recently learned this firsthand when my 17-month-old son was hospitalized with a respiratory condition.
Following his pediatrician’s recommendation to go home and monitor, the condition was not improving so we opted to drive to a local children’s hospital for an assessment in the emergency department. Once there, we found that our son’s breathing accelerated to a high of 72 breaths per minute (the average is in the 20s) and we had no clear answers. I requested to see a pediatric pulmonary specialist numerous times to no avail.
Thirteen hours after being admitted, we eventually saw a hospitalist but still had no diagnosis and his care plan remained the same. Again, I requested to see a specialist despite significant push back.
Approximately five hours later, a specialist walked into our room. He sat with us and conducted a full history and assessment. He concluded some adjustments to the care plan were necessary and entered the new orders on the spot. My son started to improve immediately. His breathing returned to a stable level over the next 12 hours and he was running around the room and playing. We thanked the specialist the next day for his intervention and for getting us on the track to recovery. The hospitalist visited us shortly after to process our discharge and acknowledged that this was an example of “where evidence-based care falls down.”
I share this story to encourage us all to consider patients who do not have the same deep understanding of our healthcare system. How do we ensure we have the systems in place to trigger the need for alternative care plans when appropriate progress is not being made? How do we use technology to provide the tools and information to empower our patients and caregivers to be advocates to guide their interactions to ensure optimal care is being received? Do our systems have the capability to allow our physicians to easily track reasons for altering care from the standard approach to ensure the payer has the necessary information to support reimbursement?
We will all approach solutions to these problems differently based on the needs of our organization, clinical teams and the type of healthcare being delivered. Results will be maximized when we keep patient value at the center of all decisions we make. I recommend the following themes be incorporated into your technology development approach:
- Leverage technology to drive better health and enhance patient value.
- Consider the full continuum of care when designing technology solutions for a patient rather than focusing on needs around a specific condition or an acute or chronic situation.
- Enable patients to be informed and strong advocates in their care.
Technology will be the way in which we take clinical capabilities to new levels of excellence in healthcare with the patient at the middle of all approaches.
About Cancer Treatment Centers of America®
Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (CTCA), headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla., is a national network of five hospitals that serves adult patients who are fighting cancer. CTCA® offers an integrative approach to care that combines advancements in genomic testing and precision cancer treatment, surgery, radiation, immunotherapy and chemotherapy, with evidence-based supportive therapies designed to help patients physically and emotionally by enhancing their quality of life while reducing side effects both during and after treatment. CTCA serves patients from around the world at its hospitals in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tulsa. Consistently rated among U.S. hospitals that deliver the highest quality of care and patient experience, CTCA provides patients and their families with comprehensive information about their treatment options and encourages their active participation in treatment decisions.
Featured Vendors
BitCare: Technology Infused Healthcare Company Driven to Provide Holistic Preventative And Convenient Services.
Nex Medical Solutions: Introducing Cutting-Edge Preventive Healthcare to the Frontline Practitioners
MedFeeTree: Connecting Healthcare Providers and Billers on an Open-Market Bidding Platform for Faster Claims Resolution
WinWire Technologies - Infusing Technology to Serve the Ultimate Purpose: Empowering Healthcare Companies to Save Lives
Sunquest Information Systems Inc.: Transforming Medical Laboratories into Enterprise Strategic Pillars
Smartlink Mobile Systems: Patient/Provider Mobile Communication App Improves Quality of Care and Ensures Full Compliance with Medicare Chronic Care Management
GSI Health: Enabling Effective Population Health Management through the Marriage of Care Coordination with Analytics
HealthCare Information Management, Inc: Simplifying Healthcare Payer Operations through Claims Automation
Wipro Healthcare & Life Sciences Combining Innovation with Expertise to Redefine Healthcare Delivery
Shareable Ink: Simplified Clinical Documentation for Anesthesia, Providers, Patient Check in &Surgery Centers
EDITOR'S PICK
Essential Technology Elements Necessary To Enable...
By Leni Kaufman, VP & CIO, Newport News Shipbuilding
Comparative Data Among Physician Peers
By George Evans, CIO, Singing River Health System
Monitoring Technologies Without Human Intervention
By John Kamin, EVP and CIO, Old National Bancorp
Unlocking the Value of Connected Cars
By Elliot Garbus, VP-IoT Solutions Group & GM-Automotive...
Digital Innovation Giving Rise to New Capabilities
By Gregory Morrison, SVP & CIO, Cox Enterprises
Staying Connected to Organizational Priorities is Vital...
By Alberto Ruocco, CIO, American Electric Power
Comprehensible Distribution of Training and Information...
By Sam Lamonica, CIO & VP Information Systems, Rosendin...
The Current Focus is On Comprehensive Solutions
By Sergey Cherkasov, CIO, PhosAgro
Big Data Analytics and Its Impact on the Supply Chain
By Pascal Becotte, MD-Global Supply Chain Practice for the...
Technology's Impact on Field Services
By Stephen Caulfield, Executive Director, Global Field...
Carmax, the Automobile Business with IT at the Core
By Shamim Mohammad, SVP & CIO, CarMax
The CIO's role in rethinking the scope of EPM for...
By Ronald Seymore, Managing Director, Enterprise Performance...
Driving Insurance Agent Productivity with Mobile and Big...
By Brad Bodell, SVP and CIO, CNO Financial Group, Inc.
Transformative Impact On The IT Landscape
By Jim Whitehurst, CEO, Red Hat
Get Ready for an IT Renaissance: Brought to You by Big...
By Clark Golestani, EVP and CIO, Merck
Four Initiatives Driving ECM Innovation
By Scott Craig, Vice President of Product Marketing, Lexmark...
Technology to Leverage and Enable
By Dave Kipe, SVP, Global Operations, Scholastic Inc.
By Meerah Rajavel, CIO, Forcepoint
AI is the New UI-AI + UX + DesignOps
By Amit Bahree, Executive, Global Technology and Innovation,...
Evolving Role of the CIO - Enabling Business Execution...
By Greg Tacchetti, CIO, State Auto Insurance
Read Also
Disrupt Your Legacy Application Portfolio to Improve Security And...
Why a Credentialing Strategy Must be Part of Your Digital Strategy
The Convergence of IT with the Internet of Things Innovation
It’s On People: The Undeniable Cultural Impact in a Digital...
A Promising Road Ahead for Insurtech
Bolloré Logistics Australia becomes a global leader in the use of...
