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Editor’s Column
Patient Engagement and Technology: A Superlative
Fusion Elevating Healthcare Space
T
he term ‘Patient Engagement’ is been rapidly emerging and it is today’s buzzword in the healthcare industry.
With its impeccable evolution, it has thrown a long lasting impact on the reviewers, who states that, “No
other initiative will have such impact on improving the quality patient care and reducing healthcare costs”.
For years, marketers have been looking for new strategies to engage the customer, create recovering experiences, and
reinforce brand relationships, all of them aimed at improving outcomes. Having called ‘consumer engagement’ in the
business terms, patient engagement is the new key strategy that embraces the tools and actions taken by patients,
caregivers as well as healthcare providers. These factors would promote informed decision-making and behaviors to
facilitate improved health consequences.
A recent survey from a renowned organization states that patient engagement is experiencing the biggest development
with the implementation of technology. Today, consumers are considering the online healthcare information
trustworthy. Social media and patient portals, Internet which allow us to fetch what we want at the tip of our fingers,
have also witnessed a significant growth. Being lived in the connected and engaged society; patients as well as
consumers have started expecting the same promptness and easy accessibility from the healthcare industry.
Several latest technologies focused on patient engagement involve managing patient health data, managing
communication with physicians, self-care at home, education, and financial management. Right from wearable tech
and medical devices to patient portals and maintaining personal health records, all of these innovations are aimed at
improving the overall patient experience. With the implementation of health information exchanges, patient portals,
and electronic health records, patients are naturally becoming more involved in their health. Also, healthcare
institutions and practices should embrace and integrate these changes while adapting this new and rapidly evolving
landscape.
Down the line, no one can deny that, patient engagement requires action that must be instigated and sustained by the
individual. It is due to the encouraged providers due to whom patients learn to utilize tools and technology that
produce improved health results. Engagement implies active involvement. All parties must be willing to participate
and embrace the shift to technology to achieve better outcomes and reduce costs.
Perhaps, the healthcare industry is working on par with the rest of the business world and recognizing that to grow
and to compete with the marketplace, patients need more in the way of information, eminence, access, and liability.
S. D
Ashwini
eshpande
Ashwini S. Deshpande,Editor