Brick-and-Mortar eHealth Help

February 20, 2015

Categories: Thought Leadership

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CNSI has talked repeatedly about the eHealth revolution. There are apps, products, processes and solutions in progress to address every imaginable health care need, and we are proud to be right in the middle of it all, driving the industry toward excellence. 

With this revolution, however, there is a considerable learning curve for all parties: patients, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators and caretakers. To address this curve and facilitate the adoption of solutions that can improve public health, some health systems are looking backward, rather than developing a downloadable user guide or more intuitive software, to good old-fashioned brick-and-mortar shops. 

Hospitals and Health Networks Magazine recently highlighted a few such shops in an article titled “Technology Stores Added to Health System Offerings.” The article describes a store in a Morristown, New Jersey hospital that features a ground level “shop,” called HealtheConnect, which is really more like a help desk. At the operation, stakeholders can come to designated experts for advice, assistance and guidance in accessing their electronic health records. 

“The reason we opened this in the hospital, and it’s so visible, is because we want our doctors and nurses and other health care professionals to be a resource for patients,” said David Shulkin, M.D., president of the hospital. “The HealtheConnect store is the front end to getting people much more engaged about owning their own information and using it as an active tool.”

At CNSI we continue to revolutionize the way we manage health care through technological innovations which include mobile applications that provide easy access to health benefits, cloud based systems that provide for more efficient processing of medical claims and cutting edge technology that can eradicate improper billing and waste, leading to better care, better health and lower costs. 

The implementation of on-the-ground resources for users seeking guidance in the use of such tools is an important step forward in the progress of health IT.  Do you think these brick-and-mortar tech help shops will succeed? How can the idea be improved? 

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