Hyper-digitalization of healthcare has risen to the top of the leadership agenda in the Asia Pacific region, agreed industry leaders at an annual industry summit organized by global video communications platform Zoom Video Communications.
The event, which featured a keynote by Ricky Kapur, Head of Asia Pacific (APAC), Zoom, as well as perspectives from the industry – including representatives from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), CareSpan Asia, and Caring for You, among others – underlined the need for flexibility as one of the critical themes for forging the future of accessible healthcare.
Experts agree that the rapid adoption of technology in healthcare has led to changes in processes, mindsets, and priorities for healthcare providers and hospitals in APAC.
In his keynote, Ricky tackled the priorities for driving innovation in digital healthcare. “Back in 2019, telehealth was an experimental practice in many countries. COVID-19 came and, out of necessity, the healthcare business was forced to adapt and adopt digital technologies. Since then, virtual care adoption has increased dramatically, and will continue to grow in this region.”
“The first priority for many healthcare organizations is to improve convenience and simplicity for patient experience. A patient experience goes beyond telehealth and extends to the entire patient journey from triage to post-follow-up procedures.”
He highlighted the role of technology in automating workflows and routing patients to qualified staff quickly and efficiently. “Healthcare teams can leverage automated workflows and intelligent skills-based routing to match the patient with a qualified staff quickly and efficiently to receive timely care. Technology solutions like Zoom Virtual Agent, for example, could help collect patient data before being passed on to a live agent.”
Mitigating the rising costs of healthcare is another key priority for healthcare organizations in APAC. Digitalization can help reduce unnecessary trips to emergency rooms, perform automated medication dispensing and appointment bookings, and provide remote monitoring for patients with chronic diseases.
This results in reduced costs, which can be passed on to the patient, as well as a more efficient healthcare system to better manage burnout and staff shortages.
Virtual technologies can also help healthcare workers connect and communicate with their colleagues and peers, attend medical training, and oversee surgery procedures, overcoming geographical constraints.
The third priority is enabling accessibility for patient care. This involves addressing the gaps in geographic and financial accessibility to healthcare, especially for low-income communities.
For example, CareSpan, a leading digital healthcare platform in the Philippines, leverages Zoom’s Video SDK with its Electronic Medical Records (EMR) platform to enable quality video consultations in both high and low-speed internet environments – many of these rural areas.
He said hybrid models of care that offer both online and offline options will become the core delivery model for healthcare organizations in the near future, as patients expect the flexibility to be able to consult in the ways they prefer.
Various researchers noted that a significant driver of healthcare digital transformation in APAC is the adoption of telemedicine, which allows patients to receive care remotely through video consultations, remote monitoring, and digital health platforms.
Interestingly, several countries in APAC have made significant progress in implementing telemedicine, including here in Malaysia, together with Thailand and Singapore.
At the same time, patient expectations have evolved, with patients now being seen as “consumers of healthcare services” who want to access healthcare in their own space, time, and convenience.
As such, operational efficiency becomes crucial for healthcare providers with limited resources to deliver the best healthcare outcomes for their patients. Collaborative care also becomes critical, as healthcare providers across the care continuum must now work together, underpinned by technology.
Era of flexibility
In a previous HR Asia article, Ricky detailed the steps Zoom had taken thus far to drive a new era of flexibility.
This theme was emphasized by Amelia Eudailey, global healthcare industry manager, Zoom in her presentation. She detailed how Zoom is helping to ‘create a continuum of care in a hybrid environment’. “For both healthcare providers and their patients, the flexibility and ability to connect anywhere have become an expectation.”
In addition, the challenges and opportunities offered by technology came under the spotlight in a panel discussion moderated by Sash Mukherjee, Vice President of Content and Principal Analyst, Ecosystm, comprising representatives from Singapore General Hospital/ SingHealth Group Nursing (Singapore’s largest healthcare group which includes Singapore General Hospital), CareSpan Asia (healthcare technology company based in the Philippines), and Caring For You (Australia’s largest and leading service provider of nursing personnel).
The panelists agreed that the healthcare industry could benefit from the flexibility offered by a hybrid work model that combines virtual and on-site care, such as telehealth appointments and flexible work arrangements for healthcare professionals.
Key takeaways from customers:
Torben Wick, Business Analyst at Caring For You, said that the adoption of technologies like Zoom Phone, and most recently Zoom Contact Centre was especially crucial in helping them communicate with customers and members across localities. He noted that leveraging Zoom had helped Caring for You to scale quickly, allowing the company to reach 33,000 calls a week.
Nonoy Colayco, Chairman of CareSpan Asia, highlighted that ending healthcare poverty begins with affordable healthcare technology. One of the biggest public health challenges facing the Philippines is the accessibility of network connectivity across the country market. Having a digital integrated care platform that is stable and works under low bandwidth environments is central to providing patients both remote and in-person access to primary care at low cost.
Ang Shin Yuh, Deputy Director of Nursing Research, Transformation and Informatics at Singapore General Hospital and SingHealth Group Nursing said that with Singapore being a small nation, its biggest challenge moving forward is an insufficiency of healthcare workers and resources. Patients and family members thus need to be empowered and take on a more active role in their own care and treatment. “It is then about how we can use technology to make it affordable, and more importantly available to a large majority so that we can sustain the standard of healthcare for years to come.”
In his presentation, Joe Francis, senior product owner of collaboration services, at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Singapore reported that GSK is empowering its hybrid, distributed workforce with a connected communications platform. The results: improved collaboration and experiences, leading to increased productivity and happier employees.
Low touch technology, high touch care
In her wish list, Ang said: “We ask developers to especially look at the UI – a low touch technology to deliver high touch care to our patients. That is our wish – one platform that could deliver what is needed.”
Summarising, Ecosystm’s Sash said the rapid adoption of technology in healthcare has led to changes in processes, the mindset of clinicians and administrative staff, as well as priorities that healthcare providers and hospitals now have.
Among these, raising employee productivity, reducing costs and driving innovation are now focus areas for healthcare providers.
Where innovation used to be more reactive to solve immediate problems, healthcare organizations are looking to drive more systematic innovation that covers all aspects of their delivery model.
The ripples will continue
Indeed, collective mindsets and healthcare systems have been upended, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing healthcare providers to shift towards telemedicine, Zoom has emerged as a leading platform for virtual consultations.
In Malaysia, the Ministry of Health used Zoom to launch a virtual health advisory service that connects the public with healthcare professionals for COVID-19-related consultations. Across the Causeway in Singapore, the National University Hospital (NUH) uses Zoom to provide teleconsultations to patients who are unable to visit the hospital due to the pandemic.
According to Sash in her state of APAC healthcare keynote, the need for a collaborative healthcare strategy has become central. “We have achieved a lot in the last few years, and what happened in the years 2020-2022 with the pandemic was the biggest ripple we have seen. But we have to prepare for the next big crisis.”
“But the good news is you have the technology. This is not the time to stop or sit back.”
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