How New Technologies Can Help Hospitals Run More Efficientlyesity.

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Healthcare reform in the US is going to bring about many changes. And, one of the changes coming very quickly is that hospitals will not receive as much money from Medicaid as they had in the past. The reason is simple; hospitals currently receive funding to offset their losses when Medicaid leaves patients underinsured. Since these patients should now have other insurance in addition to Medicaid, the funding is reduced. In addition, since everyone will be insured in the future, the hospital’s overall losses from patients who cannot pay should be reduced.

However, this doesn’t mean that hospitals are going to be rolling in dough, or that they don’t need to find ways to cut costs. In fact, it will be several years before we really figure out if hospitals will benefit from the healthcare changes. For these reasons, running a hospital more efficiently is critical. And, one of the best ways to add efficiency is through technology. Here are some of the technologies hospitals are employing to improve their efficiency.

1. Going paperless. There are plenty of reasons why paperless is better. Fewer patient errors are made when orders and notes are typed in rather than handwritten, because there is less confusion, and less chance of orders getting lost. Paperless charts can be updated faster, saving time for doctors and nurses. And, paperless charts can be stored in less space and found more quickly when they are needed again.

2. Using the internet. Email, websites and web chats are great ways to communicate with patients for simple issues. For example, patients planning outpatient surgery can fill out their pre-surgery papers online days before their surgery is scheduled. This saves the patient, and the hospital time on the day of surgery. Patients can email questions, appointment requests and prescription requests to their doctors, saving phone calls and in person visits.

3. New Computer Technology. If hospitals will be relying on computers more for the sake of going paperless and communicating online with patients, then they must take advantage of the new computer technologies out there. These technologies make hospital networks faster, more secure and the hospitals may also be able to take advantage of new software that makes training hospital staff on digital records and other things much easier. Of course, these new systems come with a capital price, but they will more than pay for themselves in efficiency over the years.

The next few years will bring many interesting changes to healthcare in the US. Many of them we can’t even envision yet. As we ramp up to sweeping overhaul, there will certainly be bumps in the road. But, it’s certain that gaining efficiency is very important to making the new system work. We can hopefully look forward to healthcare that is affordable for everyone, in part because we’ve found ways, such as efficiency, to cut the outrageous costs of healthcare that we have seen in the past. Only time will tell.

P. Zerkle writes about getting a masters of health informatics.