This week the GIBS, (Gordon Institute of Business Science), held an on-campus Healthcare Industry Insights Conference aimed at healthcare professionals and others with an interest in this field to hear from experts providing insightful discussion and frank debate.
The sessions were each themed to different topics such as Innovation for Sustainable Access and Quality Care, Building a Skilled Workforce, navigating Public-Private Partnerships and Addressing Social Determinants.
The day ended with a focus on Digital Transformation and advances in medical device manufacturing, were discussed.
Dilip Naran, Vice President of Product Architecture at CompuGroup Medical South Africa, (an internationally leading MedTech provider), has over 25 years of dedicated service to the South African healthcare market, and was asked to share his thoughts on the next generation of digital health.
Naran has been actively involved in shaping both billing and clinical applications and has been a key player in the creation of cutting-edge cloud-based solutions that have revolutionised the way healthcare professionals operate in South Africa.
Improving workflow processes
The discussion focused on the AI and Electronic Health Records (EHRs), and how by harnessing the power of AI, healthcare providers can unlock unprecedented insights, enhance patient care and drive operational efficiencies.
The topical subject began by reminding the audience that AI has already improved the EHR data management. By extracting valuable insights from clinical notes, automation of repetitive tasks, analysing data to identify patterns and facilitating the seamless integration of multiple data sources. AI advances in HER and medical devices have reshaped the doctor / patient healthcare journey.
To continue this growth, AI powered tools must be implemented in EHRs to enable functionality that enhance the Dr/Patient journey. Some benefits of AI powered EHRs include:
- Effective Clinical Decision Support
- Intelligent Automation. This includes improvement in workflow by automating certain tasks
- Smart Medication management . Ai can alert HCP to potential drug interactions and adverse effects
- Predictive Analytics that are personalised based on patient history
Adoption in South Africa
Whilst some of the AI technologies are not yet available in South Africa, CGM’s recently launched Autoscriber solution which uses AI technologies such as Natural Language Processing NLP and a Large Language Model (LLM) has enabled South African HCPs to use this solution to create structured notes which includes diagnoses ICD10 and SNOMED coding. This assists the HCP in populating their HER without having to physically capture information.
At the moment the adoption rate of EHR in practices is around 30% in the private sector, with oncology leading the way.
With collaboration between government, private and public sector, existing technologies can forecast disease outbreaks, identify high-risk patients and optimise resource allocation.
Dilip Naran concluded by saying: “The use of AI technologies and processes can facilitate the meaningful use of data in EHRs and lead to better patient outcomes”
