Part of the digitization of healthcare is information mobility, or the ability to capture, transform and manage information from anywhere at any time. More than eight in 10 hospitals identify opportunities to integrate workflows to boost information mobility as it relates to accountable care, according to a survey from global technology company Ricoh.
"The need to access the right data at a moment's notice is…critical in the healthcare industry when patient care is at stake," said Lynne Dunbrak, research vice president of connected health IT strategies for IDC Health Insights, which conducted the survey. "As hospitals realize the benefits to population health, meaningful use gains and accountable care, they are steadily making investments to improve their workflows and IT infrastructure for greater access to information."
Here are three more key findings on IT mobility and optimization from the report.
1. Nearly 85 percent of hospitals said their internal departments could optimize their document workflows.
2. Key challenges to achieving information mobility goals include workflow inefficiencies, departmental silos and a lack of access to mobile and cloud applications.
3. Hospitals said information mobility has improved the following areas: work quality (28.3 percent), information flow within departments (27.3 percent) and the time employees dedicate to their patients (27.3 percent).
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