Improve Patient Experience With These Helpful Tips

In the realm of healthcare, the patient experience plays a vital role in overall satisfaction and outcomes. By focusing on enhancing the patient experience, healthcare providers can foster trust, build stronger relationships, and ultimately improve healthcare delivery. In this blog post, we will explore several tips that can help healthcare providers improve the patient experience and create a more patient-centered environment.

Enhancing Communication

Effective communication is key to building a strong patient-provider relationship. Patients want to know that their healthcare provider is listening to their concerns and taking the time to explain things in a way they can understand.

To improve communication, start by actively listening to your patients. Give them your full attention, make eye contact, and avoid interrupting. Show empathy and understanding for their concerns, and encourage them to ask questions.

Use plain language when explaining medical terms or procedures, and provide written materials such as brochures or handouts to help patients understand their condition or treatment plan. Make sure to ask patients if they have any questions or concerns throughout their visit. In addition, regular updates on test results and treatment progress can also alleviate anxiety and keep patients informed and engaged.

Streamlining Administrative Processes

Streamlining administrative processes is critical to improving the overall patient experience in healthcare. By optimizing administrative tasks, healthcare providers can save time, reduce patient waiting times, and enhance operational efficiency. This benefits the healthcare organization and contributes to a smoother and more satisfying experience for patients. Clinical decision support providers from Zynx Health add that evidence-based solutions are crucial in streamlining administrative processes. By offering innovative solutions and technology, healthcare providers can standardize processes, retrieve real-time information, make evidence-supported decisions, and deliver consistent, high-quality care.  

Efficient and streamlined administrative processes can significantly improve the patient experience. Simplifying appointment scheduling and registration through online or mobile platforms minimizes wait times and provides convenience to patients. Adopting electronic health records (EHRs) ensures easy access to patient information and reduces the need for repetitive paperwork. By streamlining administrative tasks, healthcare providers can maximize their time with patients and enhance overall efficiency.

Creating a Welcoming and Comfortable Environment

A clean, organized, and welcoming environment can contribute to a positive patient experience. Regular cleaning, disinfection, and sanitization of waiting areas and patient rooms promote hygiene and comfort. Comfortable seating arrangements, a calming atmosphere, and access to amenities like water, reading materials, or entertainment options in waiting areas help patients feel valued and at ease. Providing comfortable gowns or robes during examinations or procedures enhances patient comfort and dignity.

Empowering and Engaging Patients

Empowering patients to actively participate in their own care journey can lead to better health outcomes. Healthcare providers should encourage shared decision-making and involve patients in treatment plans. Offering educational resources and materials that are accessible and easy to understand allows patients to make informed decisions about their health. Collecting and acting on patient feedback through surveys or feedback forms can provide valuable insights and drive improvements in the delivery of care.

Staff Training and Development

The attitude and behavior of healthcare staff have a significant impact on the patient experience. Ensuring that staff members receive training in patient-centered care, empathy, and effective communication is crucial. Ongoing professional development keeps healthcare professionals updated with best practices and promotes a culture of continuous improvement. Recognizing and appreciating staff members for their patient-centered efforts fosters a positive work environment, which translates into better patient experiences.

Embracing Technology and Innovation

Leveraging technology and innovation can transform the patient experience. Online appointment booking and telemedicine options provide convenience and flexibility for patients, particularly those with mobility limitations or geographic constraints. Patient portals offer secure access to health records, test results, and communication with healthcare providers. Incorporating innovative solutions, such as remote monitoring devices for chronic disease management or patient engagement apps and wearable devices for health tracking, promotes personalized care and empowers patients to actively manage their health.

Implementing an Omnipresence CRM can further enhance these efforts by centralizing patient data and interactions, ensuring a seamless and personalized experience across all touchpoints.

Ensuring Continuity of Care

Seamless coordination of care across healthcare providers and settings is vital for a positive patient experience. Effective communication and sharing of patient information between providers during transitions and referrals ensure continuity and prevent information gaps. Providing clear instructions and resources for post-care support, along with prompt follow-up, demonstrates a commitment to comprehensive patient care and addresses any concerns or complications that may arise.

