Philippine healthcare needs to develop digital ecosystems
THE HEALTHCARE听industry听should听embrace the cloud to use data archiving, sharing, and analysis to solve issues such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, said stakeholders at a recent webinar on healthcare innovations organized by听the business arm of听Globe听Telecom, Inc.听
鈥淣inety-nine percent听(of healthcare companies) in the Philippines still uses paper data,鈥 said听Marnie Tolosa, the听senior听partner听development听manager of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Philippines.听
Instead of reading over a thousand different papers听鈥斕齱ith听each piece of paper data containing different data demographics听鈥斕齛 service like Amazon鈥檚 can extract what is necessary for the healthcare professional to use.听
Data that is late, according to Mr. Tolosa,听makes an听impact听on听how healthcare providers operate, especially during a crisis.听鈥淚t takes the whole ecosystem to actually serve this universe of customers,鈥澨齢e said.听
This includes telemedicine, which Dr. Bu C. Castro,听medical听director of Bernardino General Hospital II,听said听was听鈥渆xtremely important during the pandemic.鈥澨
Digital technologies already exist to make healthcare more efficient, said Mr. Tolosa, citing听AWS鈥檚 Amazon Comprehend Medical, a machine-learning algorithm that pulls out data based on specific categories.听
Integrated systems听may be听difficult to set up but听they are听beneficial in the long run, according to John Dave P. Due帽as,听chief听executive听officer and Founder of听HYBrain, a healthcare management software developer partnered with Globe听Business. 鈥淐onsumers increasingly expect seamless management of their information across their healthcare providers, from their doctors to their hospitals to their clinical laboratories to diagnostics and imaging, even up to their pharmacies,鈥 he said.听
Mr. Due帽as noted the healthcare industry鈥檚 shift towards value-driven organization, which focuses on the customers鈥 needs rather than the supply of a particular service,听is feasible听only听if there is an听integrated hospital information system听that includes听doctors, their secretaries, the clinical labs, medical technologists, and pharmacies, among others.听
He cited听The Digital Healthcare Leap,听a paper by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) published in 2017,听that听showed the dilemma of deficit globally. 鈥淭he Philippines was predicted to have a 1.1 million deficit of hospital beds and a 1.2 million deficit of medical healthcare professionals by 2035,鈥 he said, pointing out that this prediction was pre-pandemic and hence much more urgent now, with听information听technology听as a needed solution to bridge these large gaps.听
Quoting the same paper, he听said: 鈥淚n the new digital health era, digitally enabled care is no longer going to be a nice-to-have, but rather a fundamental business imperative.鈥澨斕Bront毛 H. Lacsamana听
