The “putting patients first” philosophy has always been at the forefront of the healthcare industry. And while there’s nothing wrong with health providers making business decisions with the patient’s best interest in mind, physicians are often left out of this conversation. Seeing dozens of patients a day and spending hours glued to their desk to manually type patient medical record entries leaves physicians burned out. So much so that many leave the medical field.
Luckily, technology, the very same thing that delivers better, faster and cheaper care to patients, can also ease doctors’ loads and help them thrive.
Take a look at five top tech-enabled solutions that enable physicians to do more in less time, without getting overwhelmed.
1. Creating Smart Exam Rooms with AI
Forward, a medical startup in San Francisco, is on a quest to transform doctors’ offices into medical ‘Apple Stores’ using artificial intelligence (AI) and connected tools. The company aims to help private practitioners build 3,500 square-foot offices equipped with exam rooms and state-of-the-art medical instruments, as well as on-site laboratories for fast testing.
All the tool in these futuristic exam rooms are meant to make doctors’ jobs easier. There is an infrared light device to help them better spot veins when drawing blood, a digital stethoscope capable of registering heart rate through clothes plus a large screen displaying medication recommendations.
Forward’s innovative idea managed to attract venture capital from renowned sources like Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, John Doerr, and First Round Capital. The company is currently working on finishing the infrastructure, as well as hiring top medical talent, and plans to build their first office in the Bay Area.
2. Streamlining Communication Through SaMD
When it comes to cancer patients, even small delays can be the difference between life and death. More often than not, those delays are caused by miscommunication among medical staff, something bound to happen when these care teams have to manage over 700 new patients a day.
This is why Medtronic, a global leader in medical technology, created a platform to ensure that medical teams can easily navigate the total lung cancer pathway from emergency room (ER) to treatment. Medtronic’s system automatically organizes patient records, so no valuable details are left out. Everyone from nurses to doctors and technicians have access to the complete profile of a patient, from imaging, to EHRs and insurance details.
Instead of wasting time figuring out which patients requires their attention next, physicians can rely on the clinical oncology system to prioritize cases based on the severity of a patient’s condition. All thanks to a special type of software called software as a medical device (SaMD). “SaMD not only collects critical data, it can get that data anywhere, combine it with other data, analyze it, and then use that data, either automatically, or by presenting it to users to take action,” explains Orthogonal, the software medical company that helped Medtronic build their platform.
3. Cutting Down on Paperwork with Wearable Tech
Physicians spend only 30 percent of their time interacting face-to-face with patients. The bulk of their time is allocated to administrative work.
Notable, a California-based company, wants to free doctors from the burden of manually logging in medical records so they can spend more time with their patients. Strapped on a doctor’s wrist, their wearable device records each encounter with patients and every word said is accurately documented and stored. The device, which works with any electronic health record (EHR) system can also collect labs results, prescriptions, and referrals by voice alone.
As a result, there are fewer billing errors and a lower risk of malpractice, and, according to Notable, physicians using their product are saving more than an hour a day. This allows them to see more patients, leading to a 15 to 20 percent increase in revenues. Notable’s wearable has raised $13.5M in funding and is already being used by doctors around the country.
4. Helping Disabled Physicians Succeed
There are about 1,500 medical students in the U.S. with a disability, but few tools to help them become successful, practicing physicians. Until now.
David Burke and David Lorch, two professors at the University of Michigan created a device that enables paraplegic or quadriplegic doctors to better examine patients. Traditional handheld imaging systems such as stethoscopes require doctors to get close to a patient’s ear, mouth or nose, which can be hard to do for someone in a wheelchair.
The new device, however, comes with a flexible wire and camera in its speculum, so doctors can examine a patient’s skin, eyes, ears, nose, throat and mouth from a distance. Thanks to a live video feed, the images are then sent to their cell phone.
Burke and Lorch are considering developing more features such as video, so doctors can compare recordings and easily detect changes. The two professors said they are also using “three dimensional tracking technologies to measure a person’s strength and mobility without her having to make direct contact with the patient.”
5. Connecting with Patients Through Telemedicine
While still a relatively new concept, telemedicine is changing the way physicians do their job in more than one way.
Thanks to telehealth technology companies like American Well, for instance, hundreds of clinics are now using this technology for primary care appointments and follow-ups.
Physicians from a variety of backgrounds and specialties are conducting patient exams, making a diagnosis or prescribing medicine via a webcam.
Tending to patients who need their help right away leads to fewer emergency room (ER) visits and inpatient hospitalizations. A doctor could, for instance, prescribe cold or allergy medication to patients in remote areas who can’t travel to their office. Or they could help a person with asthma or thyroid issues manage their flare-ups, thus avoiding a trip to the ER. And the same goes for therapists providing fast emotional support for patients with anxiety or depression.
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These tech-enabled solutions prove that, before reaching patients, the digital revolution in healthcare can first be taken on by a doctor’s office.
AI-powered medical devices, clinical platforms using smart software and voice-activated wearables used by physicians become vehicles for delivering stellar care at much less cost to the physician. And as doctors become used to technology, similar solutions will become a standard of care in most offices.