Improving the patient experience requires a patient-centered approach that prioritizes effective communication, streamlined administrative processes, a welcoming environment, patient empowerment, staff training, technology integration, and continuity of care. By implementing these helpful tips, healthcare providers can create an environment where patients feel valued, informed, and engaged in their healthcare journey. Ultimately, an enhanced patient experience contributes to improved healthcare outcomes, increased patient satisfaction, and stronger patient-provider relationships. Let’s strive to continuously improve the patient experience and provide care that truly puts the patient at the center of attention.

How artificial intelligence and machine learning can improve your productivity?

Every year, the horizon for improving Artificial Intelligence’s abilities grows incredibly. We can see how Chat-gpt and other assistants are exceptional in their skills and becoming indispensable to our lives. They have become accessible, teachable, and usable. What can they do for people when it comes to productivity? In general, AI and ML help us every day in various spheres, such as:

  •       Automating processes.
  •       Management and extensive tasks.
  •       Education.
  •       Healthcare.

Let’s talk about it precisely.

Automating processes – making routine tasks more manageable.

Automating routine tasks using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies is a way to reduce human error rates and facilitate the execution of repetitive tasks – saving time and resources that can then be spent on other individual tasks.

One good example is classifying emails in email accounts and filtering out spam. Customers who work from special features such as Google’s Smart Reply can automatically sort and filter emails, classifying them according to content and importance. This reduces the time spent inboxing and sorting emails. In addition, these clients can offer short answers tailored to the context, which speeds up and automates your responses.

Another area where artificial intelligence and ML have played an important role in automating routine tasks is in scheduling and managing your calendar. You can use various services to control your time and increase productivity quickly. For example, Bordio can synchronize your regular Google calendar with important dates and help you make to-do lists for the day and long-term plans. The calendar will notify you of your to-do’s, and you can easily manage your planning.

Management and extensive tasks.

And so in addition to personal usefulness and accessibility, essential things can also be mentioned, such as use in businesses and companies. Various services that automate the collection and analysis of information are of great help at the production scale. For example, artificial intelligence and ML can improve decision-making in the business world. These technologies can analyze extensive market research data, customer feedback, and past sales reports to identify trends and patterns. This helps companies understand consumer behavior, anticipate changes in the market and adapt their market behavior accordingly and have good timing to promote their new product. It can also help identify profitable opportunities and risky propositions, making investment decisions more informed and less complicated.

Another strategy is to use artificial intelligence and ML for scenario analysis and modeling. You can understand potential outcomes and make contingency plans by inputting different scenarios into a machine-learning model. This is especially valuable in situations involving significant uncertainty or risk.

It is also helpful to integrate artificial intelligence into your everyday decision-making processes. For example, in customer service and feedback, we can use artificial intelligence to analyze customer interactions with goods on platforms and feedback, leading to more informed decisions about improving service. Automated responses can also improve the customer communication process. That is why one of the most visible consequences of artificial intelligence growth in communication is the advent of chatbots. Companies are increasingly using AI-powered chatbots to handle customer queries and provide instant responses. This provides faster resolution of questions and frees up time for customer service representatives to deal with more personalized issues. Chatbots can learn from each interaction, improving their understanding and response and increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Education.

Artificial Intelligence and machine learning have become a leap forward in the field of knowledge, especially self-learning – popular these days. These technologies have made learning more effective, engaging, and promising by personalizing learning, providing intelligent recommendations based on customer analysis, and identifying future skill requirements.

Personalized learning is perhaps the most critical way artificial intelligence and ML promote skill development. Learning platforms driven by artificial intelligence can adapt to individual learning styles, speeds, and preferences. They can offer personalized learning pathways, offer resources based on learners’ interests and needs, and provide real-time feedback. This level of personalization helps learners stay engaged, understand concepts more deeply and learn at their own pace, leading to better outcomes.

Artificial intelligence and ML can identify skill gaps and recommend appropriate learning resources. For example, by analyzing a person’s work or academic performance, the artificial intelligence system can suggest areas for improvement and recommend courses or materials to close those gaps. It can predict which skills may become more valuable, helping students stay one step ahead.

Moreover, artificial intelligence and ML can facilitate experiential learning. Students can immerse in virtual reality and experience something that is only possible to learn with practice. For example, to do complex operations for medical students or simulation of some situations for the rescue workers.

