EHR

The world over is dealing with the issue of ageing populations where the number of persons over 55 is steadily increasing while the number of children born to families reduces.

More persons are deciding to have one child or, maximum, two. Jamaica’s birthrate, for example, is approximately 2.01 per family while people are living longer due to advances in technology and improved health services. Living longer, however, does not necessarily equate to living healthier or having a better quality of life. Healthcare will be forced to catch up to this phenomenon.

In the past few years, a number of telemedicine vendors have entered the local market. This is a good indication that we are moving forward and evolving to incorporate digital health into the healthcare ecosystem. We still have a little way to go but we are on the right track.

The electronic health record (EHR) offers a plethora of opportunities for digitised healthcare management. Imagine if there was a system where a doctor can get an alert to warn that a patient may be close to a life-threatening condition, giving him/her enough time to respond to save that patient before it is too late. With the increasing implementation of electronic systems, this no longer has to be imagined. It is possible today. Many healthcare organisations have been taking advantage of this feature in their electronic heath management systems.

WITH THE direction in which health and technology are going, it would be prudent for the issue of ownership and access to medical records to be worked out once and for all. With pertinent restrictions of course, access to medical records needs to be less prohibitive to the patient.

For years, we have been hearing of the inability of the Government and researchers to get adequate information on cancer in Jamaica.

Sure, a registry exists, but the information it contains is apparently only for Kingston and St Andrew. That, obviously, cannot be a sufficient representation of the reality in Jamaica.

With the ever-increasing incidence of non-communicable diseases including cancer, accurate data is important for the Government and others to determine the best interventions, especially given the limited resources that exist in the health sector.

The condition in which people are born, grow up, live, work, and age may invariably affect their state of health and well-being as well as impact their health decisions.

These are referred to as social determinants of health and include income level, social status, education, employment and working conditions, housing, healthcare access, personal health practices, transportation and nutrition.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many pundits have stated that the future of healthcare is virtual care. The beginning of this was demonstrated during that time when the demand for telemedicine increased exponentially. The circumstances of the pandemic – the high admission rates at health facilities and limitations on the movement of people – made it a necessity.

Since then, more people have been opting for this solution which allows them to seek care regardless of geographic location and without having to leave their homes.

October 21, 2022

Health information technology is critical to the success of healthcare financing, according to Director of Health Applications at Advanced Integrated Systems, Shekar Sanumpudi.

Mr. Sanumpudi was speaking at the 14th annual Caribbean Conference on National Health Financing Initiatives, held in Antigua and Barbuda, from October 19-21, 2022.

The conference is being held under the theme “Confronting the Financial Challenges of COVID-19 and the Unfinished Universal Coverage Agenda.”