Healthcare cooperativism and technology: a path towards innovation and improvement in care

Technology has become a fundamental keystone for the improvement and development of different sectors and the healthcare area is no exception to this. In healthcare cooperatives, where everything is reinvested to improve the quality of the services and the conditions of the workers, technology is also a key element. 
Healthcare cooperatives are well-positioned to take advantage of technology and to apply it to improve their care capacity, the efficiency of the processes and their offer of services.

What is healthcare technology?

Healthcare technology is the application of any technology in the health area, which results in an improvement in the services. This ranges from medical devices and computing systems to block chain and Artificial Intelligence (AI). 
Amongst the main innovations that technology has brought to the healthcare sector are the following:

• Diagnosis and treatment of diseases: thanks to data processing using AI, models of diseases may be developed that help the doctors to perform diagnoses faster and more accurately. AI can turn images into data and detect trends in a more efficient way.
• Clinical trials: clinical research has incorporated technology such as sensors to support decentralised trials that compile data and allow remote consultations.
• Operational efficiency: the use of electronic medical registers and other digital tools allows the management to be optimised and the processes to be improved systematically. Using mobile technology and storage in the cloud, physical space may be freed up and the information may be managed more efficiently.

Benefits of healthcare technology

For healthcare cooperatives, adopting technology means an opportunity to improve efficiency using the automation of processes and the optimisation of the data management, which can reduce costs. This saving may be reinvested in the extension of services through telemedicine and other technologies.

• Improvement in patient care: the use of technology must bring patients closer to the doctors, not the opposite. Telemedicine must offer a new means of communication between patients and healthcare workers, without replacing the traditional care.
• Information in real time: technology standardises the information and facilitates its access between different doctors, which speeds up both diagnosis and treatment.
• Extension of the offer of services: telemedicine and other technologies allow remote health services to be offered, in this way extending the scope of the healthcare.
• Facilitating communication: mobile phone applications and other digital tools improve the communications between patients and health professionals, which results in more personalised, efficient care.

Healthcare cooperativism and technology are two forces that complement and mutually strengthen each other. The adoption of new technologies offers healthcare cooperatives the chance to improve the quality of the care, extend their offer of services and strengthen their commitment to the well-being of their members and of the community. Reinvestment in technology is an essential step to build a future in which medical care is more accessible, efficient and personalised.