However, when learning these technologies, it is essential to remember that they are tools to enhance human capabilities, not replace mentors and teachers. They still play a vital role in inspiring learners, developing creativity, and providing emotional support. Thus, the most effective learning environments combine artificial intelligence and ML technologies with human guidance and mentoring.

Healthcare.

The digital revolution is increasingly used to improve quality and accuracy in healthcare. These technologies, by automating complicated activities and analyzing massive volumes of data, can reduce errors and enhance consistency and overall quality.

Artificial intelligence and AI have considerably enhanced the quality and accuracy of diagnosis and treatment in the healthcare sector. For example, artificial intelligence systems can assess medical pictures like X-rays and MRIs with greater precision than humans, lowering the likelihood of undiagnosed disorders. Based on vital indicators, artificial intelligence may also predict a patient’s deteriorating state, allowing for early intervention and potentially saving lives.

Conclusion about AI and ML helping us in productivity.

AI-powered learning systems can tailor materials and teaching methods for each learner, considering their individual needs and learning speed. Also, the many virtual assistants and algorithms that you use every day and probably never think about the fact that the algorithm that calculates your height and weight to match your diet and workout, as well as the services that match your advertising and commercials to your preferences, are also the result of the digital revolution. The level of customer service, Healthcare processes, and education has increased rapidly.

In the end, we can say that we have the best circumstance for productive work and study – while AI and ML help us to save time and energy.

 

UPS to Acquire Multinational Healthcare Logistics Provider Bomi Group

UPS (NYSE: UPS) today announced plans to acquire Bomi Group, an industry-leading multinational healthcare logistics provider. The transaction will add temperature-controlled facilities in 14 countries and nearly 3,000 highly-skilled Bomi Group team members to the UPS Healthcare network in Europe and Latin America.

“As a leading global healthcare logistics company, Bomi enhances our portfolio of services and accelerates our journey to become the number one provider of complex healthcare logistics,” said EVP and President of UPS International, Healthcare and Supply Chain Solutions Kate Gutmann. “UPS Healthcare and Bomi Group employees share similar values and our cultures are firmly rooted in a relentless focus on quality. The combination of our two teams will significantly improve our healthcare customers’ ability to continue to develop and deliver life-saving innovations.”

Since 1985, Bomi Group has provided high value-added services for the Medtech and Pharma sectors with a customized and tailored approach. It is a quality-focused company devoted to healthcare that has built solid and long-lasting business relationships with more than 150 multinational customers worldwide.

Key Bomi Group leaders, including CEO Marco Ruini, will continue in their roles to provide seamless service to Bomi Group customers after the transaction closes. Bomi Group’s employees will also continue to play vital roles in the combined organization.

With over 35 years in the healthcare logistics industry, our team has developed best-in-class services designed to meet and exceed the needs of our medical technology and pharmaceutical customers,” said Ruini. “Joining the UPS team will expand those capabilities and create an even more integrated and smart global network for our customers.” 

The acquisition will add more than 350 temperature-controlled vehicles and four million square feet (391k m2) to the UPS Healthcare global footprint, offering customers access to faster shipping times, greater production flexibility, and offerings to help them attract new business. The acquisition will play a key role in the delivery of next-generation pharmaceutical and biologic treatments that increasingly require time-critical and temperature-sensitive logistics.

We are focused on building healthcare logistics capabilities and services that allow our customers to deliver the newest healthcare innovations,” said UPS Healthcare President Wes Wheeler. “We are excited to combine Bomi’s talent, expertise and capabilities with UPS Healthcare – together, we will provide unmatched solutions to our customers, powered by UPS’s integrated, global smart logistics network.”

The acquisition of Bomi is part of UPS Healthcare’s continued expansion of its network and services to meet growing demand – including Bomi, UPS Healthcare has doubled its global footprint since 2020. Recent expansions include newly constructed and soon-to-be-opened dedicated state-of-the-art healthcare logistics facilities in Germany and Australia, and expanded campuses in Hungary and the Netherlands.

