IT in Healthcare

IT in Healthcare: a panel discussion

A panel of experts discussed why IT adoption is lagging in the sector and suggested ways to remedy this

The healthcare sector is one of those verticals which thrive on the ‘latest’. Doctors and hospitals are never too shy to try out something that’s just been discovered whether it is a new drug or a piece of technology. However, surprisingly, seldom do we see the same hunger for the latest in IT. In fact a quick glance at the IT systems of some of the leading healthcare institutions would reveal that even the best of them employ technology that is verging on obsolescence. In a bid to highlight some issues of the day, a panel discussion was held during the Healthcare track at Technology Big3.

Moderated by Dr Nitin Paranjape, CEO, MaxOffice Services, the panel featured some renowned personalities from the healthcare space such as Dr Karanvir Singh, Head Medical Informatics, Sir Gangaram Hospital, Gp. Capt (Dr.) Sanjeev Sood, Indian Airforce, and Manish Gupta, CIO, Healthcare Global Enterprises.

Dr Nitin Paranjape of MaxOffice Services set the ball rolling when he talked briefly about the issue of IT budgets and how Indian hospitals often don’t spend enough on IT automation. He said, “The problem is that, even today, many hospitals and medical institutions treat IT as a cost center. CFOs and finance departments at medical organizations often fail to see the ’value’ in automating various processes. If they were to treat IT as strategically as some of the other sectors do, they would benefit tremendously.”

Paranjape also stressed on the need to look at IT budgets separately from the technology budgets of the hospitals as the two aren’t the same.

Dr Karanvir Singh, Head Medical Informatics, Sir Gangaram Hospital talked about implementing IT projects across healthcare organizations and how it is critical to bear in mind the issue of change management.

Citing the example of his work at New Delhi based Sir Gangaram Hospital, Singh said, “The criticality of effective change management is a must when implementing an IT project across an organization. Not only do you need to win the confidence of the users through a gradual, phased approach of introducing IT into the system but you must also work towards raising the awareness levels of the doctors and other clinical staff involved.”

Concurring with Singh’s views, Gp. Capt (Dr) Sanjeev Sood of the Indian Airforce said that IT is just as much about mindset change as it is about process change. Sood also talked about emerging technologies such as SaaS and Cloud computing, two IT delivery models which generated quite a bit of interest in the audience.

When it was Manish Gupta‘s turn to speak the CIO of Healthcare Global Enterprises talked about using IT as a tool for innovation.

Gupta said, “Healthcare organizations must start looking at IT beyond just as an enabler of the processes and fulfillment tool. People must understand that although the need and the use for IT many not be as apparent, it is still advisable to employ IT as the driver of the overall organizational growth. Rather than just being a business fulfillment function how it can impact activities with which it is often not associated in a medical set up such as marketing or branding. Innovation can happen anywhere, across any department and at any level.”