There is a visible paradigm shift seen in the healthcare ecosystem. The healthcare system must be more inclusive, providing high quality and cost-effective healthcare services to the patient.
Primarily during the coronavirus pandemic season, the importance of an effective healthcare system is clearly understood. By connecting the healthcare ecosystem with various digital technologies improves the efficiency of healthcare services.
With the restricted movement in the current pandemic, establishing a robust digital health ecosystem has allowed healthcare professionals to provide faster and better care without compromising quality.
What is the digital health ecosystem?
The digital health ecosystem enables various digital platforms to provide consumer-centric services. It connects everyone involved in the healthcare ecosystem, from healthcare providers, payers, patients and others who are part of the healthcare ecosystem.
The primary goal of this ecosystem is to provide better healthcare services to the patient. It also helps create a more effective network among the healthcare ecosystem participants to share the real-time data and patient’s medical history, interactive digital platforms with the patient. Wherein the healthcare professionals provide faster and effective care to the patient.
Healthcare provider-payer ecosystem
The healthcare ecosystem consists of providers and payers, wherein the providers include doctors, diagnostics, hospitals. They ensure to offer the best and effective healthcare service to the patient or the payer.
Meanwhile, payers are the individuals or companies who purchase the healthcare service from the provider. The relationship between these two is the backbone of this ecosystem, which requires to be connected efficiently through various mediums, preferably digital.
Benefits for healthcare providers & payers
The coronavirus pandemic has created the provider’s need to opt for various digital platforms to reach out to the payers for efficient results.
The time for digital expansion in the healthcare world will continue growing in the new normal phase. Every aspect of this system involved will be included and have an opportunity to improve their services and business growth.
Both the provider and the payer will benefit from the digital health ecosystem.
Payer benefits
- Payers will learn more about their health and can personally engage with the healthcare professional for personalized advice.
- Allows interacting with other patients who might be going through similar health challenges through the digital medium. This helps to build a stronger health community, wherein the patients can interact and encourage each other for better health.
- These platforms are financially viable for the patients and also reduces the wait time with faster consultation.
- Patients can get the recommendation and advise on the financial and treatment costs, helping them find better medical service avenues.
Provider benefits
- Real-time data is easily shared among the various healthcare providers, helping in the smoother and proactive care given to the patient.
- The traditional healthcare and services providers are now able to work with new health payers and partners.
- Digital payments allow faster payment processes and easy to maintain the transactional record.
- It will enable providers to analyze the hands-on data related to claims, logistics, reports, and others with various analytical tools.
Digital health ecosystem: future
The future of healthcare will be driven by data, artificial intelligence and digital telehealth services.
Digital health allows the patient for better health management, especially those with chronic illnesses. It is easy to monitor their health status and provide the necessary immediate medical help as required.
The coronavirus pandemic has made the healthcare system adapt technology to deliver its services to the patients in need. Hence, the necessity of a healthcare provider and payer to work in unison is more than ever.
Why Practice Social Distancing?
Amidst this lockdown, many are still asking the question about “Social Distancing”. As per the scientists, finding the cure or medicine for COVID-19 it may take about 12-18 months to find it. Hence. To prevent the spreading of this virus social distancing is the most effective way to do it.
Let's start by explaining what is social distancing, it is a conscious and deliberate choice of maintaining the distance of six feet from the people around us, to prevent the spreading of COVID-19.
To understand better the impact of it, here is a small visual to explain how the virus will spread if social distancing is not paid attention.
Social distancing is so effective right now that as an individual we all are contributing in the prevention of spreading this deadly virus.
There is another major concern that is coming into the picture with the rapid increase in the coronavirus patients. Hospitals around the world do not have enough resources to tackle this pandemic, there are limited numbers of healthcare facility in all the countries around the world.
The coronavirus outbreak in Italy has shown, the faster rate of the population getting infected by it and to tackle with it, there are not enough medical resources like hospital beds, ventilators and doctors. This will be challenging for the healthcare to save lives leading to exponential rise in number of deaths.
Hence, social distancing is the most effective way to "flatten the curve" or reduce the spread of this coronavirus.
What does flattening the curve means?
The researchers have projected a graph to understand the impact of the spreading of coronavirus against the number of hospital beds. Though this is a theoretical graph, it does show how quickly the capacity of healthcare can come crashing down which can make COVID-19 an epidemic, hard to deal with.
This curve indicates, if the same number of people are getting at a slower rate over a longer period of time, then it reduces the pressure on the healthcare system and making it easier to treat everyone, hence, a lesser number of deaths.
Therefore, just by taking small measures individually, like maintaining social distance, washing hands frequently, avoid going out in crowded places, and spend maximum time inside the house. We all can contribute a collective to fight against this deadly coronavirus.