UPS Healthcare also recently enhanced UPS Premier, a technology-led service that can prioritize and track critical shipments within 10 feet (about 3 meters) of their location anywhere in UPS’s global network. UPS Premier brings worldwide visibility, control, reliability and product recovery capabilities to UPS Healthcare customers.

These expansions and new services meet the complex and varied needs of UPS Healthcare’s customers, helping them turn logistics into a competitive advantage.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to customary regulatory review and approval. The value and terms of the transaction are not being disclosed at this time. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as the financial advisor to UPS.

For more information about UPS Healthcare’s innovations and customer-driven solutions, visit Healthcare.ups.com and about.ups.com.

UPS Healthcare Revolutionises Prioritised Shipping with Enhancements

UPS Healthcare today announced a market expansion and the next generation in the UPS® Premier product line. The UPS® Premier service portfolio provides unique flexibility to meet healthcare customers’ unique needs. The expansion will see the service become available in Ireland this year.

UPS Premier monitors packages at all times, creating visibility and prioritisation for each shipment. In addition, sensor technology enables real-time recovery of UPS Premier shipments if they encounter network delays, temperature deviations, or other issues.

UPS® Premier Silver and Gold are now available in major markets around the world. UPS® Premier Platinum adds the ability to monitor temperature, light and humidity while tracking shipments in and out of the UPS network.

“The expansion and enhancement of UPS Premier supports the complex needs of our laboratory, medical and pharmaceutical customers around the world,” said EVP and President International, Healthcare and Supply Chain Solutions Kate Gutmann. “Whether efficiently moving healthcare products between countries, maintaining negative 80-degree temperatures or locating life-saving shipments with precision, UPS Premier provides industry-leading visibility, control, reliability and recovery.”

This specialised service connects major global trade lanes and is now expanding geographically. These new offerings provide customers even more benefits, including efficient customs brokerage, environmental monitoring, and visibility to meet the challenges of global healthcare logistics leaders.

“Visibility and traceability are essential to prioritizing the life-saving medications our customers ship and their customers need,” said UPS Healthcare President Wes Wheeler. “The difference between life and death for patients often hinges on the ability to quickly ship and precisely track, monitor and locate medications.”

Innovations in biologics, specialty pharmaceuticals, and medications genetically personalized for each patient’s needs are driving significant demand for precision logistics to support more patient-critical, time and temperature-sensitive products.

The global market for biologic therapeutic drugs is set to increase from $285.5 billion in 2020 to $421.8 billion by 2025. [1] UPS Healthcare has added these new UPS Premier capabilities to support the complex needs of this growing market.

For more information on UPS Healthcare’s innovations and customer-driven solutions, visit Healthcare.ups.com and about.ups.com.

Dell Technologies Solar Community Hubs Bring Technology, Healthcare, Workforce Skills to Remote Communities

Dell Technologies, in partnership with Computer Aid, Intel and Microsoft, announced its Solar Community Hubs strategy, marking an evolution in its established Solar Learning Labs program. Moving beyond technology access for education alone, the hubs improve access to technology, healthcare and workforce skills for communities in remote areas around the world.

The Solar Community Hubs will be built with Dell technology-enabled solutions and look to introduce 5G, edge computing and other services. Each hub will be managed by the community and will offer services based on each community’s unique needs. The hubs will provide communities with access to water and electricity, healthcare and resources for environmental preservation. Community members can also access technical skills training, entrepreneurship support, education and career guidance, and revenue-generating services to support job creation and financial sustainability.

“Research shows that the greatest impact starts with empowering local communities,” said Cassandra Garber, VP of Environmental and Social Governance, Dell Technologies. “By introducing the Solar Community Hubs, communities will have access to resources and infrastructure to address their most pressing issues. This evolution puts community needs at the center, and we are eager to see – and be a part of – the impact these community partnerships will have around the globe.”

Digitizing the Amazon to Support Sustainability

Dell Technologies recently introduced the first Solar Community Hub in Boa Esperanca, Brazil, in partnership with the Foundation for Amazon Sustainability (FAS), bringing digital tools like Latitude Rugged, desktops, servers, projectors and Wi-Fi to community members in a dozen outlying riverside communities and Indigenous tribes in the Amazon. Community members, who previously traveled far for modern services and school, can now continue their education, take vocational courses, start college and prepare for the job market – in their own community.

