When we talk about digital healthcare, we mean the application of information and communications technology used to prevent disease and improve the quality of life. However, this is not the only concept of digital healthcare. 

Government health insurance platforms like the US Affordable Care Act (ACA) have brought about new developments in digital healthcare. Since its launch, the sole focus of this platform is to improve the quality of healthcare using technology. 

Furthermore, the rise of Covid-19 increased its importance. The Forrester Research claimed that the impactful Covid-19 technologies comprise patient-facing tools, like online symptom checker, patient portal, remote patient monitoring tools, and a lot more. 

In a nutshell, digital healthcare comes with a lot of benefits, some of which we are going to discuss in this blog.

Importance Of Digital Healthcare

The insights provided by Deloitte states that digital healthcare not only employs technologies but also tools. It also constitutes radically interoperable data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), an open, secure platform that promises to provide more consumer-focused and prevention-oriented care.  

The crucial advancement in AI, big data, robotics, and machine learning will continue to bring changes in virtual healthcare. Moreover, alterations in his field have helped in the evolution of ingestible sensors, robotic caregivers, and devices and apps to monitor patients remotely. 

Artificial Intelligence will have a fundamental hand in increasing the speed of creating new therapies and vaccines to prevent diseases. Its digital therapeutics and personalized recommendation will even help consumers to prevent health issues from developing. 

The AI-generated insight will influence diagnosis and treatment choices, which will lead to safe and effective treatments. 

Benefits Of Digital Healthcare

Digital healthcare constitutes some of the new technological innovations that are designed specifically to improve healthcare. These innovations include smart wearables, online portals, telemedicine, telehealth, digitizing records, and many more. This field is evergreen and continues to improve its quality, patient involvement, information exchange, and access to far-reaching patients.

Additionally, the benefits digital healthcare brings to us are:

Patients Portals

When you have a Patient Portal, you tend to access your personal health information effortlessly. It even allows you to become more active in your care and have significant communication with your doctors. About 94 percent of the surveyed participants have valued the online personal information portal.

Telehomecare

Digital healthcare provides you with the benefit of telehomecare, which means that both you and your doctor can communicate with each other remotely, thereby minimizing the need for emergency room and hospitalization. 

Telehealth

Telehealth tends to provide quality care in rural, isolated, First Nations, and most importantly, metropolitan locations. Its current usage has reduced traveling from up to 216 million km. 

Doctor-Patient Collaboration

A virtual healthcare system helps you in keeping a track of your records. You no longer have to keep a hardware copy containing the document of every visit to your doctor. However, ensure to keep a tangible history of a copy during an emergency. It is because digitization keeps the record of your medical history and even enables you to share it with your friends, family, or doctor. 

Data Safety

Although the data saved digitally is susceptible to harmful attacks, physical files are not. However, you can lose these files in unexpected circumstances like natural disasters or incompetence. 

A well-designed digital data storage system for medical records reduces these risks. It allows authorized staff to access the records no matter wherever they are situated and assure faster availability. Also, it comprises adequate fail-safe features that ensure the data is not lost because of human error or natural calamities. 

24/7 Access To Medical Opinion

Healthcare operated digitally provides you 24/7 access to medical opinions. It has become severely significant because of flu-like symptoms, which can be a sign of covid. It provides advice on whether you might need to go to the hospital immediately or if it is manageable. It will also help you deal with minor injuries like cuts or burns. 

Low Physical Burden Of Patients

Healthcare centers are flooded with patients that usually visit for a routine check-up. However, with the help of digital healthcare, doctors can schedule online appointments for cases they find appropriate. 

The checkups can be completed on a video call, and later recommendations for medicine or further treatment should be provided. It also asks patients to visit the clinic physically if necessary. This way, there will be fewer people visiting the facility, which is appropriate when the current situation of pandemics is taken into consideration. 

Share Patient Information Effortlessly Across Multiple Platforms

Digital healthcare is considered a fundamental method of sharing information on other platforms or doctors. In the future, it will be seen as a revolution in the healthcare center. It is because sometimes, doctors won’t be able to handle critical situations. During such situations, they recommend another professional and share the information with them through mobile or laptops. 

Safety Of HealthCare Workers

During Covid-19, we have witnessed a lot of frontline workers losing their lives by getting infected while treating the patients. It is because of the physical overcrowding of facilities and doctor’s supervision.

However, with the help of telehealth services, doctors can attend to the patient from the home. They can even guide them to take proper care of their health and provide medical advice without putting them at risk. 

Admin Tasks Automation

In the US, the administrative cost is a quarter of the overall hospital cost. What’s even worse is that every doctor spends less than a third of their time with the patients. It is because all the time goes on administrative activities. 

Higher Patient Engagement

Technology or we can say, digital healthcare has rewritten the relationship of patients, healthcare professionals, and care providers. Those who are involved in digital healthcare have more control over their health and also obtain treatment swiftly and seamlessly. 

It even enables patients to indulge themselves in their care, which has improved the potential to reduce waste and improve service quality and outcomes. If you have access to the portal, you may be able to:

• Make and keep a track of your personal care plan. 
• Schedule not-so-urgent appointments. 
• Utilize the health education library to learn more. 
• Send and receive secure communication with your service provider. 
• Request for a prescription renewal. 

This way, you will be the sole in charge of your health and have more control over it. 

Electronic Health Records

Digital healthcare saves your time, decreases duplicate tests, and enhances patient care decisions via Electronic Health Records. It helps the doctor in managing chronic diseases and improves office productivity efficiently. It has saved $623 million of the healthcare system by reducing duplicating tests and adverse medication occurrences.

Virtual Visits  

In virtual visits, you can communicate with your doctor through secure, two-way digital communications without the need for traveling to the doctor’s clinic. About 79 percent of patients consider virtual visits equivalent to the service provided in the traditional healthcare system. 

Centralize Patient’s Information

Lastly, digital healthcare has the ability to centralize patients’ information. It helps them to access the complete medical history, including past records and complete medical expenses. It has eradicated the need for manual storage completely. 

Hence, we can say that after Coronavirus, Digital Healthcare is the future of hospitals as well as health centers.  

Also Read: Top Challenges in Adopting Technology in Healthcare Industry