Data Revolution in Healthcare and Lifesciences Industry

I wanted to have some more inputs about any kind of handicap be it mobility, blindness, handicapped or deafness to e-health. Some people may be surprised to find out that the blind and visually impaired are about as likely to be on the internet as a sighted person. It can seem like a daunting task to learn to use a computer system, but the fact is, there are plenty of easy ways for the visually impaired to get online. A common method for computer access for the blind and visually impaired is a screen reader. There are many screen reader programs available; the most common is the JAWS screen reader. A screen reader takes the output from Microsoft Windows and converts it to speech. The screen reader will tell you that you are currently in the Internet Explorer browser, and it will read to you the contents of the web pages. With time, and practice, a blind or visually impaired user can become very proficient at using a computer system. Screen Readers offer a great degree of flexibility;...

Recently received a mail from one of my Friends Senthil asking more about smart cards and their implementation in Indian Health care Scenario. Here I am describing the use of smart cards with the technology that is usually deployed for the same. Components of Smart card System SMART CARDS CARD READERS CLIENT SOFTWARE SERVERS WITH HARDWARE SECURITY ADMINISTRATOR PORTAL WEBSITE PATIENT PORTAL WEBSITE CAREGIVER PORTAL WEBSITE PDA & LAPTOP SOFTWARE . VISUAL BASIC & .NET TOOLS HL7 MESSAGING SERVER What all these components do? SMART CARDS - Securely hold patient information. CARD READERS - Work with any PC and are branded with your logo. CLIENT SOFTWARE -Upgrades the web browser on the PC so it works with smart cards and card readers SERVERS WITH HARDWARE SECURITY - Host and protect private information. ADMINISTRATOR PORTAL WEBSITE - A web application that lets administrators issue and manage cards. PATIENT PORTAL WEBSITE - A web application where patients view and update their in...

To understand the Barriers Better, Am sharing with you various Case Studies for the Same. The first case study involved a company that was primarily in the business of selling prescription drugs online. This was a pure Internet startup, rather than an existing pharmacy that added an online channel. ePharmacy focuses exclusively on the sale of (1) prescription pharmaceuticals, (2) over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceuticals, (3) vitamins, minerals, supplements (VMS) and herbal products and (4) related healthcare products. The Company has invested over $10 million in state-of-the-art technology and facilities including fully automated pharmaceutical dispensing equipment that enables the company to fulfil customer orders rapidly upon receipt of the order via the Internet. ePharmacy began selling OTC pharmaceuticals and other healthcare products through its website in May 1999 and began sales of prescription drugs and providing healthcare information in late October 1999. With respect to prescr...

The PDA is a very small and portable, handheld computer, which has many more functions than a calculator, and the capacity to store information much like a Personal Computer (PC). Basic functionality available on most PDAs includes an address book, schedule, calendar, note pad, and e-mail. The PDA is convenient to use in clinical and field situations for quick data management, and the information can be synchronized with a PC . By means of a wireless network, information can be exchanged anytime from anywhere to and from a PDA, and the network will provide immediate access to all kinds of necessary clinical and administrative data . Health care professionals need access to information several times a day, and the PDA has the potential to provide this. For the PDA, there are numerous documents and medical software applications available, with a wide variation in quality. A large number of medical students take advantage of the PDA for educational purposes and patient care with great sa...

There are two basic classes of population from the point of pharmaceuticals view. The attitude of these two classes is so divergent that the behaviour which they display towards consumption of medicine is very different.These two classes are sufferers and non-sufferers. Sufferers tend to become hypochondriac and they ensure that they comply with the medicines while non-sufferers believe that nothing is wrong with them and perhaps will go wrong to their health till they cross the border of sufferers. As demographics of India are creating a very powerful force for growth of every industry, pharma is not an exception. Healthy population as well as sick population is continuously getting updated on medical issues through Internet. Now the population who consumes medicine whether it pharma or nutraceutical consists of both sick and healthy patients. They exhibit their behaviour of exhibiting their choice in selection of medicines. Coupled with Internet education and their awareness, they fe...

In today's on-line environment, eCommerce is already changing the healthcare industry. Current business-to-consumer sites include Drugstore.com and PlanteRx , which provide sales of prescription and over-the-counter products to consumers. WebMD and drkoop.com provide information and product promotion to consumers and doctors alike. Non-contractual business-to-business healthcare web sites that provide sales of medical supplies to institutions are Neoforma and Medibuy . Chemdex and SciQuest are non-contractual in respect to the sales of lab supplies to pharmaceutical Research and Development companies. Ecommerce in Hospitals: eCommerce has been identified as a leading practice in the healthcare supply chain.The 'big things' hospitals include: Electronic requisitioning Electronic replenishment Electronic fund transfers Contract database management Implementing leading practices within the supply chain enables hospitals save on costs, allowing funds to be redirected int...

