Healthcare is perhaps one of the biggest industries on the face of the modern day world. This industry concerns itself with the health as well as well- being of close to seven billion human beings – almost the entire population. That in itself brings a whole lot of responsibility to the table and takes it to a whole new level. Managing such volumes of records and data manually is impossible.
No person can physically handle so much high amount of data. Then, there will definitely be a question of accuracy, because frankly, managing data and records of a population of seven billion human beings will incorporate voluminous amounts of error in their own right.
This situation is the exact reason why they face the dire need for an immediate digitalisation of the entire process and functioning of the whole scene at the healthcare industry. This may seem to be a very easy solution which can be easily said and even done in a very easy way. However, that is definitely not the case; otherwise there would be no need of any kind of discussion on this topic. There are some more problems which add to the difficulties and challenges.
At first Healthcare industry is not one big and huge industry, operated by a single board or body but it comprises of numerous private as well as government funded as well as public institutions which strive in their own capacity to provide the best healthcare facilities available as of the latest date to their patients. Under such a scenario, it becomes extremely difficult to manage and control and unify all records under the same tab.
Secondly, since healthcare pertains to biological science, and in a broader sense, away from technical sciences and computer sciences, naturally, the personnel associated with healthcare profession in generally unaware of any knowledge of how to handle data and manage information technology based services.
On the other hand, those concerned with information technology, in reality do not know much about healthcare, which may not be a major problem like the former one, but is a problem all the same.
The challenges that are faced by any CIO IT consultant in healthcare:
- As mentioned earlier, an absence of any uniform governing body, spells a lot of problems related with communication and sharing of data and resources. As such, it becomes really frustrating and difficult to handle data in many different formats. This could also lead to discrepancies and errors. CIO IT consultants are here to overcome this problem by minimising the number of formats in operation as well as creating an easy way to gain access across every platform.
- Cyber security is a matter of great concern in as big as international level. An inexpert CIO IT consultant with no proper training as such could lead to improper IT infrastructure and thereby cause a huge security crisis. Since healthcare records are as important as life saving the proper consultant should be chosen who are capable enough to safeguard the data.
- Data and number of clients is ever increasing. However, the budget and the storage facilities are not. This leads to a huge problem if the entire operation of storing data and CIO consultancy is not managed by capable consultants. Budget mostly, is an ever increasing problem and most setups fail because of this.
- In the end, when everything is said and done, one thing becomes clear – change is inevitable. In words this phrase may not amount to much. But in reality, change will tend to disrupt everything. Not only will be the standard procedures ripped off, but new and in some cases, difficult to grasp procedures will be brought into the picture.
So, in order to overcome IT issues in healthcare, the concerned panel must turn in the direction of an able and trustworthy CIO consultant. CIOs have immense business experience and IT expertise that can eliminate IT problems and help in entire management organization. For a vast industry like healthcare, it is always important to consult with an expert to drive smooth management without any hassle. It is not just maintaining records digitally, but converting records on paper should be done properly without zero error.
Well, if the CIO IT consultant manages to pull off something good enough which will not only be easy to understand and use, but also easy and convenient to be managed, then healthcare industry can truly exploit the benefits of IT and digitalisation.