As we continue to progress using the latest technological gadgets to keep us occupied clamors on the U.S. healthcare system to reinvent itself using the popular Uber model. Uber utilizes the virtual world accessed by smartphones to offer transportation services in the physical world. This efficiency through technology is starting to seep its way in the field of medicine, as the efficiencies of a Uber-based model are quite appealing to millions of technologically savvy citizens who utilize and depend on business and consumer type apps to operate their daily tasks. By utilizing the same model, readily available and organizational medical services/tools could be adapted to reinvigorate the way in which the U.S. health care system operates.
According to a recent study conducted by researchers at UCLA and McGill University, and published in the American Journal of Public Health, highlighted the low return on investment of gross domestic product dollars to be a prime indicator of the present inefficiency of American health care spending. Furthermore, a lack of incentive to change permeates the nation; as a great number of Americans are insured with plans that cover most costs except co-pays and deductibles. Meanwhile doctors perform in a fee for service system in which the more they do, the more they are paid. What’s more is the costs of commercial health insurance continue to rise and are set at rates that mostly favor insurance companies.
Therefore it is imperative to re-examine boosting the current health care system by incorporating a model that can restructure, and simplify the organized chaos of U.S. health care. One pressing problem that still persists today is the use of electronic medical records. Various health care providers utilize these electronic files, however such records are not effectively communicated across the board and are unfavorably designed from the perspective of the user; making it difficult for health care providers to find out what they have to know in regards to a patient, when they need to know it.
However, using the uber-based model could change all that. As the technology offers the opportunity to create and provide a much more accessible, feasible, patient-driven electronic mashup of crucial information to health care providers. The app would be designed so that both health care provider and patient could view patient details, medical records, health patterns all in a single user-friendly smartphone app. Additionally, the users could potentially live healthier lifestyles if they have direct access to all their medical information and get a clearer idea of what their current state of health is, with real-time feedback presented on an electronic medical record that is both engaging and interactive. The new paradigm could also offer various health care delivery services such as instant text messaging or phone calls to and from the health care provider, online consultation, prescription refills, and much more.
This service could also be accessed by low-income groups and minorities who are in need of health care services. Therefore, by utilizing smartphone technology restores value to a health care system that provides better health services to all areas of society.
