Covid19 Crisis: Inspiring Innovations

Category: Business, HealthCare, IT staffing and consulting, Management

“Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable”. – William Pollard

The Covid Pandemic has dented the spirit of the world leaving it in a state of weltschmerz. In the unprecedented crisis, all the countries are coming up with their ideas and innovations to collaborate among themselves and combat the deadly pandemic. Let’s look at some of the ways by which low and middle income countries are working together towards effective remediation of this Pandemic. 

The effective usage of mobile phone communication has resulted in improved data collection, reporting and better communication between healthcare staff, frontline workers, clinicians to take proactive steps in controlling the widespread transmission of covid against low and middle income countries. Use of ticketing apps for harnessing passenger data in public transport in Kenya has helped in contact tracing and forecasting future clusters. This has also helped in sending a deterrent to passengers and limiting the number of commuters to prevent community spread. These approaches are not only simple but also sensitive to social and cultural ethos of the people and have been successful despite resource crunch. 

The first line of defence consists of people who are involved in detection, prevention and controlling the infection. Vietnam has come up with an innovative idea of making use of robots for cleaning the hospitals and formation of special groups for distribution for food and help items to the vulnerable sections of the society. These measures have not only controlled the infection at large but also helped in reducing the impact of lockdown and restrictions. The routine health monitoring systems developed in South Africa are being reinvented to monitor pandemic response and track vaccination distribution in different countries. 

Re-engineering existing resources in the intensive care unit of Saudi Arabia has helped in workforce optimization and reducing workflows resulting in better efficiency and turn around time. Tasks which require specific skill sets have been earmarked and resources deployed based on current demand. Specialists have been identified to carry out the tasks cut out for them which helps in unlocking human potential. Despite an increase in patient frequency clinicians could provide adequate care and respond to their medical requirements seamlessly thanks to the proactive steps taken towards restructuring. 

User centric approach is giving way to driven methodologies resulting in better business outcomes and value generation. Any crisis presents itself with hidden opportunities that need to be unearthed for deriving the benefits for society and building a competitive edge. The need for personal protective equipment was identified by a network of enterprises in Mumbai who collaborated with others in the market and delivered more than one million safety masks within a short span of time to meet the demands of healthcare providers and end users. This is a good example of bottom of the pyramid innovation through creation of prototype and service delivery. 

New age techniques like data modelling have played a significant role in prognosis of the pandemic and developing strategies for accelerating the responses for control and resilience. Countries like Rwanda which is strapped with resource constraints have come up with new data driven pool testing methods which has helped in reduction of the number of tests required to narrow down on the infection count. Analytics and data comparison have also been effective in India for control of spread in large states with the help of low-cost paper based tests carried out in mobile labs. 

Conclusion

We at Newlineinfo Corp are committed to our fight against Covid and support the geographies in which we operate through social inclusivity and innovative management practices. 

Digital Accessibility Impacting HealthCare

Category: ADA Compliance, HealthCare

“XYZ Health is an online health management portal offered to its subscribers by XYZ Health Insurance Company. A subscriber must register in the portal in order to avail various programs and benefits.

Scenario 1: A subscriber with low vision tried to register using the registration screen of the portal. The registration screen has a white background with light gray fonts making it difficult for the subscriber to read the text. The screen does not allow the text to be zoomed to a larger size thereby making it difficult for the subscriber to read the text and enter their personal information for registration.

Scenario 2: Upon logging in to the portal, there are helpful videos on a variety of wellness topics. A subscriber with hearing impairment wants to watch these wellness videos. However, the videos do not offer closed captioning or transcription thereby making the subscriber not benefiting from the wellness videos on the portal.”

The two scenarios listed above are among many real-world scenarios that individuals with disabilities can encounter when dealing with healthcare. From scheduling doctor visits, filling out medical history details, reading statement of benefits, accessing wellness content, etc., healthcare companies and providers needs to understand the importance of accessibility and how it impacts the population of individuals with disabilities.

Section 508 of The Rehabilitation Act requires federal government agencies to make all of its electronic information and technology fully usable by individuals with disabilities. This means that websites, software, multimedia files, documents, etc. must meet specific accessibility requirements to comply with the law. However, there are no regulations for non-federal entities such as hospitals, doctors, healthcare facilities, insurance companies to adhere to Section 508 standards. Not having a digital accessibility plan and non-adherence to these accessibility standards may open the door for penalties due to discrimination, loss of government funding, lawsuits, loss of customer base, etc.

In addition to Section 508, there is another law pertaining to digital accessibility. Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act prohibits health programs or facilities that receive federal funds from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. In doing so, it incorporates existing federal civil rights laws, such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and applies them to federally funded health care and health insurance programs.

Digital accessibility makes huge sense from a business perspective. If a business cannot offer accessible products and services, the business may lose those customers to their competitors who are more accessible friendly entities. People with disabilities usually have higher healthcare needs than the average person. These individuals must have fair and equal access to your website, portals, mobile application and other digital services, just like everyone else.

Are your products and services Section 508 ready? Come talk to us and learn how Newlineinfo Corp can help assess your organization for Section 508 and Section 1557 compliance.