At a time when patient-centered healthcare seems all the rage, a survey of top healthcare leaders around the world indicates they’re most concerned with implementing technology that allows doctors to communicate with each other.

Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group received responses from 96 leaders in 16 countries for its Global Health Leaders Survey. The results were released Wednesday in Washington, D.C., as part of the World Health Congress keynote presentation and a panel discussion titled Ministerial Forum on Global Health Innovation: A Perspective on National Health Opportunities.

According to Frances Dare and Kaveh Safavi, director and vice president, respectively, of Cisco’s IBSG Global Healthcare Practice, the survey’s results indicate healthcare leaders view collaboration – rather than cost or access – as the driving force in healthcare delivery. Both said the use of telehealth to develop care teams – doctors collaborating with each other in real time on a patient’s care, no matter where they’re located – leads to reduced waste, lower cost and better clinical outcomes.

“It shifts the focus or it shifts the emphasis,” said Dare. Healthcare leaders, she said, “see the emphasis on helping health professionals first … through virtual collaboration.”

“It is very much about the exchange of data and live interactions,” she added. “To accomplish this, we need to make sure that collaborative technologies are easy to use.”

Survey respondents listed as their top concerns providing equitable access to health services, maximizing the efficiency of health resources and providing quality care consistently. When asked what options would enable “significant, nationwide health transformation,” they identified technology-enabled innovations and telehealth solutions.

Safavi said many governments have focused their efforts on developing technology – particularly on electronic health records – and are just now shifting the focus to the proper use of that technology.

“The relative priority of collaborative technologies is going up,” he said.

Those responding to the survey see high potential in telehealth, with 65 percent supporting both ICT (information and communications technologies) and the electronic sharing or accessing of diagnostic images, video or patient biometric data. Another high-potential growth area, according to 64 percent of those surveyed, is the use of ICT for clinical training and references.

In contrast, only 32 percent placed a high priority on patient care provided by “care-at-a-distance” models.
“The doctor-to-patient relationship is still a priority,” said Dare. Improving communication and collaboration among physicians, she said, “augments that relationship.”

When asked about challenges facing their country’s healthcare system, world leaders placed access, efficiency and quality over “providing health services our country can afford.” According to the survey, top challenges were maldistribution of health professionals (identified by 35 percent) and insufficient numbers of health professionals (20 percent). Only 10 percent of those surveyed listed affordability as their top concern.

The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International and received responses from healthcare leaders in the United States, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Chile, England, France, Germany, India, Scotland, South Africa, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, India, Kenya and Nigeria. The survey targeted senior government leaders, both civil servants and political appointees.

Safavi said the survey should compel governments to develop public-private partnerships to advance the delivery of healthcare. While the private sector may lead the way in experimentation and innovation, he said, the public sector has the necessary means to increase the scale of delivery.

“This survey breaks new ground on a global level about what health leaders believe will help drive meaningful change in national health service,” said Mary McIntosh, PRSAI’s president. “Having a macro view of the ICT challenges and opportunities health leaders face focuses attention on a host of ways to advance health service for (nations) around the world.”