Cost effective healthcare service with IT

Five steps docs can take to avoid 'social media missteps'

1. Know the rules. HIPAA's privacy prohibitions not only protect the disclosure of a patient's name and "individually identifiable health information," but also requires the safeguarding of any information where there is a "reasonable basis to believe it can be used to identify the individual." 2. Develop a social media policy. A social media policy, written in plain language, with clear dos and don'ts, should be established to provide guidance on what is and is not permitted. 3. Training. If physicians are going to use social media, they need to learn the tools, techniques and strategies of social media. An unintentional disclosure of information due to a misunderstanding about how a social network or mobile application works may have the same consequences for a doctor or institution as intentional disclosure. A doctor's staff should also be given training so that they are equally equipped to understand the rules of social media engagement. 4....

Asian Healthcare Riding the IT Revolution

Asian Healthcare Riding the IT Revolution Innovative technologies are improving the quality of healthcare by ensuring speed and reliability of information – critical to saving lives. Gerard Anthony, Leader of Healthcare Solutions at Nortel Asia, believes IT spending is driven by several factors, the most immediate being the need for organizations to upgrade their healthcare services to meet international standards. “There are two goals here – a more efficient system and better quality patient care. It’s efficiency gaining and life saving combined,” said Mr. Anthony. It also makes good business sense. Medical tourism in Thailand now attracts over one million patients per year, with earnings for 2008 forecast at around US$1.2 billion. A conservative estimate for the Asia region – primarily Thailand, India, Malaysia and Singapore – suggests combined revenues of over US$5 billion by 2010. With all of these countries vying for the prized position as a regional ‘healthcare hub’, the incentiv...

Lower cost draws healthcare to videoconferencing market

Reduced prices and improved quality are boosting the adoption of telemedicine videoconferencing systems, according to a new Frost & Sullivan report titled Visual Collaboration Applications in Healthcare. The practice of telemedicine has been undergoing significant evolution paralleled by technological advancements in the world of videoconferencing, Frost & Sullivan researchers note. These changes open new opportunities for videoconferencing service providers as they continue to address a market that remains highly under-penetrated. Healthcare practitioners are increasingly adopting interactive video or videoconferencing applications for providing enhanced access to healthcare as well as improving the quality of such services at lower prices across the globe, according to the report. "The costs of telemedicine videoconferencing systems and transmission service are not a major barrier to their deployments any more," says Iwona Petruczynik, Frost & Sullivan research ...

Healthcare Informatics

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