Bringing Technology Closer to the Public Sector

Q: What are the administrative and logistics advantages of using IT in imaging and radiology services?

A: An important benefit is the time optimization of radiologists and other health workers. This translates into service quality improvement by reducing the appointment deferral time and making diagnoses available sooner, which also means an increase in productivity. The main benefit here is being able to diagnose and treat the patient at early stages to improve the chances of recovery and eliminate the costs of clinical complications. At an institutional level, IT reduces unnecessary transfers to treat the patient at different levels of care and centralizes the capacity of health workers, particularly that of radiologists which is a scarce resource.

Q: There is a shortage of medical radiologists in the country. How does this situation impact Eseotres?

A: More than a challenge, it represents an opportunity for Eseotres because our technology helps make radiologists more efficient; it gives them the ability to diagnose more studies at the same time using specific imaging tools, and also provides speech recognition so they can dictate their reports much faster. Our platform allows a radiologist to diagnose a study no matter where it was taken. These solutions make it possible to deliver technology to hardto-reach sites and help solve the shortage of radiologists in the country. The medical devices we offer can be used to bring high-level clinical services to rural areas. This change may mean a greater democratization of access to health in Mexico.

Q: How does Eseotres provide a value-added service to health institutions?

A: Even before a health institution acquires our solutions, it receives our personalized service. We analyze the imaging service workflow and its current and projected demand to design an optimal solution in terms of software and hardware. Once a solution is operating, we carry out periodic reviews about the solution’s technology to detect scalability needs; we also conduct follow-up personnel training to maintain the technological efficiency of the services at health institutions.

Q: The future of imaging and radiology is in the combination of Big Data and technology. How do Eseotres’ services and products meet this need?

A: First of all, to work with Big Data you need big data. This implies having a national centralized database of homogeneous structure on medical imaging studies. This database must be at least centralized within an institution and, ideally, it should be cross-institutional in order to have a larger and richer database. In Mexico, the lack of coordination and the fragmentation of the health system hinder its potential. Better coordination among health authorities is needed to promote the modernization of the health system. This coordination should begin with a homologation and eventually a synchronization to modernize the country in a transversal manner. Integrative technologies such as RIS (Radiology Information System) and PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) already exist to integrate different providers into a single channel and to coordinate data systems and Eseotres can provide this solutions. We have seen cases of hospital networks that have high technology but do not have the resulting information centralized. This means that each hospital is a data silo, hindering any Big Data analysis possibilities.

Q: In which area do you expect to see the greatest growth opportunities?

A: We see growth opportunities in both the public and private sectors. There is immense potential that can be tapped in the public sphere, as well as challenges. We believe that technology providers need to be part of the solution to those challenges by working together with the institutions. In the private sector, we see an opportunity in small clinics, which have seen digitalization as a technology that was out of their league because of the costs involved.