by Eugenio Zuccarelli*
The digital revolution is producing amazing effects even in hospitals. If in Italy, in general, initiatives are scarce, outside our borders the future is already a reality
The healthcare industry landscape is rapidly evolving, driven by technological advances and the quest for a patient-centered approach. Among the innovations that have emerged in recent years,
Accessibility
One of the main positive aspects of this innovation is the higher accessibility to quality health services by the general public. A large part of the population, in fact, lives in rural areas or has mobility difficulties due to economic hardship or physical disabilities. This creates a situation of marginalization for these disadvantaged populations. Over the years, these groups have, on average, had a shorter life expectancy compared to a healthier, wealthier population.
Recent studies have even given a precise number of years to this phenomenon. According to researchers at MIT and Harvard, the wealthiest Americans live an average of 10 to 15 years longer than the poorest Americans. Through virtual hospitals, however, these barriers are being broken down, allowing the general population to obtain medical care more fairly. People who, for example, live in rural areas or with mobility difficulties will be able to use telemedicine to connect to their trusted doctor, receive the right visit and advice.
Better care and support
Furthermore, having a virtual infrastructure, the hospital can exploit some strategies to improve the care provided to the patient. For example, by taking advantage of virtual consultations, a patient can organize a virtual visit at short notice, obtaining the answer to a doubt or concern very quickly. The result is a better user experience but also the ability to identify the onset of a disease without having to wait months to get an in-person visit.
In addition, through the virtual presence as a native and fundamental component of the hospital, the structure develops better data management, solving or at least reducing the problem of interoperability, ie allowing the technological systems to communicate with each other. This creates a patient-centered reality, capable of providing an overview of the state of health to the patient himself but also to the doctor, who will be able to provide better diagnoses and recommendations taking into account the totality of information, through a more holistic approach . This is a crucial step for people suffering from chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and many others.
Through continuous monitoring, for example through devices automatically connected to the hospital, the doctor can keep abreast of the situation, proactively connecting with the patient when the measurements are out of the norm. This is already happening, for example, in some American hospitals where the hospitals even provide the monitoring devices themselves as an investment in the patient’s health, ending up saving money through proactive identification of the disease or accident and avoiding serious hospitalizations.
Savings
Finally, the strong virtual presence of the hospital “decentralizes” the physical presence of the hospital structure. This mainly means the possibility of carrying out the hospitalization directly in the comfort of the patient’s home, making the experience more pleasant for the person who can stay close to his loved ones, but also reducing costs for hospitals, having one less bed to manage. In recent years, in fact, the trend has increasingly been to move patients out of the hospital, to separate facilities, or directly to their homes. This leads to savings for the hospital but also for the patient, who can avoid the cost of transport and the difficulties associated with hospital overcrowding and lack of beds.
According to recent studiesthis model can lead to a 30% total cost reduction.
The obstacles to face
Despite the great possibilities of virtual hospitals, there are various obstacles to its progress. Chief among them is the heavy reliance on a robust technology infrastructure. This means that realities and countries with greater access to broadband and optical fiber, among various other technologies, will have better access to virtual hospitals, effectively creating a gap between more or less technologically advanced countries and cities. In addition, regulations in the field of telemedicine and remote monitoring may “hold back” development.
In countries like the United States, after an opening towards remote medicine to meet the needs brought about by Covid-19, which according to a 2021 study increased telehealth usage 63-fold, there was a turnaround, going back to limiting the possibility of using this kind of platform. The reason mainly revolves around the authority of individual states over their own citizens, which becomes complicated if a citizen ends up using the hospital resources of another state sometimes themselves located in other parts of the country.
Despite the various challenges, it is undeniable that the virtual hospital is no longer a question of “if” but rather of “when”. The virtual hospital is, in fact, turning into the natural transformation of the physical hospital, not to replace the capabilities and services of doctors, but rather to expand their capabilities, ultimately bringing a better experience for patients and doctors.
*Data scientist, New York
June 22, 2023 (change June 22, 2023 | 12:13)
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