The Future of Healthcare Depends on Reliability, but Providers Are Falling Short

Telehealth, or healthcare delivered from a distance, is a truly revolutionary way to deliver healthcare that can improve access and equity, reduce the time people spend in hospitals and waiting rooms, and deliver better patient experiences and outcomes.

While the adoption of telehealth accelerated during the pandemic, its effectiveness depends on reliable connectivity, and that's where many healthcare providers are missing the mark.

Original research from AT&T Business and Bloomberg Media reveals that reliability is the No. 1 driver of business confidence in the healthcare sector, but healthcare companies are seen as sub-par performers on reliability.

To close this reliability gap, hospitals and healthcare providers need to be innovators and thought leaders, and they also need to increase their focus on customer loyalty and the customer experience, all of which are drivers of reliability in healthcare, according to our research.

Successful hospitals and healthcare providers must constantly be looking at ways to use new technology to enhance patient care and improve patient experiences. Here are some key strategies leaders should consider:

1. Enhance communication and collaboration among healthcare professionals and their patients by unifying the cloud.
2. Implement Internet of Things (IoT) for remotely monitored solutions to reduce staff burn-out and expand access to care.
3. Employ Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) in hospitals to harness the power of virtual reality (VR) for patients’ physical therapy after procedures, pain attenuation and other innovative use cases.
4. The key for providers is to understand that the device is the primary way patients access their medical care, and so reliable connectivity is critical, according to Rose Panaia, Director of Healthcare Solutions for AT&T Business.

"If you showed up to the telemedicine session and your doctor wasn't there, it would be like going to hospital and having it be closed," says Panaia. "So it's really important that that connectivity is there to make the connection between you and your provider."

Healthcare is undergoing a revolution that’s powered by new solutions and new technologies, and nearly all of them rely on some type of connectivity to be able to function.

And while healthcare providers are experts in taking care of patients, Panaia says these providers may not be experts in the IT required to deliver telemedicine, VR, and other emerging technologies.

"AT&T Business makes sure that the technology is reliable and that it is going to be there for our customers, who are the healthcare providers, but more importantly for the users, who are the patients,” Panaia says. “We want to make sure that the care they need is there for them.”