Fast-tracking digital change
4 steps that can help healthcare organizations evolve
Most industries across the globe have already experienced digital transformation.
“Pretty much every business sector is digitally enabled today, ” said Anne Snowdon, RN, PhD, Chief Scientific Research Officer, HIMSS Analytics. “From travel to banking to retail, everything is electronic and highly automated, except in health care. But can you imagine if a healthcare organization could proactively say, ‘Gee, we notice your blood sugars are starting to decline. Let’s have a conversation about how we may get those glucose levels back to normal? ’”
Many healthcare organizations (HCOs) have faced challenges and slow progress associated with digital modification efforts. However , the COVID-19 pandemic spurred the uptake of virtual technology, and healthcare professionals and consumers alike now expect digital transformation to continue unfolding at a rapid pace.
“Since everything in their world is connected, HCOs need in order to be part of that ecosystem because if they are not, they are going to lose to the particular next competitor, ” stated Donny Patel, Vice President, Technology, Innovation & Digital Transformation, Baxter Healthcare Corporation.
To fully participate in a digitally advanced ecosystem, HCOs should focus on areas such as:
Interoperability. “If I go to my general practitioner to get the COVID vaccine, what shot I got, what day and what arm is in the database plus that data flows right to the emergency room that I am taken to when I fall off a ladder and the ED team needs to know if I is vaccinated, ” Snowdon said. With information accessible wherever it is needed, healthcare professionals can make the best decisions.
Predictive analytics. “As the particular new frontier in health care, predictive analytics takes information around unique groupings of patients to identify their health needs. So , women who are 35 in order to 55 years old might be at risk for certain types of infections or illnesses, ” Snowdon said. “Then your doctor can say you’re pretty high risk for this particular infection or disease, so let’s do what is needed to prevent it from ever happening. ”
Person-enabled health. Technology should empower people to take care associated with their own wellness, according to personal preferences, values and needs. “Some of our seniors prefer in order to remain at home with home care services to remain independent. Yet, other seniors find the social isolation of living at home challenging and prefer to live in an assisted living setting to be an active a part of their community, ” Snowdon mentioned.
Pushing the electronic agenda
To move the digital alteration needle, leaders need in order to:
- Know where your organization stands. “What digital strengths do you possess today? If you are a small community organization and are entirely paper based, you are starting at a very different place than a hospital that has a good EMR plus seeks to advance digitally enabled care. The first thing a leader must understand is exactly where their organization’s digital strengths and assets are because working from a position associated with strength is always better, faster and less expensive, ” Snowdon said.
The HIMSS Digital Health Indicator enables leaders to pinpoint their own organization’s starting place. Upon completion of a set of questions, an analysis tells you exactly where your digital advantages and property are, and then shows options for how to drive forward. “Essentially, identifying talents gives you objective data in order to make sure you then advance those places where you have gaps. You’re able to prioritize locations of progress informed by objective assessment of electronic strengths, ” Snowdon said.
- Focus on the end goal. The HIMSS Digital Maturity Models provide prescriptive frameworks that help HCOs build digital health ecosystems in areas such as analytics, clinically integrated supply chain, infrastructure and others. Each eight-stage (0-7) maturity model operates as the vendor-neutral roadmap for success that will offers global benchmarking.
“These tools not only allow frontrunners to assess how connected they are … but also how they are utilizing connectivity plus technology to achieve outcomes. Because if an business has seven unique technologies, that doesn’t necessarily mean the particular organization is delivering the best digital experience to clinicians and patients. These tools allow you to truly assess that maturity, ” Patel pointed out.
- Set priorities. “When an HCO fills technology gaps, it’s all about prioritization. What is that will maximum value that an organization can give in order to its individuals and physicians? You have to keep these two consumers inside mind. It sounds very simple, but it is difficult to agree upon your organization’s highest priorities, ” stated Patel.
- Work with transformative partners. HCOs need to move away from supporting IT projects and toward empowering change. “ Previously, the IT department enabled a laptop to connect in order to WiFi or provisioned the particular servers. That’s no longer the case. They are right now creating partnerships with startups that are usually advancing the speed with which digital transformation is delivered to internal customers – the particular doctors, the nurses, the particular clinicians and ultimately the patients, ” Patel noted.
In the long run, healthcare market leaders seeking to advance their particular organization’s digital transformation should move towards market relationships. Many companies possess expertise that can help HCOs honestly evaluate their electronic maturity, solve the difficulties they may be facing and accelerate their digital transformation efforts. Specifically, HCOs would benefit most from working with partners that can enable them to access data through multiple sources and devices. That data, based on Patel, can then be leveraged in order to improve treatment, operations plus healthcare utilization across the particular enterprise.
