Features
CSC Launches Global Institute for Emerging Healthcare Practices
Healthcare and technology are rapidly changing and CSC’s Global Institute for Emerging Healthcare Practices is focused on these topics from a worldwide perspective. To mark its debut, the institute has released a comprehensive report examining the latest trends in telemedicine in a number of countries.
Leveraging CSC’s thought leadership position in the healthcare arena, the Global Institute is charged with evaluating operational practices and technologies and identifying key trends and insights that can help healthcare organizations improve effectiveness, efficiencies and outcomes. “We are able to tap into our large pool of healthcare and technology expertise and have access to many healthcare leaders because of our global presence – allowing our researchers to identify major industry trends and disseminate knowledge about solutions across geographies and practices,” says Dr. Erica Drazen, managing director of the Global Institute.
The Global Institute serves as the applied research arm of CSC’s Health Services group. “We are pleased to create a formal home for our thought leadership activities which will allow us to share what we learn with the industry,” says Mark Roman, president of CSC’s Global Healthcare Sector.
An inside look at telemedicine
 |
|
|||
|
||||
|
Related Information: News Release: CSC Launches Global Institute for Emerging Healthcare Practices Learn about our global Health Services practice. |
|||
|
||||
|
||||
CSC researchers are busy gleaning industry knowledge from our healthcare experts across the world. The institute will release a series of regional and multi-country studies that tackle the most pertinent issues in healthcare. The first is a 20-page research paper, “Telemedicine – An Essential Technology for Reformed Healthcare”. The research describes the different types of telemedicine solutions that address healthcare challenges of access, cost, care quality increasing demand and patient satisfaction.
“In Australia, telemedicine is addressing the demand for escalating healthcare needs and costs in a population challenged with the tyranny of distance,” says Lisa Pettigrew, national director of CSC's Health Services group in Australia. “As one of our eHealth offerings, telemedicine forms part of the integrated ICT foundation for modernizing healthcare delivery.”
The report not only identifies industry trends and best practices, it offers practical business recommendations to healthcare professionals, including:
- Choose one issue that can be addressed by telemedicine. The study suggests piloting a program that focuses on a specific area that can deliver substantial early benefits, such as chronic disease.
- Understand current challenges and investigate local and regional efforts. The report identifies the latest trends in the U.S., UK and Australia. For example, in the U.S., new regulations enable the credentialing of physicians who use telemedicine for remote care visits across state lines.
- Prepare an implementation roadmap. Use the knowledge gained from pilot programs to shape priorities and programs. Establish policy reform to ensure healthcare delivery is not constrained by legacy jurisdictional boundaries. Telemedicine requires policy and technology innovation.
“Telemedicine is one example for the increasing speed of convergence in health technology solutions,” says Dr. Harald Deutsch, vice president of CSC’s Healthcare EMEA division. “Mobile and cloud-based solutions are further obvious indicators of rapid globalization in an industry which had been considered local not much more than a decade ago.”
CSC has a long legacy of providing world-class business and technology solutions to healthcare organizations across the globe, and the Global Institute provides an avenue for sharing that knowledge. Our global Health Services portfolio includes health and IT informatics solutions, payer solutions, provider solutions for patient care and vast expertise in electronic health records. We also created the first online community fully dedicated to Meaningful Use.
One of the key advantages of the Global Institute and the study is that they both draw upon the combined expertise of CSC knowledge leaders across the globe. Roman adds, “While many aspects of healthcare payment differ among countries, the goals of safe, efficient and high quality care are universal – and technology is a critical component of delivering on these imperatives.”