The hub is also designed with circularity at its core, using repurposed shipping containers, sustainably sourced wood and furniture, and solar panels so devices run primarily on renewable energy.

Participants in the project are part of FAS’ Bolsa Floresta program, a government initiative of the State of Amazonas introduced in 2008 to decrease deforestation through community building. The hubs help improve the lives of people living in the Amazon who then cultivate a more sustainable relationship between the rainforest and its residents.

Power in Partnership

Dell currently collaborates with approximately 60 strategic partners globally, including Computer Aid, Dell’s nonprofit partner for Solar Community Hub development. Computer Aid helps identify the locations and local partners who can help make the hub a reality.

Since 2011, Dell and Computer Aid have partnered to support 24 Solar Learning Labs, which reach 18,000 students and community members per year in countries including Brazil, Colombia, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa.

Dell also works with customers, partners– like Intel and Microsoft – and other stakeholders to bring additional resources and capabilities to the communities based on local needs. Partners and customers can now join Dell Technologies and Computer Aid in supporting the roll out of the Solar Community Hubs over the coming years.

New Technologies That Can Help Improve The Life Expectancy Of The Irish

The downsides of the modern way of life are threatening the health of nations across the world. In Ireland alone, over 10,000 people died last year from cardiovascular-related diseases, and the most common cause of death was unpredictable strokes and heart failure. 

However, there are promising signs of improvement with the help of technological advances that can increase the life expectancy of the nation. Keep on reading as we’ll discuss some of the new technologies on the way.

This table by this comparison website reveals that the Irish life expectancy past 65 is significantly lacking behind other countries. Of course, like with every new technology, these revolutionary approaches are often not available to everyone. The availability is rather due to scarce medical supplies than to a lack of sufficient funds. Scientists are working on commercializing these new technologies, reducing the costs of production, and improving the chance for everyone to use them. If the new approaches and discoveries are successful, chances are these technologies will be more available to many. Until then, many hospitals still have to make selective decisions on which patients are a priority to receive treatment.

MRI and CT scans 

New improvements have been made in the field of CT and MRI scans. The new advancements are estimated to ease the diagnoses and discovery of hidden tumours and underlying issues. The standard scans came with flaws and establishing a correct diagnosis has been known to be an issue. Thankfully, the new advancements may allow for more precise and more accurate diagnoses, and with the early discovery of tumours and cancer cells, the treatments and their effectiveness will be increased. 

Biopharmaceuticals 

The number of prevalent diseases has risen over the years, despite the many advancements made, as simultaneously the number of factors contributing to the spreading of diseases has risen as well. 

As the statistics suggested, in Ireland alone, over 40,000 people are fighting these diseases each year. The biopharmaceutical industry has had an astonishing rise in the last decade. The technology behind it allows for more effective treatment of metabolic diseases and even cancer. These technologies rely on living cells, modified through cutting-edge methods. The range of diseases treatable with the technology is astonishingly broad. The modified organisms or cells are used in the treatment of cancerous cells, allergies, inflammatory tissue, and gene therapies. The treatment is specifically meant for rare disorders, but also represents an effective method of fighting cancer. 

Control and management 

We have so far listed the most common health concerns and issues such as cardiovascular problems, strokes, tumours, and genetic disorders. However, another common problem has become diabetes, which approximately 6% of the population of Ireland deal with. Thankfully, with sensors and insulin checkers, regulating your sugar levels has never been easier and more effective. 

Better control over the issues allows for a more effective treatment. And trackers and sensors are also available for other issues: respiratory monitoring, cardiac monitoring, and health monitoring of the body during invasive treatments, like chemo. Wearables now can allow people to track the pulse and overall condition of their body. 

The control and management of such serious conditions, and even the regular control of healthy individuals, will drastically reduce death outcomes and allow longer life and more productive ones. 

These bright numbers suggest a better future for the vast portion of the population. Over 200,000 individuals in Ireland have been successful in treating cancer and surviving after several sessions of chemo and radiation. Surviving a stroke or heart attack has become standard with checkers monitoring cardiac disease and with bypass operations having an almost 100% success rate. The future looks optimistic, and we can only hope the best is yet to come. 

