There are many examples where technology has moved too fast for slower-moving systems to keep up. Nowhere is this more evident, though, than the United States healthcare system. In spite of the US healthcare system’s tremendous wealth and unmatched access to cutting-edge technology, the infrastructure of the system itself remains dangerously outdated.
When you consider the fact that we live in an era where almost every one of our country’s citizens has access to technology that enables them to send and receive communications instantaneously, the fact that the US Healthcare system still relies on decades-old technology such as manual data entry and faxed forms is astounding. While the problems that this legacy system creates have been hamstringing the healthcare system for some time now, the COVID-19 pandemic has now put its flaws on full display.
COVID-19 and the Shortcomings of the Healthcare System’s IT Infrastructure
Collecting and analyzing quality data is one of the most important keys to success for any system or organization, and the healthcare system is no exception. Unfortunately, the US healthcare system is far behind the times compared to the data collection and analysis capabilities of most modern organizations. Manual data entry practices create data that is oftentimes unreliable and even more often delayed. In the era of COVID-19, this has made it incredibly difficult for healthcare decision-makers to track current and suspected COVID-19 cases, monitor the virus’s progression and spread, and make predictions about what the future of the virus holds in store. When it comes to combating a pandemic, being handicapped in these vital areas is a real problem.
Solutions at Our Fingertips
The most frustrating part of the US healthcare system’s antiquated infrastructure for those in charge of modernizing it is the fact that solutions to its many problems are so readily available. Yet actually implementing these solutions remains a monumental task. Software and hardware solutions that enable the more accurate and timely collection and analysis of healthcare data have been accessible for decades. The US healthcare system wouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel to become a much more modern, efficient, and effective version of itself. All it needs to do is change its tires.
The problem is that revamping the healthcare system’s infrastructure with modern technology is a task more equivalent to changing the tires on every car in America than it is to changing the tires on a single vehicle. It goes without saying that the healthcare system is a massive, complex body made up of thousands of different organizations and facilities, and making wholesale changes to this entire system is no easy feat.
While modernizing the healthcare system’s infrastructure may not be easy, it is necessary. We have got away with overlooking its current flaws for some time now, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made the consequences of those flaws impossible to ignore any longer. COVID-19 may have exposed the drawbacks of the healthcare system’s outdated infrastructure like never before, but this infrastructure will continue to create problems for years to come until it is fixed – even if the COVID-19 pandemic is eventually defeated.
Bikham Healthcare’s Role in Modernizing the US Healthcare System
At Bikham Healthcare, we understand that fully bringing the US healthcare system into the 21st century is a task that can’t be achieved right away. What we are capable of doing, though, is helping modernize this system one facility at a time. Through industry-leading technologies and services, we at Bikham Healthcare are able to provide hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities across the country with the tools, the resources and the service they need to start leveraging their data in a much more powerful manner. To learn more about how Bikham Healthcare can help your healthcare organization make the most of readily available technology, feel free to contact us today.
