In this second part of a two-part series, I intend to expand upon the observations from my first article in which I set the scene of how the future may shape up for the Healthcare industry within the next five years. Here I will delve in to the solution landscape.
Forging ahead with healthcare innovation
After pioneering premium reduction by encouraging lifestyle improvement, the private health sector is already forging ahead with such consumer healthcare innovation. It’s helping those it insures lead better, more productive lives by integrating smartphone-based health services into their lifestyles.
Customers with Aviva’s International Solutions private medical insurance, for instance, can now use a smartphone app linked to the Medelinked Healthcare Cloud platform to provide access to: their securely stored personal medical records, including allergies, conditions, immunisations, medications and tests, and stored images of scans and x-rays to complete their health profile; details of how to claim wherever they are in the world and to get immediate access to emergency assistance and medical advice.
Such apps also allows consumers to get health advice in real time and chat instantly with healthcare providers – for example their doctor, dentist, physiotherapist, optician, travel clinic - using IM, voice, text, email and video from their desktop using their own account.
The customer can also choose any information they would like to store in a password-protected Emergency Records area, which a chosen family member or colleague can immediately access in the event of an emergency. When healthcare or emergency support is needed, the app will enable customers to dial straight through to 24-hour emergency assistance and medical advice services, as well as to lists of healthcare providers.
Empowering consumers to take control of and manage their healthcare
An online platform like this, empowers consumers to take control of and manage their healthcare; and to view, update and provide trusted medical professionals with tailored access to their cloud-based personal medical records. This approach should be at the core of future healthcare provision.
The idea of engagement, collaboration and accountability inherent in this approach exists in Public Health England/Wellness International’s current programme to build health engagement communities based on regular wellness checks.
The NHS Health Check programme aims to help prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes, kidney disease and certain types of dementia. Everyone between the ages of 40 and 74, who has not already been diagnosed with one of these conditions or have certain risk factors, will be invited once every five years to have a check to assess their risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and diabetes and will be given support and advice to help them reduce or manage that risk.
From CRM to PRM
This programme, in particular, offers the opportunity of creating a new partnership in healthcare between the NHS and those it serves -by using that health check information as the basis to give everyone with an NHS number a personal health account as a fundamental part of their healthcare.
But this should only be the start. Improving healthcare outcomes requires companies to continually fuel innovation to further improve the quality of healthcare providers’ customer service. In that respect integration with the Medelinked Health Cloud API is allowing developers to create a series of new applications that deliver real benefits to the end user, healthcare providers and health professionals alike.
Brought together with a CRM – or PRM (Patient Relationship Management) –driven approach combining Medelinked technology and the Salesforce Mobile App platform builds on the healthcare experience of both companies and provides the key catalyst for healthcare innovation and the basis for a new relationship between patient and medical professional.
As Sarah Tomas, director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions says: “Whilst most industries have embraced the idea that customers come first, healthcare has lagged far behind. No more, the recognition has finally dawned on healthcare providers that meeting the challenges of today rests on their ability to put the customer at the centre of everything they do, changing from a paternalistic approach to a patient-centred approach that will recast the deal between patient, provider and players.”
That’s a huge opportunity. I believe that, together, Medelinked and Salesforce can be at the forefront of this brave new world that promises more effective healthcare for us all.
To find out more about Salesforce solutions for Healthcare providers check out this demo of Salesforce for Healthcare.
Ian Gallifant is founder and CEO of Medelinked, a company dedicated to allowing individuals to use mobile technology and the cloud to increase the effectiveness of health care by enabling them to securely build their health profile online and to connect and share with their network of trusted health partners.
