Slowly but surely
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008Adoption of online services and information technology in medical facilities is a trend, according to Michael Furukawa, an Arizona State University assistant professor in the W. P. Carey School of Business’ School of Health Management and Policy. But he said it’s a slow one in comparison to other industries, such as retail.
“There has been a lot more movement toward adopting it in health care although it’s still relatively slow compared to how policymakers would like it to be,” he said, adding that about 20 percent of physicians use IT for clinical purposes.
When information can be accessed electronically, Furukawa said, it stands the risk of being hacked into and stolen. Also, laptops could be stolen. Problems with reliability can also arise.
“There’s been cases where the computer system crashes, and what do you do during the time when it is down?” he added. “If it’s really critical information that’s necessary, say in an ER situation, then reliability becomes an absolute critical issue.”
But the biggest obstacle, Furukawa said, comes down to money.
“Health care organizations already have thin margins,” he added. “The cost of the new tech is not cheap. IT just gets bumped down the list of priority.”
