INTRODUCTION TO HEALTHCARE Business Management Administration » Medical staff Patients Case studies Solutions and products Healthcare resellers Find out more   RELATED LINKS HM Treasury Department of Health NHS Information Authority NHS Direct

Administrative Challenges The administrative staff deals with both internal and external parties in the storage, transfer, and management of large volumes of information. Internally, information such as admissions and billing data as well as medical test results and diagnosis must be routed among the different administration offices and medical departments. Externally, some of this same information must be shared with insurance, pharmacies, and suppliers. Managing this information is complex and costly in terms of systems and personnel. Many mistakes, like duplication and missing or erroneous information, affects both cost and quality of care. So the right systems need to be in place in order to process information more efficiently. To the extent that these systems are in place, the staff will be less dependent on old ways of info processing (hand written records, large paper files). These systems must also have the capacity to move information quickly without interruption. Some information, like medical imaging, is particularly large and requires significant networking capability. Finally, European Union Data Protection Laws and patient demand requires info to be processed privately and securely. Your medical administrators could spend less time chasing up information from patients, doctors and health insurance companies, as links to patient records, remote clinics and insurance company extranet sites provide a single method of collecting data. Data accuracy could be improved through the removal of manual processes and repetitive data entry. 3Com solutions empower healthcare organizations with comprehensive and secure connectivity. Intelligent 10/100/1000 Ethernet Switched LANs enable application control across the network, delivering great performance for critical tasks whilst ensuring high levels of availability due to a resilient design architecture. Information is driven closer to the users so that decisions can rapidly be taken based upon up to the minute data and treatment can quickly begin. And technologies like 3Com NBX Networked Telephony let busy staff keep on top of their personal messaging wherever they are whilst at the same time lowering the costs of ownership of the hospitals voice infrastructure.