By Rafael Orduz, Executive Director of Corporación Colombia Digital
The health of the population is one of the most important indicators that demonstrates the level of economic and social development of a country.
Among the World Bank’s World Development Indicators there are many different indicators related to the health of a nation’s population. Beginning with ‘life expectancy at birth’, which reflects how long an average citizen can expect to live in a certain country. This depends on multiple factors: the healthcare system and coverage, education, the level of political harmony (the presence or otherwise of armed conflicts), the influence of organized crime and, of course, per capita income.
In this context, the differences between countries are dramatic. While Japan, the third largest economy in the world, has a life expectancy at birth of 83 years, there are sub-Saharan and Asian (in this case Afghanistan) countries in which the figure is less than 50 years. In Colombia, according to the World Bank, life expectancy at birth is 73 years, a figure that places the country at a level that might be called ‘upper middle class’ in the society of nations.
Other indicators that reflect the health situation of a country include, for example, the mortality rate of children less than five years old per thousand births. So, one finds countries such as Chad (Africa) in which close to 200 children for every 1000 born die before turning five. In contrast, in countries with a high income per capita the indicators show excellent levels of care for children as no more than four die before they turn five. Again, Colombia’s indicator is satisfactory (19/1000).
Having said this, it is clear that overcoming the health gap between countries and regions and the ongoing improvement of healthcare for their populations is, at any latitude, a top priority.
In this context, the use of information technology (IT) plays a key role in expanding the improving healthcare systems across the world.
The following issues thus arise:
1. Healthcare systems are in crisis in most countries. Due to grave deficiencies in the quantity and quality of coverage in the poorest countries;and because of the increasing fiscal costs in the richest countries. In the latter case, there are diverse factors associated with growing fiscal costs, some of them ‘collateral’: the increase in the number of older age segments compared to younger people of working age; the growth of coverage (remember the current debate in the United States over President Obama’s plan to include 40 million North Americans who did not previously have any coverage and the current protests in Republican sectors of congress at increased fiscal costs); ‘modern’ diseases and the high costs of treatment.
In Colombia, the way the healthcare system currently operates is being discussed. In spite of the evident expansion in coverage as a result of the reforms started at the beginning of the nineties, complicated issues related to corrupt management of some EPS plans, poor care of patients in the POS system (Obligatory Health Plan), among others, are forcing a reform that is aimed both at the improvement of the service as well as making it more economically efficient.
2. A characteristic of IT is that it can be used universally; it can be applied in different sectors including education, justice, business management, governmental administration and, of course, healthcare.
IT can positively affect the state of healthcare in a country in many different areas, for example:
Monitoring the health of elderly people via technologies that allow the monitoring of basic indicators (arterial pressure, for example) which are monitored remotely with specialized equipment. Undoubtedly, developments in nanotechnology in the near future will allow the application of tiny sensors located on the bodies of individuals being monitored.
Remote diagnosis via telemedicine services is of immense value in countries such as Colombia where the population in some areas lacks medical care.
Systematization of electronic health records. Practically everyone has experienced the routine repetition of information for diagnostic processes whenever a new health issue arises. Why not have a properly secure coded system that makes it possible for diagnostic information to be available during every medical appointment, in order to, finally, provide a better space for medical analysis and, of course, to provide patients with the information that concerns them?
Healthcare research. In any academic area, but especially in the field of healthcare sciences, the use of IT supports research and development processes in various ways: from tools for collaborative work (all medical innovations are the result of team work between research centers and pharmaceutical companies) up to their direct application in the medical goods and services resulting from research processes.
3. In systematic terms, according to the OECD1, IT can be applied to the healthcare sector in three overall contexts:
Increasing the quality of medical care and efficiency. In many parts of the globe, systems are fragmented within the service provision chain and the flow of information between the different links is deficient. Undoubtedly, IT can help to contribute to improving the exchange of information between different links in the chain with a focus on benefitting the patient.
Reducing the operating costs of hospitals. One obstacle to operating procedures in healthcare is related to the inefficient management of documentation, which currently causes large delays in the administration of care. Given determined connectivity levels, IT can radically change how documents are handled in operational proceedings andlower the associated costs.
Lowering the administrative costs. There are administrative processes such as billing procedures, appointment scheduling, and customer services that the use of IT can reduce dramatically, thus improving the patient’s relationship with the system.
Facilitating new modes of care. New forms such as telemedicine (mentioned above) and the systematized management of data (leading to unified management of health records) are part of these new modes of working. Of course there are major obstacles to the implementation of the use of IT. One of them is the fear that surrounds electronic health records. It is obvious that it is in the patient’s interest that their health records be absolutely confidential.
The lack of technical standards in the use ICTs also hinders the flow of information and requires the application of policies that, although they can’t be called ‘centralized’, do require the acceptance of standards by the different actors involved.
The application of IT certainly means the improvement of health indicators, an essential aspect in the improvement in the quality of life of nations and, thus, their productivity.
Bibliography: OECD Health Policy Studies, Improving Health Sector Efficiency The Roles of Information and Communication Technologies
More info: http://www.colombiadigital.net