Health care is shaking up the search engine market. Long-time laggard Ask.Com is suddenly a contender, at least in consumer satisfaction, and it’s making a new effort in health care with what it calls Health Smart Answers. Revolution Health and HealthLine are acting as the main information providers to Health Smart Answers. At the same time Google and Microsoft are both making their own moves to target the sick and hypochondriac. The Big Two are taking different approaches. Microsoft is trying to capitalize on its existing strength in hospital computing and medical records. Google wants people to enter and track their own medical information. The last verb, track, makes this one step removed from what Healthline, Revolution Health and WebMD are up to. Rather than seeking your search and communications business, they want to be your health data storage house. Key to making any of this work is trust. Will consumers trust Google, Microsoft or anyone else with their private medical informa...

ASSO/PR/527 May 26, 2008 MEDICAL TOURISM FOREX EARNINGS TO GROW RS. 8000 CR. FROM 2012 : ASSOCHAM Easy access of Visa facilities often permitted by India to overseas patients coupled with best emerging medical infrastructure facilities in its large and tertiary towns, prospects of India Medical Tourism becoming a lead foreign exchange earners will grow to an extent of Rs. 8000 crore by 2012. The above findings are arrived at The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) on Prospects of Medical Tourism for Higher Forex Earning' under the supervision of its Health Committee chaired by Chairman, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr. B K Rao in which other lead doctors from Medicity Moolchand, AIIMS, Max etc. are involved. Releasing the ASSOCHAM estimates, its President, Mr. Venugopal N. Dhoot pointed out that currently, the earnings accrued through medical tourism annually are estimated at Rs.3500 crore. "The primary reasons as to why medical tourism would flourish i...

16may,2008 The Indian share of BPO revenues from the offshoring of revenue cycle management (RCM) services is estimated at USD 125 million for the year 2006. This report Research the total revenues from this segment to reach USD 410 million by 2011. Two of the “core” processes in revenue cycle management (RCM) services are medical coding and billing. In this report, we have discussed billing and coding within the context of RCM services. The emphasis (and estimates) for this report relate to medical coding and billing. Medical transcription, which is another “specialized” service not offered by “generic” BPOs has not been covered in this report, and revenue and manpower estimates exclude medical transcription. The RCM industry in India is still at a nascent stage. While there are certain large vendors offering end-to-end RCM services such as Perot Systems, Apollo Health Street, Zavata and Ajuba there are few others focused on offering certain specific services such as medical coding, p...

SIZE Healthcare delivery is one of the largest service-sector industries in India Estimated revenue of about US$30 billion (FY 2006) Industry growth at over 12% p.a. in the past four years Large domestic market complemented by the inflow of medical tourists Medical tourists have increased almost twenty-fold from 10,000 in 2000 to about 1,80,000–2,00,000 in 2006 STRUCTURE The industry is fragmented with a large number of independent, privately-run hospital and healthcare centres Private healthcare providers account for almost 70%-80% of the total spend Government sector and corporate employers account for the rest Private sector corporate entities like Apollo Hospitals, Wockhardt Hospitals and Fortis Healthcare have aggressive expansion plans Indian hospitals are gaining reputation globally as ‘quality’ service providers Many Indian hospitals have secured accreditation from the British Standards Institute and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organisations NHS, UK has indi...

India's attempts to make a foray into the world of telemedicine has not made much headway, especially due to foreign data processing laws and difficulties in certification of qualifications of Indian telemedicine providers, the Planning Commission has said. Rising costs and dearth of medical personnel have created pressures for public health care providers in developed countries to explore the possibility of electronic delivery of services across the borders and they looking for opportunities to outsource diagnostic services to private health care providers. What is relevant is the emergence of opportunities for Indian service providers to supply telemedicine services to developed countries in such segments as diagnostics, dermatology, opthalmology and psychiatry, a high-level group of the Commission observed in a report. The group notes that a number of telemedicine centres are already operating in the country. In 2001, the Indian Space Research Organisation launched a pilot pro...

Imagine the hospital of the future where unnecessary expenses will be cut and more patient lives will be saved. Say goodbye to the inefficiencies of the old hospital and welcome the new, highly cost-effective system of asset and personnel tracking, patient care, and billing, the keystone of which will be radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. RFID envisions such a world. The applications for the healthcare industry are several, asset tracking, patient tracking, staff location, baby monitoring, blood bank distribution, etc. Here I define two such applications: Asset Tracking:Healthcare facilities invest CRORES of Rupees in upgrading and maintaining expensive equipment that aid the healthcare professional in the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of patients. It is incumbent on these professionals to maximize the use of such machines to maintain cost controls and yet meet the ever evolving and extremely dynamic needs of the patients. When the equipment needed is not readily a...