Cloud architectural patterns applied to healthcare services — standardization, self-service, elasticity
This is the second part of our analysis of how cloud architectural patterns could be applied to healthcare services. The Healthcare industry must Do More With Less due to demographics megatrends and economic crisis.
Directly inspired from the NIST Cloud definition, we suggest reframing the healthcare system along several architectural attributes.
Leveraging ICD-10 (diagnosis and procedures), it is possible to structure analytically the medical service delivered to patients. Patient clinical check-in and check-out must demonstrate clinical improvement, assessed continually during the stay.
To achieve zero marginal costs in diagnosis, rely on IoT — self-quantifying devices feeding big data with machine learning doing diagnosis continuously. For people who cannot afford home medical devices, consolidate them into a « semiotic cabin » deployed in medically deserted areas. 3D-printing for orthopedics, robots for patient handling. Pay only if there is improvement.
A global supply chain with inbound and outbound flows. Remote consultations and ubiquitous access to clinical AI reduce pressure on emergency care units. Geo-localization of demand and supply provides better capacity planning insights. SKU consolidation to limit variability — define « technical levels » for beds based on Homogeneous Groups of Patients rather than medical services.
Homecare will become prevalent, made possible by IoT, geolocalization, geo-fencing for dependent people, and in-building geolocalization for hospitals. To zero marginal costs and have better utilization: know when to engage appropriate resources (IoT + ML) and standardize services to limit variability. Japan has understood this — pervasive digitalization with robots as humanized interfaces.
The digital transformation revolution of Healthcare Services must be coming. Get prepared to be disrupted either ways: transformation or degradation.