Aramark Launches World-First Solution Inpatient Feeding

Aramark, the market-leading foodservice and integrated workplace solutions provider, launches DISH; a Digital Innovation Solution for Healthcare. The transformative platform offers a bespoke digital ordering system for healthcare environments.

Developed in Ireland, DISH combines pioneering technology with innovative customised menus into a seamless, integrated, digital healthcare solution. The platform offers unrivalled reliability, efficiencies and support for patients, healthcare staff and foodservice workers, transforming the patient experience. Available for use in a wide range of public and private healthcare settings, pilot testing has shown that busy hospitals can save 2,000 man hours of administrative work per annum, while also removing the potential for human error in the patient ordering process.

Created in collaboration with Nutritics, an industry leader in nutrition and food management software, DISH focuses on improving patient safety, removing potential errors in data collation, displays allergens, ingredients, and nutritional composition, texture, and identifies appropriate therapeutic meal options.

Smart ordering, supported by technology, minimises the risk for patients with food allergies and reduces touch points and contact between patients and hospital staff. It helps to ease communication barriers with certain patient groups. Written, visual and verbal menu choices are all designed in compliance with HIQA requirements.

DISH can also fully integrate into each hospital’s patient management system, calculate specific individual nutritional requirements, including stress factors and activity level, which can be utilised by the hospital’s dietetic and clinical teams. It is an all-round solution ensuring connectivity and continuance of care.

 

Elbha Purcell, Head of Dietetics and Wellbeing, Aramark Northern Europe “Everyone knows the pressure that Ireland’s Healthcare system is under, so we set out to create a solution that improves efficiency, quality, and safety, as well as reducing food and paper waste. It was critical for us that DISH can truly transform the inpatient feeding experience in every setting, serving everyone involved in the process.

“In equal importance, we made sure that DISH drives efficiencies, sustainable practices, and cost savings, removing an unnecessary environment impact and cost of the existing process. It reduces time from kitchen to pantry to patient, taking pressure off frontline staff, and helping to reduce food waste.”

 

Shane Flynn, Managing Director for Aramark Food Services, Facilities Management & Avoca, Ireland commented “Aramark stays on the cutting edge of innovative technology. Our long-standing partnerships in Ireland’s healthcare sector are a reflection of our expert teams’ deep operational and nutritional knowledge, innovative thinking, and safety-focus, which enables us to develop customised programs for every organisation we serve.

“We’re also proud to partner with industry leaders on the development of new systems and often bring these solutions to our clients so that we can solve for the very real challenges that they face.

I’m excited for the transformation this solution can bring and look forward to seeing this Irish innovation grow and serve Aramark’s Healthcare partners and patients around the globe.”

5 Key Drivers Behind the Embedded PC Boom

Living alongside smart devices has become a convenient and comfortable practice for all of us, but little do we realize the sophisticated performance that lies within. Embedded systems are sought after in almost every industry today as they vastly improve communication and connectivity with multiple devices and networks. Though many industries have suffered huge setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact has been neutral on the embedded systems market. According to a recent survey, Global Embedded Systems Market is estimated to reach $291.25 billion by 2025, registering a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period of 2019 to 2025. So what are the factors propelling the demand for such embedded systems? Here are five key drivers behind the boom:

 

1. Rising Demand for Hybrid Vehicles

Automatic transmission, anti-lock braking systems, keyless entry or security systems, and drift detection are examples of some applications controlled by embedded systems in a vehicle. However, recently, there is a growing demand for vehicles outfitted with car-to-road communication facilities and efficient navigation. Furthermore, shifting focus towards hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and electric vehicles (EV) to control emission is estimated to further fuel the embedded systems market growth.

 

2. Smart Consumer Electronics

Embedded systems have found their way into our everyday life through integration into various consumer electronics. Appliances such as home security systems, fridges, and ovens make use of embedded systems which aid in collecting user input, info regarding the functioning and modification of appliances, and controlling the appliance itself. This continued rise in demand for smart electronics is expected to drive the embedded systems market growth in the next five years.

