Marengo Asia Hospital is partnering with Oracle to embrace technological advancements in the healthcare industry, implementing Oracle ERP with full support from the software provider

In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare, technology is playing a pivotal role in shaping its future. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality, augmented reality, and wearable tech are all becoming indispensable tools for healthcare providers, enhancing efficiency and communication between hospitals and healthcare centers. While each technology brings its benefits and challenges, a balanced approach is key. Standardized, integrated solutions that bridge internal processes, from finance to procurement, offer efficiency gains. Oracle has been instrumental in this regard, providing a holistic view of operations with management dashboards. Oracle’s ERP solution integrates everything seamlessly, making healthcare efficient and innovative, Prashant Vashisht, CIO, Marengo Asia Hospitals share more insights on the same

1. What are some of the radical changes the healthcare industry is going through at present and how do you foresee the industry growing further with the emerging trends?

Several existing and emerging technologies will have a positive impact on the healthcare industry in the future. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality, augmented reality, and wearable technology will all become critical tools for healthcare providers and organizations to perform more efficiently. Today, integrated medical technologies are transforming the way in which hospitals and healthcare centers are communicating with each other to change the face of healthcare and evolve to a level that is at par with international standards. We witness EMR, improved workflows, and remote monitoring of patients, making convenience a scalable necessity. With the collection and storage of patient data, improved outcomes in patient experience and patient care are possible today. Through digitized processes, we can see connection and collaborations with other stakeholders is bringing out better outcomes.

The healthcare industry is undergoing radical transformations as a result of increasing investments for newer players, application of newer and most advanced technologies, digitization of healthcare, new government initiatives, paradigm shifts in breakthroughs in medicines, vaccines, and advanced treatment solutions, evolving patient care, and several other contributory factors. Among these trends, the role of technology continues to be an important component to improve medical proficiency and cure life-threatening diseases for an industry as evolving as healthcare. With the introduction and integration of smart technologies in the healthcare industry, the sector is witnessing a rapid change in terms of redefining the components that impact the accessibility and effectiveness of the healthcare infrastructure. Today, we have arrived at a time when concepts like teleconsultation and the integrated healthcare system for better diagnosis and patient care delivery are at the industry’s core. Advanced technologies are automating labor-intensive manual processes and creating a future-proof digital infrastructure to combat uncertainties, such as those encountered during the pandemic, in both frontline patient care and back-end office management.

2. According to you, apart from delivering quality service and care, how critical it is for healthcare providers to deploy a systematic approach at the back office and at the same time transform seamlessly?

Today, it is critical to have a strong mechanism in place across industries, one that can withstand uncertainty. This is especially true for the healthcare sector, given its importance to any country’s health index. In fact, having a systematic, agile, flexible, and scalable back-office system is equally as important as providing enhanced patient care. Having a system that works seamlessly on the back end allows healthcare providers to focus more on critical tasks such as quality service and patient care rather than on processes requiring time-consuming manual operations. With the fast-paced industry and evolving digitalization, it is important for healthcare institutions to revamp their internal processes to meet current patient care and delivery expectations and changing industry dynamics. In the post-pandemic world, the usage, and implementation of digital tools have been decisive and changing the way healthcare institutions operate, making them more swift, agile, integrated, and accessible. Advanced technologies through automation have integrated and processed big data rendering manual recordkeeping obsolete, record management processes quicker and error-free, and integrated for patients, frontline workers, and non-medical support staff.

3. How Oracle is being a differentiator for Marengo Asia compared to other solution providers? What is the cost and work efficiency it has provided to the hospital?

Every hospital requires solutions to the several challenges that pose obstacles to the seamless functioning of a hospital.  However, I cannot state how is one technology better than the other as all technologies have benefits and challenges as well. It is just a matter of a balance between the benefits and challenges. Every technology is expected to provide solutions to key requirements in the healthcare industry. What is required is a standardized solution that integrates all internal processes, such as finance, procurement, order management, and procurement self-service. One looks at a single integrated solution that encompassed all these processes. We were able to accomplish this with Oracle by utilizing a single integrated solution that encompassed all these processes. All the key internal processes must be integrated rather than operating in silos. Furthermore, as one plans expansion, a comprehensive view of operations across multiple verticals is desired by every technology applied to processes. Management dashboards provided by Oracle Fusion ERP enabled us to gain complete visibility of our operations.

From a cost-effective standpoint, automating various processes across levels will serve as an advantage. Technological implementation helps in reducing hardware costs. Other benefits are scalability, flexibility, seamless mobile interface, user accessibility, and the ability to scale up as one expands. The solution is also simple to integrate with our existing HIS system, resulting in integrated and well-connected processes and business optimization. Furthermore, we went through multiple rounds of testing while working closely with the Oracle team, and the benefits prompted our decision to implement Oracle ERP.

4. How cloud technology and other advanced technology solutions are being utilized by medical institutions (government hospitals too) and bringing change?

Post the pandemic, it became a necessity to build digital capabilities, and the sector continues to invest in advanced technologies even in the post-pandemic era or the new normal. The concept of telemedicine digitized and unified record-keeping systems, predictive healthcare, 3D printing, and the use of advanced technologies such as AI, ML, and Data Analytics to predict patient outcomes and map risks, among other things, have all grown in popularity in the space. Healthcare providers in both the public and private sectors have increased their reliance on applications across a wide range of business functions, for internal operational processes, financial management, planning, supply chain management, human resource processes, and several other things. And the emphasis is not limited to the private sector; government hospitals are also investing in smarter technologies. The government’s initiatives such as ‘Ayushman Bharat’, advanced technologies will be remarkably useful in providing a platform for integrating huge amounts of data entering the system. As a result, while technology has become an essential component for medical institutions in recent years, the next few years are predicted to be even more transformative.

5. Also, what are the market opportunities you foresee in the overall healthcare technology segment and how is it different from digitization?

The central focus remains for the modern age healthcare organizations to increase accessibility, advance interoperability, and facilitate patients with numerous insights with a centralized healthcare management system. On these fronts, organizations have relied heavily on modern technologies to revamp these existing systems and advance their digital ecosystem. Healthcare technology is rapidly gaining traction as organizations seek to automate labor-intensive processes and manage large amounts of data to extract valuable insights.

The initial approach to digitization, which was focused on digitizing existing processes and connecting them to a digital network, has evolved into a larger vision of embedding technological solutions into the operational framework of the healthcare industry. To improve the overall functional output and effectiveness of patient delivery, digitalization is the way to go because it includes greater use of digital tools and successfully cuts costs and improves the visibility of operations for both organizations and patients.

6. What are your future business and expansion plans and goals to accelerate your digital transformation journey?

We have been investing in digital capabilities to strengthen our ecosystem and establish streamlined, comprehensive, and intelligent processes across business functions. We believe that investing in smart healthcare will ultimately help us in delivering superior patient care resulting in enhanced patient experience. Hence, going forward we will continue to upscale and upgrade our digital infrastructure as new and smarter technologies enter the market. Our focus is on staying ahead of the curve by consistently keeping up with market innovations and implementing the best practices at our organization. As we continue to grow, we will adopt advanced technologies to ensure seamless processes are in place to extend quality healthcare to our patients.