Technology and Sustainability Go Hand-in-Hand in a World Dealing with Climate Change

April 29, 2016 – A new guest writer, Daphne Lefran, provides her first contribution to 21st Century Tech blog with a piece that speaks to one of the challenges technology innovation must face in light of climate change.  Lefran has been writing about design and innovation for many years. She currently writes for the design and manufacturing gurus at Pivot International. In her spare time, she enjoys capturing moments through a camera lens, traveling to new and far away places, and cheering on her Florida State Seminoles. Follow her on Twitter @daphnelefran or find her on LinkedIn. In this posting she illustrates her discussion on sustainable technology looking at disruptive changes to the delivery of healthcare.

———-

In today’s world, technology should address two things: productivity improvements and environmental sustainability. In 2015, 66% of global respondents said they would pay more for sustainable goods and services. Whether utilizing natural packaging material, carbon neutral products or environment-friendly manufacturing processes, it is clear today that brands and businesses need to shift efforts to attract a much more socially and environmentally conscious consumer.

Sustainable technology has become relevant in all industries. Most organizations have turned to energy-saving and efficiency-boosting product design. Integrated information technology (IT) is transforming business operations. Sustainable ERP systems are storing information in databases to optimize business and manufacturing processes, saving time and paper. Budgeting and forecasting software is helping streamline accounting practices, saving energy, and eliminating the need for physical print.

More and more consumer products are being designed with sustainability and efficiency in mind. E-readers and digital picture frames, are two examples of disruptive technology, attractive to consumers because they mashup content and memories and reduce paper use and as a result save trees. And saving trees may help save the planet from the worst impacts of global warming.

The Case for Healthcare Technology and Sustainability

One usually doesn’t think about healthcare as a field where sustainability takes precedence. After all, healthcare is about wellness and healing the sick. But the sector has been slower to adopt sustainable technological innovation and it is hurting the planet. Its document intensive processes directly contribute to carbon emissions.

The electronic health record (EHR) could be healthcare’s answer to combating climate change and yet to date there is considerable reluctance to implement it on a large scale. Why? Because of the issue of patient privacy. Put healthcare records on the Internet and aren’t you subjecting patients to the potential snooping by insurance providers and other interested parties?

That’s why healthcare is so paper intensive. And paperwork is the bane of hospitals and medical practices. An EHR would be a welcome change. It would allow doctors and patients to access medical information online. It certainly would be welcome to trees replacing paper charts with digital files. A recent study done on KP HealthConnect, containing records for 8.7 million patients and used by multiple medical offices in hospitals in nine states, found that implementing an EHR eliminated approximately 1,000 tons of paper records. Now that’s contributing to sustainability.

How does it work? Patients login online, access their personal records, or make inquiries without stepping foot inside a medical clinic. Routine services no longer require a patient to drive or take public transit to get to a doctor’s office. Paperwork, billing and prescription refills can all be handled online. The cost benefit of this approach is measurable for patients, doctors. hospitals and the environment.

92% of adults in the U.S. own at least one cellphone or smartphone. Smartphones and tablets have been replacing desktop PCs proving that the technology revolution is going mobile. Whether you want to pay a bill before you forget to, or you want to adjust the temperature in your home, almost everything and anything can be managed with just a tap on a smartphone touchscreen.

Now add the disruptive advantages that smartphones can bring to healthcare and you have an even better sustainability argument. Text alerts, mobile apps and video calls are transforming the way we manage our health. The added bonus of the technology is it is also helping us reduce our carbon footprint.

Today 28% of consumers have a healthcare, wellness, or medical app on their mobile device. This is up from 16% last year. This is a revolution in personal wellness where mobile technology is giving us a digital health tool at our fingertips. We can routinely take our own blood pressure, measure blood sugar levels, and diagnose a number of conditions including sleep apnea just using algorithm-based symptom checkers we download as apps. No visit to the doctor is needed. It is no wonder that in an Orange Healthcare poll, 88% of physicians are encouraging patients to monitor personal health issues at home through apps and personal wellness home monitoring devices.

The smart watch is another disruptive wearable that is altering healthcare. These replacements for the common wristwatch are proving to be more than just a fad. Devices like Fitbit can transform treatment of chronic medical illnesses. Rich Able, CMO and Founder of X2bio, a company dedicated to sensors for monitoring head injuries, states, “effectively utilizing wearable technology is the key to helping advance our healthcare system to reach the next level—detection and correction of course-based data, predicated on real-time evaluation.”

Wearable health-tracking devices also contribute to sustainability because by making people more health-conscious the ultimate payoff is fewer hospital admissions, lower healthcare insurance premiums and a decline in hospital costs. As it turns out, it is much cheaper to be proactive in keeping patients healthy than having them admitted to hospitals.

On-demand access to an EHR is also promoting remote health services. In India patients are being equipped with smart home monitoring kits. These wireless devices connect directly to online databases shared by doctors and specialists who can administer examinations and prescriptions remotely. A cardio and endovascular technology company, Biotronik, recently has introduced a home monitoring technology specifically designed for patients with implanted cardiac devices such as pacemakers. As the managing director, Tushar Basu, states, “At Biotronik, we believe that digital technology can be effectively used to benefit a large number of patients. Biotronik Home Monitoring systems are leveraging this technology not only to improve healthcare delivery but also radically improve the quality of life of our patients.”

This type of remote healthcare is also coming to the United States. According to IDC Health Insights, by 2018, 70% of healthcare organizations worldwide will invest in consumer-facing technology including apps, wearables, remote monitoring, and virtual care. With its advent the healthcare experience—hospitals, clinics, apps, and telehealth—will pay dividends for the environment in many ways. Less paper means fewer trees to cut. Personal wellness technologies means a healthier populace. A healthier population means fewer hospital stays and lower healthcare infrastructure usage and a lower carbon footprint.