 

3. Advancement of Healthcare Systems

Various equipment in the medical industry incorporates embedded systems. From scanning machines to imaging systems to sonography equipment, all machinery is built around and controlled by integrated networks. Even handheld and portable medical equipment used to monitor essential signs make wide use of embedded systems. All these advancements in healthcare are anticipated to propel the demand for embedded systems applications at a CAGR of 8.35% from 2016 to 2021. 

 

4. Need for High Precision Military Devices

Embedded systems are incorporated across a plethora of military applications such as intelligence, communications, and reconnaissance. As military tech like UAVs moves beyond outdated surveillance methods, the demand for more processing power, secure communication, remote control, and I/O flexibility has increased. Companies such as ADL Embedded Solutions are geared towards building better, more powerful, and durable embedded systems that can be deployed onto the field, and this further facilitates the growth of the market.

 

5. Continued Expansion of IoT

Adoption and expansion of IoT and connected devices are on the rise across all industries worldwide. Countless vendors are making significant efforts to provide interoperability in a range of connected devices, gateways, entertainment systems, and smart homes. This has increased the demand for embedded computer boards such as SBCs, COMs, and stand-alone boards. Therefore, the rising demand for IoT devices is expected to foster the growth of the global embedded systems market. 

 

With embedded systems becoming a significant part of our lives and being integrated across all applications, it’s safe to assume that the boom of the embedded systems market is here to stay.  

New health insurance comparison site launches to help curb customer confusion. #Health #Insurance #HealthCareCompare

HealthCare Compare (HCC.ie) has today, launched its new platform which aims to remove the confusion and overpaying associated with health insurance plans. The Dublin based company hopes to help consumers make informed decisions on reviewing cover at the renewal stage. HCC.ie is unique in that it helps users identify the most suitable healthcare plan to suit their requirements and budgets through its advanced comparison tools and advice from health insurance specialists.

 

The launch comes during one of the busiest periods for the sector (November to March) which sees thousands of policies up for renewal. According to the HIA, 2,289,000 Irish people currently have health insurance policies. With over 320 on the market and 2 in 5 Irish people purchasing health insurance, many consumers are becoming overwhelmed with options, resulting in many overpaying. In addition to this, research has revealed an inertia or fear when it comes to changing providers. According to recent figures from the ESRI, 14% of Irish people claim it is too much hassle to switch insurers with 11.2% saying they couldn’t be bothered. It was also found that 7.2% of people said they failed to change providers as it was too difficult to compare plans.

HCC.ie offers a wide range of easy to navigate plans from Ireland’s three providers, Irish Life Health, Laya Healthcare and VHI. HealthCare Compare enables consumers to choose the right insurance premium for them through conducting a full review of their insurance wants and needs and providing users with alternative plans that are a better fit. Through the site, consumers can compare all insurance plans through selecting the type of cover they require, whether it be a basic, corporate or high end plan. They can then select their annual budget, outline the level of excess they would be willing to pay and tailor their premium through selecting which benefits are most important to them. Some of the benefits they can select include cardiac, maternity, fertility, back pain and prescriptions among others. HealthCare Compare also hopes to recruit at least 10 insurance experts across Ireland over the next six months. This opens the idea for those looking for insurance coverage a bit more scope.

The concept for HCC.ie came from young female health insurance expert Barbara Sheahan. She developed the concept for a personalised insurance premium comparison platform following her years of experience within the industry. Sheahan noticed a sizable gap in the market for a health insurance policy comparison platform that would better inform consumers on the best plan for them and their families.

 

Commenting on the launch of HealthCare Compare, Managing Director Barbara Sheahen said:

“We are delighted to have launched our personalised health insurance comparison site to give consumers better insight into the benefits and cost savings associated with selecting a health insurance plan. December to March is when most consumers renew their health insurance, and we understand it can be difficult to sieve through the endless options available. Although many would like to review their options, fear of change and inertia prevents them from doing so. Through HCC.ie we hope to be able to help consumers identify the most suitable plan for them at the best rate, whether that includes fertility benefits, maternity, cardiac, health screening, counselling. Our team of experts will help advise on the most suitable options available, helping them navigate their way through the huge, often-confusing maze of options available to them. We offer a personal service and ensure everyone fully understands the benefits of their plan by simplifying the overwhelming amount of information into their key requirements.”