Pandemic Triggered Technology Innovation in the Healthcare

In terms of sickness and loss of life, the events of the last 18 months related to the COVID-19 pandemic have been altogether unprecedented in modern times. Even as the pandemic ravages communities across the nation and around the world, silver linings have emerged in terms of innovation enabling the provision of healthcare. The rapid adoption of various information technologies in response to the pandemic and their effective use by both healthcare practitioners and the underlying operations engines are testament to our ability to adapt.

There were several major catalysts to patients, the broader healthcare community, and caregivers embracing novel methods of receiving and providing care during a pandemic, not the least of which was the expansion and acceptance of telehealth, virtual check-in, and e-visits under the 1135 Waiver. The waiver created a pathway for providers to administer and bill for a broader range of clinical services than had been possible in the past. Even with communities in lockdown and many hospitals and clinics severely curtailing elective procedures, patients still require consultation with their providers. Fortunately, the increasing comfort of both patient and provider with this modality of care evolved virtually overnight as COVID gripped the nation in ways never before witnessed.

One reality the pandemic has reinforced is that crisis can quite effectively drive process, operations, and applied technology innovation. Virus or not, our missions of providing healthcare and driving clinical research discovery while also educating the next generation of providers and researchers remains unchanged. Information Technology will continue to prove instrumental in meeting our respective communities and their needs where they are. If necessity is indeed the mother of invention, then perhaps pandemics, even with all of the human tragedy they impart, can serve as catalysts to healthcare modernization in a meaningful and lasting way.