Life-centred healthcare

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Digital Vision: A regular column by Ann-Marie Cavanagh

Technology can be a powerful tool to help people become more engaged participants in their own healthcare. When integrated more with the health system, it will make care more convenient for both patients and clinicians. However, this doesn’t mean the way health professionals work is going to change overnight – or that the traditional doctor’s office will be totally replaced with virtual treatment.

One of the biggest benefits technology solutions can bring patients is making healthcare more ‘life-centred’. This means healthcare becomes more easily available and accessible to patients in different contexts, day-to-day. It takes healthcare outside the walls of the doctor’s office and closer to where patients live the rest of their lives.

Look at what has happened so far in other sectors, such as banking. Like visits to the doctor’s office, previously people had to use transport to make a visit to their bank’s physical branch at a time that was convenient to them, then wait in line for the bank to serve them at a time that was convenient to the bank. Those days feel like a distant memory now that we have banking apps on our smartphones.

Most banking transactions are completed via technology, at a time and place that suits us. Customers have more control and find banking more convenient. It is faster and easier than ever before. Children today won’t ever need to know what a cheque book is.

Digital transformation in healthcare

While there are unique pressures on healthcare due to its nature, our sector is facing similar digital transformation to other industries. We know that in future with the help of technology, we want to provide healthcare much closer to where people live, learn and work. As I said in my last column, we’re in the age of the customer and that applies to health too.

Other services requiring appointments, such as physiotherapy within healthcare or hair appointments in the beauty industry, are often booked online. Making appointments is an obvious way health can become more life-centred using technology. If people could log in to their GP or specialist’s practice to see the upcoming available appointments, they could arrange times that work with the other commitments in their lives without needing to call and take up the time of administrative staff. Or they could book a virtual consult via video technology.

Patient portals are one example of this already in place in many New Zealand practices. In 2016, the Ministry spoke in-depth to GPs, nurses or practice managers from 18 general practices throughout the country. Forty per cent said there had been a reduction in phone calls to the practice after implementing a patient portal. This doesn’t just make patients’ and admin staff’s lives easier – it also benefits doctors. When asked whether having a portal had impacted on GPs’ workload, 69 per cent said there had been no impact on workload, 19 per cent said workload had increased and 12 per cent were unsure. The use of patient portals is a great start, but more can be done to use technology to increase access to healthcare.

Life-centred care is especially beneficial for those who manage long-term conditions. They might have long-term prescriptions that need be renewed often, tests or other monitoring that needs to be undertaken at regular intervals. It makes sense that those patients would benefit from being able to order repeat prescriptions more easily in a way convenient to them and have greater access to and increased understanding of their test results.

In future, health technology could enable more patients to see their medical notes online. Results of tests, scans and imaging will be available to the patient as well as the doctor. Having patients engage directly with their healthcare by giving them more access to their health information means we can help increase the health literacy of patients.

Technology can promote greater wellness and access

Technology can help us promote wellness. People who understand their own medical conditions better are more likely to take medicines as prescribed and take proactive preventative measures.

Technology solutions can also play a significant role in making sure all New Zealanders receive the same level of care. Telehealth such as video consultations can provide remote patients the option of remaining closer to home, making consultations more convenient and reducing travel.

At the moment, 17 of our 20 district health boards have video conferencing capability. The ways they use it varies, but from my conversations with those in the sector I understand the most common uses of video conferencing capability are for tele-pediatrics and renal care. In future, it will be used for more types of care.

Using technology to make healthcare more life-centred will change the way clinicians work. It will change the way patients interact with the health system. That doesn’t mean the way care is delivered now will become completely obsolete – I don’t expect all GP practices to close their doors to switch to total virtual delivery any time soon. But I do imagine that more GP practices will begin to incorporate more digital services in their working lives and that more patients will use these services for some of their care.

We’re all learning together exactly what healthcare will look like in the future and how we will change to adapt to ensure New Zealanders live well, get well and stay well.

Read the Ministry's Vision for Health Technology here.

Ann-Marie Cavanagh is the Ministry of Health’s chief technology and digital services officer.

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