Hospitals and caregivers increasingly are seeking mobile communications technology to gain efficiency, save money, advance data sharing and improve patient care while also meeting regulatory mandates. Security, from start to finish, remains a requisite from the smartphones and devices put in play to data records management and storage.
Yet, as a new research report reveals, much of the healthcare industry remains reliant on older communications systems, including pagers and paper-based processes, that can negatively impact patient safety and operational inefficiencies.
"There is a clear need for advanced data management and communication systems that can address existing communication challenges in hospitals," state the authors of the new Frost & Sullivan report, "Secure Mobile Communication Market in Healthcare Industry." The report defines a secure mobile communication solution as one featuring a smartphone that provides secure text, images, and video-based communication between staff members and supports information exchange between hospital IT systems and smartphones.
"Today's mobile computing platforms present a powerful set of technical capabilities that, if leveraged properly, can help improve the efficiency of day-to-day operations of literally any type of organization," the authors say.
Secure text messaging could save the average U.S. hospital $358,598 a year in time savings, more than half the $1.75 million lost due to inefficient communications in three clinical workflows, reveals a recent report conducted by Ponemon Institute.
To that end, as FierceMobileHealthcare has reported, nine in 10 healthcare providers will be using smartphones this year and nearly as many will have adopted tablets.
Key success factors for secure mobile communication, according to Frost & Sullivan, include ease of deployment, user experience and providing needed support and establishing a go-to-market strategy as well as a strategic roadmap, notes the report.
"Today's mobile computing platforms present a powerful set of technical capabilities that, if leveraged properly, can help improve the efficiency of day-to-day operations of literally any type of organization," the authors say.
For more information:
- download an abstract of the report