IT needs to continue to improve and be innovative to fill the gaps in healthcare, according to a panel in the opening plenary session of the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference held Tuesday at the Alliant Energy Center.

For example, the daily workflow for physicians and nurses is slowed because of data entry.

“One of the unintended consequences of EMR [electronic medical records] was the hours each day of clicking and documenting instead of patient care,” Dr. Sanaz Cordes of Healthfinch said. “It wasn’t designed to make the workflow more convenient.”

Investors such as HealthX Ventures and Google Ventures are looking for companies that provide the solutions to workflow and other problems in healthcare.

“The disruptions we need are likely to come from outside the healthcare establishment, rather than inside where they’re playing defense, not offense,” Dr. Frank Byrne of HealthX said. “The way the tools have been deployed nationwide, it’s taken physicians and nurses away from their patients.”

Byrne’s colleague at HealthX, Mark Bakken, added his thoughts.

“There’s a lot more that could be done in the healthcare industry,” Bakken said. “Healthcare organizations are under tremendous pressure to improve care.”