Healthcare and medicine are one of the largest sectors of our economy but many people are not aware of the future of healthcare, especially in the context of digital technologies. As the baby boomer generation ages, we will face unprecedented challenges in the quality and safety of our healthcare system. We already know that the rate of mortality is increasing and the quality of medical services is declining. Although technology has made it possible to treat some of the problems, the most pressing issues will be dealt with as healthcare costs continue to rise.
The Development Of AI
One promising breakthrough that has the potential to transform the landscape of healthcare is the development of artificial intelligence. This technology allows doctors and other health care providers to make better decisions based on real time data from real people. By using special equipment, augmented reality can provide patients with a virtual view of their bodies so that they can see themselves at different angles and learn more about their condition. Ultimately, a great deal of expense can be saved when data is fed directly into the cloud where it can be accessed by any provider at any time.
The value of the technology is not in the applications that it makes available, but in the applications that are created for it. The developers of the technology developed smart contract protocols that enable organizations to connect healthcare professionals and healthcare devices such as X-rays and robots directly. With the collaboration of healthcare providers, this form of artificial intelligence will allow access to real time data and potentially eliminate the need for additional clinical staff. Eventually, this form of technology could even be used to monitor the health and the activities of patients themselves.
Telemedicine
Another potential area of application is telemedicine. Telemedicine is the next wave of technology that will enable patients to receive healthcare treatments from anywhere in the world. By using the same technology used by healthcare professionals to send data over the cloud, medical practices can treat patients on the spot with a variety of treatments from various healthcare organizations. This would be an enormous benefit to individuals who have travel constraints or who live in remote locations.
Concerns have been raised about the privacy of Cloud Computing, and Collins says the concern shouldn’t be so much about privacy, but rather about security. He says the Cloud will be designed to be secure by deploying layers of encryption that can detect malicious software and prevent access. It will also support identity and access control by allowing authorized users to gain access to restricted areas or information by proving their identity. Encryption may include strong encryption to ensure data is safe even when the Cloud is compromised. According to Collins, the goal of Cloud Computing is to provide healthcare organizations with a comprehensive solution that can manage everything from patient records to digital asset management.
Finally
ITIL and healthcare companies working together to address Cloud Computing have come up with a new way to measure IT’s contribution to organizational efficiency. The Cloud performance scorecard measures how well an organization responds to IT investments and measures IT spend at a macro level. The metrics also take into account how well the Cloud matches the needs of the organization, and what types of IT are used most frequently. The scorecard determines if the Cloud is meeting the organizational needs and provides guidance as to how organizations can best deploy IaaS in the cloud to improve their own efficiency.
