IBM and Innovative Health Care systems

Clinics from all around the world are now implementing various Information Systems to process and organize patient data.  With the increasing amount of logs and documents it is now essential to have an Information System capable of structuring all the data and developing hypothesis based on analyzed data.  Industries also understand the rising demand for efficient and effective Healthcare Information Systems.  IBM has developed a world class technology capable of processing information just as a human would.

 “Watson is a cognitive technology that processes information more like a human than a computer—by understanding natural language, generating hypotheses based on evidence, and learning as it goes”  But how does Watson improve Healthcare information systems?  Here’s an example.  A physician can describe symptoms of a patient which would be information put into the system.  The next step involves mining through previous data of the patient and finding relevant information such as family history, medications, and similar conditions.  By accessing this data Watson can then form a hypothesis on how to treat the patient.  This task used to be the sole responsibility of physicians.  Just try to imagine the amount of research physicians had to do on their patients before developing a correct method of treatment!

This innovative technology may provide benefits for healthcare systems but can also come with a few problems.  1) Integrating a new system can be very complicated and time consuming 2) There are multiple security concerns and constant risk due to hackers, identity theft, unauthorized access to data, etc. 3) The govt. tries to mandate Health Information Technology which in turn actually hinders the success of Health Information Technology.  Hire-ups like government officials may devise a plan which is not in the interest of physicians who are the ones implementing it.

Innovation of healthcare information systems has drastically improved the way physicians interact with patients and derive solutions for treatment.  From a patient perspective, do you recognize any innovative health technologies that help improve your visits to the doctor?  Let us know!

The Uses and Importance of Emerging Healthcare Information Systems

Healthcare Information Technology was put front and center when the Affordable Care Act was put into effect, and thousands of Americans flooded to the new health care exchanges. The information system (IS) was not able to handle the traffic and many lost confidence in the government to administrate the new health care system. This is just one illustration of how important information systems and their supporting technologies are to an organization, and especially in large scale industries such as healthcare. A person might put up with an ineffective or outdated IS when they go to buy a pair of shoes, but when it comes to their health they want to know that they will be taken care of in the best possible way. A good IS not only gives the perception of competence, but empowers health care providers to treat their patience with timely, relevant information. Science is advancing at such a rapid rate – organs are being made with 3D printers to match a patient’s DNA! – and health care providers need to keep up their information systems not only to meet government regulation, but also provide the best care available to their customers. With healthcare being such a vital established industry, it is also one of the largest growing industries. Healthcare is experiencing growth in a vast number of areas, for example, facilities, machines, personnel, medicines, and the varieties of patient needs. With all of this growth there is only one thing that can keep all of this new data up to date and functional; and that is a reliable information system. Just think, do you enjoy filling out the same forms every time you go to the doctor or would you prefer for your information to be updated monthly? Would you trust a doctor to care for you who still uses typewriters and paper filing systems? The simple solutions for these questions all revolve around information systems. So what do you think?