The latest practice information systems make it easier to enter and manage medical data. They optimise and automate many working processes, including external partners of course. The result is more time for what really matters: patients and their health.

Where sensitive health-related data is concerned, only three things really count. They are watertight data privacy, secure data exchange, and strict access controls. In healthcare these are absolutely vital, given all the different parties involved. Doctors, hospitals, nursing staff and carers, pharmacies and laboratories. Via every channel, digital and physical.

With automation, treatment processes become leaner and more efficient, offering a higher standard of care. E-health presents virtually limitless potential for optimisation here, not to mention in telemedicine and the secure sharing of patient records. Aside from having a clear strategy, providers must think about how governance, organisation and change management will work.

Lifestyle products now display growing levels of intelligence and quality, and it is sometimes difficult to tell them apart from medical devices. They give patients quick feedback on their own health, and can encourage them to be proactive about it. Medical professionals also find this additional data useful. It gives them a broader picture of the patient’s health and opens up new treatment options.