The Financial Times has run a series of articles on the use of IT in healthcare in its Digital Business report, quoting PA Consulting Group experts Andy Mullins and Peter Siggins.
Andy Mullins, head of health at PA, is quoted in the article ‘Healthcare dips a toe in the digital age’. This article looks at how healthcare is beginning to embrace technology, after lagging behind other sectors both in levels of IT investment and in its perception of IT as a strategic tool.
Commenting on the outlook for healthcare IT Andy says: “Across the OECD, there is a universal acceptance that we should be investing more to digitalise healthcare.”
Andy goes on to comment on the increasing role data analysis technologies are playing in improving the operational efficiency of healthcare systems: “We need to give clinicians more information about how to spend resources more effectively.”
You can read the article in full here
Meanwhile, Peter Siggins, a mobile communications expert at PA, is quoted in the article ‘Mobile healthcare: when a phone becomes a life saver’. The article examines how mobile phones are facilitating access to simple information which is having a big impact on people’s lives. Dramatic improvements in drug adherence are achieved when health workers can send patients with diseases such as HIV-Aids and tuberculosis text message reminders to take their medicines.
Peter cites the case of Thailand, where this has resulted in 90 per cent compliance rates among patients with tuberculosis. “Although technologically basic, these offerings have demonstrated the power of mobile communication to rapidly make a difference.”
You can read the article in full here
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