Top New York Hospital Embraces Mobile Technology

People use mobile technology in many aspects of their lives, from ordering to-go meals and finding the closest coffee shops to banking and getting consumer ratings. Now, folks can turn to mobile technologies, including apps, to help them with something else: healthcare.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is adopting mobile platforms, such as apps, to take care of many patient needs and to make providing healthcare easier for doctors. The No. 1 hospital in New York recently launched the NewYork-Presbyterian app for phones and tablets, which enhances the experience of patients and gives them more ways to communicate with the hospital. 

They’ll be able to get in touch with physicians through the application and use an online payment system to settle bills. The app offers assistance navigating around the hospital, viewing information about services and medical professionals, and connecting with NewYork-Presbyterian’s social media channels.

A Health Care App for the Way We Live Our Lives

Since mobile technology has become so integrated in day-to-day living, the NewYork-Presbyterian app makes sense. It’s in its infancy, so there’s room for it to grow and become more perfect, but it’s a useful tool for people looking for a simple way to stay informed and correspond with those assisting with their care.

“If you were to come in for an operation, you would be able to give your loved one’s phone number to the registration desk and while you are having your operation, it sends automated messaging to your loved one’s phone number,” says NYP Chief Innovation Officer Peter Fleischut. The app allows you to make sure friends and family members are updated in real time, so that they always know what’s going on. 

Future updates to the NewYork-Presbyterian app will include a telehealth feature that allows for scheduling of follow-up visits and remote patient monitoring. The anticipated version of the application will also have a visitor’s guide and a way for users to request second opinions from doctors.

The InnovateNYP: Pediatric App Challenge

Along with the NewYork-Presbyterian app, the hospital has recently launched the InnovateNYP: Pediatric Challenge, a contest that asks techies and forward-thinkers to come up with games, creative tools, and activities to encourage the best healthcare for our kids. The Challenge is open to hospital employees and the public, and it’s the first of its kind, bringing designers, developers, technologies, and clinicians together in an effort to advance new ideas in pediatric care. The kick-off activity for the Pediatric Challenge is a 10-week InnovateNYP: Pediatric Appathon that will have participants from around the world creating what will hopefully be the next huge advancement in healthcare for children.

Patients Are Embracing Mobile Technology to Make Important Health Decisions

Fleischut says that patients are embracing the hospital’s mobile offers, in particular the text feature that lets them get in touch with the hospital when they need to. However, the actual usefulness of this feature, as well as the importance of future additions to the app and the hospital’s technology, is yet to be determined.

“It’s one thing to get initial downloads but I’m more interested in being able to engage with our users,” Fleischut stated. “How long are they staying in the application? How frequently are they coming back to the application?” 

With the tech community involved in the venture, there’s likely to be constant monitoring of the processes to build technology for the hospital that focuses on exactly what patients and medical staff need.