The Technology That Can Revolutionize Health Care

The Technology That Can Revolutionize Health Care:

Technology in health care is always considered to be of an importance pertaining to the cure of disease. The general idea is always about what improvements can be brought in to the medical field in terms of latest medicines and equipment that would help in decreasing the rate of illnesses.

However, under this article, the revolution in medicine is being discussed in a different light. This focuses more on the relationship between the doctor and his/her patient. New and improved technology is used to better communicate with the patients so as to give them consolation about handling their illness and also keeping a follow-up on their medical condition.

This way, it has been discovered, that less and less patients have been making rounds of the hospital to see their doctor. Instead, through virtual communication they have been able to maintain contact with their doctor, no matter where they are and it has been easier for both parties to keep a track of the medical progress.

Furthermore, hospitals in general do not keep a track of such contact between the patient and the doctor, so it has been discouraged because it is easier for the hospital to keep a track of the medical history of the patient if he/she physically visits the hospital. Virtual communication is more convenient where the doctor and the patient relationship are concerned, but it is not the most efficient way of keeping the medical history of the patient up-to-date.

But if this idea is molded in a better form to effectively fit both criteria i.e. the doctor and patient relationship as well as keeping the medical history of the patient up-to-date, then it can prove to be a much more successful way of making health decisions.

Inspire and dictate the emerging shape of business

It has been suggested in this article, that this way of communication that sets up the relationship of a doctor and a patient should be shifted to exist in a virtual paradigm. This would include ways to connect, like e-mail, video-conferencing (especially through Skype) and kiosks.

This new way of interaction has been inspired by the conventional way that we use sitting at our homes to contact our friends and family. It goes beyond just a phone call. Especially the video conferencing fever that has swept the world (credited mainly to the emergence of Skype). So, instead of just calling up your doctor to make an appointment to meet face-to-face, why not just video call him and have a discussion face-to-face?

Even before video conferencing emerged, there was always the good old e-mail that we could turn to gain convenience. The traditional letter and telegraph was replaced by this a long time ago. So the patient could write to his/her doctor about their current condition and with the click of a button and a time span of way less than just a minute, the doctor would be updated with the condition of his patient and could give immediate advice through e-mail.Also, e-mails could be monitored and stored in a database by the hospital to keep a track of the patient's progress and keep adding this to the patient's medical history at the same time as well.

Kiosks would be a more effective method for the patients to be monitored. Kiosks would be used to provide reliable data on basic information like blood pressure and pulse rate of the patient. This would save both, the patient's time and the doctor's time, and once more provide a convenience to maintain the patient's medical history.

Impact on the relative industry

If this technology is adopted by one hospital, then the others would imitate it too because it would prove to attract more patients as it provides convenience to them.

Hospitals would turn towards keeping a more digitalized form of data about their patients in their database. More focus would shift toward virtual communication and its benefits.

Wireless internet would become more popular in the hospital industry, like it is a tool of survival everywhere else. Simple equipment like personal computers, desktops and laptops etc. would replace the traditional meetings of doctor and patient. More and more patients would be followed up because the way to doing that has been made easier.

Overall, hospitals and doctors would have to invest into buying computers and making wireless internet available at all times, but eventually in the long run this would prove to save the patients' as well as the doctors' time and lead to better health decisions.

How will the market transform

Introduction would be the initial stage where the new technology of communication would be introduced in the hospital industry. As other players in the industry would adopt it, the technology would grow and look for improvements. Towards the maturity level, almost everyone would have adopted the technology. Finally, emergence of a better way to communicate than what was adopted would prove to be a decline for this current breakthrough technology.

The new communication technology, once introduced into the hospital industry, would go through the above stages in terms of the business cycle and demand and technology.

Which forces will determine the industry structure?

The forces that will drive the industry structure after this innovation according to the Porter's model would be:

Intensity of Rivalry: the competitive rivalry within the industry would be affected in a way, that if one hospital adopts this innovation others would imitate it too. On a more general point of view, this would be beneficial for the entire industry because it would make the provision medical services more efficient than usual.

Types of innovation:

1) Adopting the virtual way of communication could be categorized as 'Integration Innovation', type because through this, the supplier of the service (doctors) is providing the service to the end consumer (patients). The needs i.e. convenience for both parties are being integrated through virtual communication.

2) This can also be categorized as 'Process Innovation', because the