Innovation is a key part of any modern healthcare system and this innovation takes place at many levels and across multiple disciplines. Healthcare providers have access to new treatment procedures, drugs and diagnostic equipment. However, there is one area where the healthcare sector has failed to deploy technology and expertise that is widely available and used to improve the efficiency of organisations in the financial services, manufacturing and retail sectors. While most healthcare providers have experimented with ‘ehealth’ they have been slow to build the core IT services and instigate the change management programs that have to be in place before online healthcare services can be deployed.
Today, as healthcare providers start to modify working practices and build the platforms that will support ehealth services, they are finding that the ehealth model itself, as envisaged a decade ago, is evolving. This evolution has been brought about, in part, by the proliferation of low cost wireless devices, the emergence of intelligent search technology and the near ubiquity of Internet connectivity in developed countries.
Originally ehealth was regarded as an appendage to the healthcare providers’ core business and was run as a separate operation. A special unit would be set up to support the ehealth system for a trial period. In most cases the incumbent healthcare provider discovered that, as the ehealth model was potentially disruptive to their business, there was no way to integrate the ehealth system with their core processes.
The new ehealth model is less reliant on the support from the incumbent healthcare providers and some services deployed using this model provide basic monitoring and diagnostics directly to the consumer. There is a wealth of new technology available to next generation ehealth providers, who are deploying ehealth services, including advanced healthcare related search technology and DNA profiling. Used in conjunction with wireless devices and Internet connectivity the new ehealth should act as an effective disruptor within the healthcare market. However, many independent ehealth providers have found it difficult to deploy this model in the form of a freestanding service. At the same time incumbent healthcare providers have been unwilling or unable to co-opt the new ehealth model without either disrupting their existing business model or compromising the new ehealth model itself.
This report examines issues and challenges associated with the new ehealth model and describes technologies and revenue models that can be used to support an effective deployment of a next generation, consumer facing ehealth service.
Read full report