IT cure for healthcare industry

With technology making its print, a radical revolution has been witnessed in the industry overall, where much of the man power activities are manipulated by IT thus increasing the delivery process and retaining the valuable customers. The healthcare industry is one such area where IT enabled services is acting as a medicament for the industry itself. The Internet is a significant element, which is amounting for change in this industry with the increased consumerism, health plan etc. According to Gartner, healthy growth rates in IT spending will return to the healthcare sector as the industry is increasing its investment in IT products and services to meet needs created by years of under investment. It also says that the hospital systems report above average IT spending plans in 2002, despite having Internet shy CEOs. 

The healthcare Information Technology marketplace has resulted in the penetration of vendors into the segment with their offering. Tata Consultancy Services, has been working on hospital management systems for nearly three decades. Way back in 1975, TCS started by developing BHIS, a large Health Information System for Burroughs, besides working with clients in Switzerland in the health care space. Initially, the offerings were more solutions-based. While currently the practice of offering custom built solutions continue, TCS also offers ready-to-install-and-use products for hospitals and practicing doctors. 

For Cognizant Technology Solutions, working with the healthcare customers, providing them with various technology solutions started from 1996. However, they started providing domain specific solutions from 1998 onwards. For the year 2001-02, Cognizant's revenue from the healthcare segment was more than 25 percent of its global revenue and they are planning to further consolidate its position as the leader in healthcare space by providing solutions in the areas of drug formularies, e-prescription, case management, HEDIS reporting and HL-7. Their range of solutions include point solutions to cover regulatory compliance, clinical trial management solutions, insurance claims processing, electronic data interface (EDI) and document management solutions, e-health solutions, and system integration solutions. According to Mohan Narayana, Vice-President, Healthcare Practice, Cognizant Technology, "The global healthcare industry is changing rapidly and also growing at a CAGR of about 13 percent. With increasing competition, players are under pressure on costs and time-to-market new products for their customers. Regulatory compliance is also becoming major issue, like for example HIPAA. There is an increased focus on the quality of care, due to issues related to accountability."

TCS expertise in the healthcare IT space spans consultancy services, implementation of Hospital Information Systems, Clinic Management, ICU Management solutions, and portal-based solutions are a few of the areas. TCS' Hospital Management System is offered both as product as well as a custom-built solution to meet with each of the client requirements.

Webhealthcentre.com, promoted and maintained by TCS, offers free online consultation apart from comprehensive information on various topics. It is one of the first Indian sites to be passport enabled. The site also offers unique services like online storage of medical records, online lab reports, information on blood stock position and MCQs for medical students. "TCS has traditionally focussed on the services segment, be it financial or healthcare segment. The typical TCS approach is to develop domain as well as technology expertise, to be rolled out for the benefit of customers and the public. Over the last 25 years, we have developed considerable competence through the development of products and services. This is an area of thrust for us," said S Mahalingam, TCS Executive Vice President. TCS will be incorporating newer technologies, especially in areas such as Mobile Computing, Equipment Interfacing, Data Mining and web-based applications. The focus will be to link medical equipment so that there is automated data flow. Thus instead of feeding test results into the system, data can flow through direct interfacing into the system. 

Over the last five years, Corporate hospitals in India have started realizing the importance of having IT solutions in their institutions. It is awaited when the smaller hospitals will catch up with the trend thus making an enormous difference in the healthcare practice. 

Nisha Kurian

(CNS)