The rapidly growing health sector in the GCC countries, which a recent study estimated to expand at 11 percent annually and attract $160 billion by 2015, augurs well for all businesses in the market, including the e-health solutions providers. E-health solutions are meant to increase efficiency in healthcare services in terms of time, cost, resources, reliability, and ease of communication, Mehmet Bilginsoy, CEO, CompuGroup Medical, Middle East, told the Saudi Gazette. However, they have also some disadvantages, he noted, such as the need for continuous development to keep pace with the evolution of the medical field and the risk of failure for hospitals that rely fully on e-solutions in certain extreme conditions such as power failures. He described the Saudi medical market as evolving at a fast pace and its medical requirements are rapidly growing. The local market is in huge need of e-health solutions that can strategically direct it toward enhanced levels of performance and efficiency. About the Kingdom's readiness (in terms of technological know-how and available infrastructure) to embrace and optimally deliver e-health services, Bilginsoy said Saudi Arabia is the region's leader in the field and has massive growth potential especially given the strong governmental support for the local sector. "We have had several successful experiences in the market, providing our cutting-edge solutions to a number of Saudi healthcare institutions such as the King Fahad Medical City and other specialist hospitals. We still see a need to further bridge the quality divide between major and minor healthcare organizations. Once this difference is minimized, the whole medical sector can enjoy a strategic step forward towards deploying best-of-breed e-health solutions that represent the future of the Saudi health sector," he said. Yet challenges lie ahead in implementing sustainable e-health solutions in the Kingdom. He said "the challenge lies mainly with healthcare organizations that do not believe in the efficiency of such solution, most of them lack technical knowledge and IT-proficient healthcare staff in the first place." Bilginsoy noted that majority of medical organizations in the Kingdom's rural areas "are not prepared to deploy and operate such technologies due to their insufficient infrastructure and the lack of necessary IT competencies among their medical teams." To address the issue, he recommends targeting such areas by training the stakeholders, hospitals, doctors that incorporates specialized seminars and events to enrich knowledge on new developments in the healthcare field. Such trainings will emphasize the need to move forward with provided services to keep pace with expanding market requirements. "Every site has its own characteristics... technological infrastructure needs more analysis. E-health solutions vary from project to project and integration is important. In developing e-health projects, building standards are necessary," he pointed out. But for stakeholders, though they are keen on applying e-health solutions, wanted to ascertain the return on their investment first within a certain period. In this situation, Bilginsoy said healthcare has different dynamics and it has its own characteristics. It is not possible to implement one type of solution to every case, he added. "E-health solutions can not be formed in a package. It mostly depends on the requirements of the stakeholders and its dependents. In order to determine a cost of a solution, there are different parameters that need to be defined, such as which division needs, number of users, amount of data to be processed, type of integration needed, type of technology, type of the maintenance, etc." Therefore, it will not be possible to give an exact number or a range with only giving the number of patients. After a required analysis study, the costs can be more visible, he explained. "After defining the costs and the implementation project, return on investment can be measured according to the related department's stakeholders," he added. As in any form of investment, risks cannot simply be ruled out. And in adopting e-health solutions, "risks arise mainly due to the lack of professionalism in operating these solutions. Though we initially make sure to eliminate all risk factors, operators themselves have to be aware of the consequences of the improper use of such solutions. We are targeting a very sensitive field where mistakes are unacceptable. The risk of failure is very minimal from a return on investment aspect, though," Bilginsoy assured. In a fast-evolving e-health solutions business, two novel technologies - namely SaaS (Software as a Service) and Cloud Computing on the health and medical businesses - are changing the landscape. Commenting on this development, Bilginsoy said the difference coming with the new names is more flexible and efficient results. "Using web technologies, virtualization and outsourcing were providing better flexibilities to the beneficiaries. Having one offering from a provider will decrease cost of the problems, while increasing the efficiency. Intelligent and secure using of Cloud technology will open new horizons in the sector. But there seems a need for a regulation about electronic health records, privacy, security and accessibility to the data." CompuGroup Medical, with one of the highest coverage among e-health service providers, conforms to global standards specified by specialized global health organizations and "like all products available in the global markets, our solutions are examined and approved by such organizations," he added. __
