Telia: Healthcare lags behind in technology maturity - but the opportunities are many

The healthcare sector lags behind all other sectors and industries in technology use. This shows a survey that TNS-Sifo has done on behalf of Telia and Cisco Systems.

The survey has been conducted among 3,530 employees in the private and public sector and is part of the collaboration project Smarta Företag, which aims to increase knowledge of how information and communication technology can be used to make operations more efficient.

The survey examines how Swedish companies and organizations work based on five important technology areas: Virtual meetings, mobile working methods, customer and citizen service, social media and information sharing.

The results have been weighted together into an index value that reflects society's technological maturity. The index value for the healthcare sector ends up at 28 on the 100-point scale and it is the lowest compared to all other sectors. The banking and finance sector ranks highest at index 50, and the average index for all industries and sectors is 40.

- Technology is of course not the solution to everything, but there is great potential for better and more patient-oriented care at a lower cost with the help of technology. Healthcare can get better at taking advantage of the opportunities that exist, says Jan Pettersson, Head of Public Sector, Telia.

All of Sweden gets broadband

Telia is currently carrying out a major investment in network expansion, which means that 99 percent of the population will have access to the mobile high-speed 4G network where they live in 2014. In 2015, the 4G network will cover 90 percent of Sweden's surface. Parallel to the expansion of the mobile networks, Telia's fiber expansion and upgrading of the fixed networks continues.

- We will have really fast broadband pretty much all over the country. It gives us unique conditions to conduct care in new ways, for example for care at home and remotely, says Jan Pettersson.

The world's best e-health

To demonstrate the technology's possibilities, Telia and Dagens Samhälle organized an inspirational seminar during Almedal Week on Gotland, with a lecture by Bernard Tyson, CEO of the American healthcare chain Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser Permanente is the best in the world at e-health and the business has been praised by President Barack Obama. The seminar can be viewed here >>