We have been seeing a new advancement in the healthcare IT space just after COVID. A lot of things in and around are changing, a lot of people are embracing new technologies in healthcare. Especially the global healthcare IT space is brimming with new advancements, as health information technology has revolutionized patient care and healthcare services across the world not just even in India. Healthcare IT provides secure sharing of patient information for healthcare providers to better manage patient care. Now patients are able to access their EMRs their diagnostic reports on their mobile phones and also doctors are able to give online video consultations to their patients. A lot of things have changed pre and post COVID. During COVID times the use of healthcare IT was felt much more valuable than ever before. So, we at Medicircle are presenting the healthcare CIOs and IT manager series with the eminent IT personnel of healthcare wherein we are discussing the challenges and opportunities that healthcare IT shall bring about to the world post COVID, 

Mr. Kishor Gojiya is the IT Head for CIMS hospital Ahmedabad. It is a 350 bedded multi-specialty Hospital in Ahmedabad city Gujrat. Kishore is responsible for the overall development of IT infrastructure and implementation of innovative healthcare IT technologies for the hospital. He's having 15 years of experience in healthcare IT wherein he was instrumental in introducing new edge technologies for a different hospital. He is known for introducing new year technologies which is a must for any promising healthcare and IT company and also ensuring 100% execution and adaptation of the same. During his tenure he had achieved many milestones he has been awarded many of the categories like the Most Promising CIO, Best CIO 2020, COVID-19 Superhero CIO, CIO 500 – 19, Most Impactful CIO in Gujrat and also CIO of the year 2019 and many more.

Integration and Resource retention are the main challenges

Kishor expresses, “Adopting the technology is easy but to combine, collaborate and integrate all applications in a single platform for a better patient experience is challenging.  It is challenging stuff to create a single identity of applications like HMO and HRMS system of the healthcare sector for user, patient and for doctor also. So, while accessing or working on the technology, it is very important to have a single sign on technology, that gives you a seamless experience. So, integration is the major crunch and challenging part for healthcare because nowadays we all know that technologies are in a very fast mode and people are adopting and accepting them very easily. Patients need not have to worry about accessing their data from multiple platforms even though staff can give supportive help. As the IT Head, we should have to take care that all the applications are talking to each other on a two way,” says Kishor.

Kishor speaks, “Hospital didn't require to develop the software application because their end outcome is not to market the software but it is to fulfill the patient requirement and to give clinical care. The techtic staff are the real assets of the organization and their retention is another challenge. So, the second challenge is resource retention, because most of the IT companies are hiring new people in their team so that they can give a better outcome to the organization,” mentions Kishor.

Teleconsultation is in high demand during the pandemic

Kishor informs, “IT has become a part of the healthcare service provider. It is playing a major role in the healthcare sector. Patients want data in their hands. The younger generation and the senior generation have come up with a new requirement of technology. They want to access their medical records, clinical records through their mobile phones.”

Kishor shares, “Couple of years ago, people were hard to adopt teleconsultation. They were preferring personal face to face interaction with the doctor for their medical advice. Nowadays teleconsultations are in high demand due to pandemic. People have started taking video consultations. They can book a prior appointment and can do video/audio consultations with a doctor. Considering that, the need for technology has become a necessity for all the service providers. They are able to deliver their commitment with the help of technology. So, if the healthcare service provider wants to give a seamless experience to the patient, they definitely have to adopt the technology.” 

Pandemic has resulted in innovations in the healthcare sector

Kishor describes, “Post COVID, all the healthcare service providers are very much keen to adopt the technology. A year ago, when COVID hits, hospitals were having a huge challenge to manage their in and out entries, because they have to scan each and everyone, have to maintain data, submit it to the government and have to prepare a safety precaution for their staff as well as for the patient. Within 3 days of time, we have come up with a digital solution with no personal dependency, no pen paper. The system automatically will drive enter flow the person who is reaching on our doorstep, they have to just scan the barcode fill up and process through the requisition, the machine will automatically scan their temperature, the device itself will give a notification that you are fit and best to enter. Right from their entry to leaving the organization, there was a proper track record. So, at end of the day, management has a beautiful dashboard where they can see how many patients have visited their organization. We have segregated the particular risk respective people those who are infected and diverted them into different areas. They have been taken extra care. So, this is one example of streaming,” talks Kishor

Technology is to use to give a better patient experience

Kishor adds, “Technology helps in various other procedures of organizations too. The respective department can get an alert if any person is inside the organization or the temperature is not appropriate as per range. So, after seeing this kind of fast result, hospital organization has adopted teleconsultation and digitalization in COVID area. The consultant can add a note against their patient for a regular doctor visit. They can do a video call to the patient's relative, can easily share the patient’s history. All these things are possible just because of technology. Doctors are prescribing medicines, viewing patient’s laboratory reports on their phones. This is the solution which gives us a freedom to give a better patient experience on the ground.”

A satisfactory journey with new findings

Kishor voices, “I’m blessed to be in the organization where Chairman and entire board are so techno-savvy. They always promote, encourage technology and allow us to implement it. I have done a lot many technology automation here in CIMS. CIMS is one of the first organizations in Gujarat, who has adopted a digital ICU technology. We have implemented 85 plus modules apart from EMR on the ground that covers so many legacy processes. Even the discharge process of the patient is totally digitalized. We have done the entire digitalization of resignation process also. If a person puts resign, the system will notify automatically all the respective peoples. Everything will be taken care by the system, it will clear all the due diligence and everything. And the person required to spend only 15-20 mins with the HR department to collect their documentation. Thus, a person can actually give a proper handover during the last days, they may not have to invest time for the other things,” says Kishor.

Digitalization has to be user friendly

Kishor clarifies, “User friendly software to solve the regular process is the right mantra for digitalization. For making new solutions, I have to check the reality on ground, I should know the requirement needed, what’s the user is practicing, how can we ease the process more. Because adoption and implementation are another challenges. If software is easy to access and is more convenient to use, the user will definitely adopt it.”

(Edited by - Renu Gupta)