Cisco Executive Foresees Nimbler Health IT

Telemedicine applications will become more flexible, mobile and video-centric, a Cisco Systems executive said in advance of this week’s American Telemedicine Association conference in San Jose, Calif.

Ash Shehata, Cisco’s senior executive director of health care business transformation for the Americas, predicts four major changes, according to a report in MedCity News:

• Mobility. Patients soon will expect to access their health information on any device and on their own schedules, Shehata said. Consumers will expect health IT vendors to deliver secure applications over networks and route applications to multiple devices, including kiosks, he said.
• Borderless networks. Health care will adapt and adopt mobile capabilities already used in other industries, such as IT used by banks, Shehata said.
• Cloud computing. Clouds can “become robust mediums that offer users more than a traditional Web interface,” he said, with continually advancing video capabilities and a more connected health care environment.
•  Video. Technology that recognizes speech and gestures will improve. Additionally, avatars could begin to manage administrative tasks, such as patient registration and scheduling. “As technology gets better and better, the line is blurring between what’s an avatar and what’s a real person,” Shehata said.

Cisco has a self-funded health insurance program. It operates a medical clinic at its Silicon Valley headquarters that employs telemedicine as well as in-person visits, MedCity News reported. The clinic serves Cisco’s campus in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, where medical specialists also consult with employees in California.

It’s similar to the way an Accountable Care Organization will operate, with payers and providers collaborating, Shehata said.