Government Affairs
POLICY BRIEFS

Healthcare technology

Background
Anyone who has cared for a sick loved one knows how such a situation impacts the entire family's lifestyle and ability to accomplish other goals. Other priorities necessarily suffer. This same systemic impact can be seen in national healthcare systems. Any one problem or error ripples through the entire system. Just like families, the ripple effects impact the society at large through endangerment of patients and increased costs. Preventable medical errors occur daily, impacting thousands of lives. From mis-prescribed medications to incomplete patient information, preventable errors and the inefficiency of care at critical moments, and even during routine procedures, impacts lives, families and the society at large. As the percentage of the global population over 65 increases, healthcare systems will be stressed as never before, leaving less margin for error. Preventable errors and inefficiency multiplies the costs no matter whether the system is market-based or single-payer in nature. Those costs can be human lives as well as dollars or euros.

The impact today
Information technology, both digital and wireless, has transformed virtually every industry it has touched - not just at individual points, but at a systemic level. Unfortunately, that is not yet true of one of the world’s most vital industries: healthcare. While many point solutions such as electronic records exist in various segments of the healthcare industry, by and large these points have yet to be connected through software, hardware, network and wireless solutions into a complete, coordinated and accessible system. Put simply, information is not where the nurse, physician, surgeon, EMT or home health worker needs it at critical moments to improve patient care. Information technology solutions have worked wonders for virtually every other industry with many moving parts. Manufacturing, warehouses, retail operations and many other systems have been transformed through mobile computing, wireless networks and related technology such as RFID and barcode scanning. The stakes are much higher in the health care industry.

As a global society, we must take advantage of the system efficiencies these known technologies can bring to the benefit of all. Wireless information technology can provide benefits to the healthcare industry by better connecting doctors, nurses and patients to information while providing increased security for medical data. Wireless technologies can also provide secure, high-bandwidth connections between medical facilities to transfer large amounts of data such as images and video. Doctors can get faster access to more accurate information about patients' medical histories and drug regimens. Patients can be monitored remotely or can send their doctors information wirelessly. RFID and barcoding technologies can be used to safely track and monitor patients in hospitals and in their homes to ensure the right medicines are administered at the right time with the right dose. With mobile computing and wireless technologies, diabetes patients can send details such as weight and sugar levels to their doctors requiring less in person visits, while maintaining a high level of care. Home health care workers can access and update medical records as they visit patients in their home.

Today the United States lags behind other countries in the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), A report in the New England Journal of Medicine, based on surveys from 2007 and 2008, found that 4 percent of physicians had extensive, fully functional electronic records systems, while 13 percent had more basic systems. Typically, many systems aren't connected to other physicians or hospitals. Dozens of vendors compete to sell proprietary systems that often cannot communicate with each other.

Motorola position
The movement toward adopting mobile computing and wireless networks — to provide professionals with access to EHRs across the continuum of care — has begun. But, this transformation cannot happen quickly enough.

Motorola supports legislation that provides funding and creates financial incentives for hospitals and other healthcare providers to adopt health information technology, such as electronic medical records systems and a nationwide health information network, at an accelerated rate. Specifically we believe the $19 billion allocated for health IT in the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 is a great start. Governments the world over should also add their weight to efforts to standardize the many point solutions scattered throughout the typical hospital so that they can be networked and data can freely flow where it is needed.

At the same time, consumer and patient safety should be improved through increased use of the technology tools available to help professionals understand patient history, increase accuracy of data collection, and reduce medical errors in real time. To this end, legislators and policymakers should take action to encourage and facilitate the implementation of mobile computing and wireless technologies to provide access to EHRs across the continuum of care, whether that is in a medical facility, between facilities, or at a patient's home.