With an estimated 1.7 lakh foreigners already flying to India for medical treatment annually, the country is poised to capture the fast-growing market for off-shore healthcare and help solve the crisis of surging medical expenses in the developed world. Costs of advanced surgeries in India are as much as 10-15 times lower than anywhere in the world. It is no wonder then that the country is attempting to position itself as a much sought-after `medical tourism destination', attracting foreigners with its low-cost, world-class medical treatment. This new trend of medical tourism can contribute Rs 5,000-10,000 crore additional revenue for up market tertiary hospitals by 2012. In fact, medical tourism will account for 3-5 per cent of the healthcare delivery market in this period.
With the unbridled growth expected within this sector, it is but natural that IT will have as significant a role to play. And for good reason - a key component of a successful medical tourist destination is the robustness of remote monitoring and collaborative care solutions that can enable the patient's family physicians to access the treatment in real time from their home country. This allows for increased care and also helps build the case for additional references from the same doctor.
The strategic investments in technology will also be required to create faster and smarter healthcare facilities by deploying communication technologies that help hospital staff do their jobs more efficiently and also maintain a high level of quality.
The significance of quality in healthcare cannot be over stated. According to the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (USA), approximately 180,000 unnecessary deaths and 1.3 million injuries occur from medical treatment in the U.S. About 23,000 hospital patients die each year from injuries linked to medication use. Death in most of these cases is due to errors in prescribing (39%), transcribing (12 %), dispensing (11%) and administering (38%) drugs to patients. (Source: Institute of Medicine Report). Considering the errors illustrated in a developed nation like US, the magnitude of errors will be even more in developing nations such as India.
The technology applications that are available to hospitals today that play a crucial role in improving the quality of healthcare include cutting edge IP telephony, Wi-Fi and RFID systems.
Since each of these solutions is elaborate and complex in deployment, evaluating the need for them in the first place is of equal importance. Enter the need for a Medical Grade Network, a technology solution that looks at business requirements of hospitals and the current network capabilities and performs a gap analysis. Once the gaps are identified, hospitals are in a better position to decide upon what solutions are critical to them versus those that are not.
For example, using a Nurse Call system, hospitals can avail of small, mobile IP phones that feature display screens and caller ID, thus connecting nurses instantly with patients, and a configurable escalation system that can route calls to alternative staff. A patient monitoring system that is Wi-Fi based allows for a highly customizable solution that combines information and alerts from several monitoring devices into a mobile IP phone to improve overall workflow and efficiency and helping staff improve patient care and response times.
Similarly a collaborative care system uses videoconferencing technologies to interconnect teams of experts on demand, leading to better worldwide decisions and more effective care. First responders can help emergency room nurses assemble triage teams prior to arrival. Doctors across campus or across the country can review information instantly. And in today's increasingly multilingual communities, clinicians can quickly contact offsite interpreters to improve communication between patients and care providers.
Technology solutions and applications will be driven in major hospitals, who are working to initiate improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of healthcare services. The driving factor for this will be the consumer who is well informed and demands the best medical consultancy. While we see our nation gaining attention for its healthcare services, it's the technology that will drive the next wave of healthcare boom to make India the most preferred healthcare destination in the world.
(The author is senior vice-president - Enterprise, Cisco Systems (India & SAARC))