This is the first in blog series that shares practical steps for health technology leaders who are shaping strategies and plans for digital health transformation.
No one can deny that digital health modernisation is essential to achieving the improvements in patient care and operational efficiencies that we all long for and the long-term sustainability that our globally aging population demands. The question for health leaders: what are must-have elements on the strategic roadmap so we can forge ahead and lead the change?
Here are six proven strategies to help you navigate this transformation successfully.
1. Healthcare Technology Assessment
A healthcare technology assessment will be time well spent because it will help level set leaders and colleagues alike on current state environment. Assessment results are an excellent communication tool for prioritisation and goal setting conversations.
Our assessment work with Surgery Partners in the US has helped them through IT due diligence, EPR (EHR) current state and readiness planning, and workflow optimisation efforts.
What does a Healthcare Technology Assessment Include?
Whether you self-administer a healthcare technology assessment or turn to a partner for assistance, covering these areas and outputs will set your organisation up for success.
- Technology Maturity: Assess the current state of your technology to understand its capabilities and limitations. Understanding the technology gaps of your healthcare organisation and communicating how it could either help or hinder your ability to support health and care goals is an important first step in leading digital health transformation.
- Readiness Assessment: Evaluate your organisation's preparedness for adopting new technologies, including workforce skills and infrastructure. Do you have the appropriate leadership and clinical champions in place to help support the “people” aspect of change management?
- Roadmap Development: Create a clear, step-by-step plan for technology adoption and integration. How will you align this roadmap with overall health and care goals for your organisation?
- Resource Planning: Identify the necessary resources, including personnel, training, and financial investment. Are there areas of work you can transition to a healthcare IT partner to help you scale your resource plan?
- Governance Model: Establish a framework for decision-making and oversight to ensure alignment with organisational goals.
- Budget Considerations: Plan for initial investments and ongoing costs, including maintenance and upgrades.
- Long-term Strategy: Develop a sustainable approach for operational support and maintenance to ensure technology remains effective and up-to-date.
2. Infrastructure Assessment
A robust infrastructure is the backbone of any successful digital health initiative, whether implementing modern technology platforms, ensuring technology reliability and or mitigating cyberattack risk. Thorough infrastructure assessments help you understand your current capabilities, deficiencies, and risks and plan budget requests for necessary enhancements.
What are the critical components of an infrastructure assessment?
- Data and Cloud Considerations: Evaluate your data storage, security, and cloud solutions to ensure they meet current and future needs.
- Maintenance and Upgrades: Plan for regular maintenance and timely upgrades to prevent system failures and ensure optimal performance. Has your organisation fallen behind on routine maintenance? Are there resource constraints that could be alleviated if you enlisted a cloud or network management services provider?
- Preventing Budget Surprises: Identify potential cost overruns and plan for unexpected expenses to keep your project within budget. McKinsey defines technical debt as the “off-balance-sheet accumulation of all the technology work a company needs to do in the future.” What sort of technical debt could an infrastructure assessment reveal?
Perhaps a starting point is to consider what technical debt can mean for patient care and begin with a short self-assessment in this ebook Technical Debt and the Patient.
3. IT Support Process and Data Analysis
You can have modern digital health tools in place but if you lack IT support then clinicians and patients will likely not enjoy the full benefits (and the healthcare organisation will not realise the full value) of the technology. Effective IT support to troubleshoot issues and reduce disruption to care is imperative. Likewise, data analysis of IT issues is essential for working to prevent future issues and proactively support clinicians.
What are Best Practices for Improving IT Support and Data Analysis?
- Common Problems with Reporting and Metrics: First, you must determine if you are documenting support issues accurately, routing issues appropriately, and reporting on meaningful support metrics.
- Operational and Technical Challenges: Data analysis can uncover challenges that hinder efficiency and effectiveness. In response, collaboration between support and clinical teams can lead to changes that improve patient care.
- ROI-driven Solutions: We have worked with other healthcare organisations that focused on improving provider satisfaction with IT support. Making changes to IT support operations and applying automation and advanced analytics can improve the providers’ perspective of IT.
4. Standardisation: People, Processes, and Technology
Doing more isn’t the answer to progress with digital modernisation. Standardisation is the cornerstone your organisation will need to establish in order to achieve economies of scale, operational efficiency, and overall satisfaction.
What are the Benefits of Standardisation?
- Economies of Scale: When you standardise technology applications, vendors, infrastructure, equipment, processes, and more you will reduce cost.
- Operational Efficiency: Streamlining operations through consistent technology practices and procedures will boost quality, reduce issues and allow resources to focus more on what’s important—delivering quality patient care.
- Satisfaction: Standardisation and operational improvements work hand in hand to enhance user and patient satisfaction because technology services provided are reliable and predictable (in a good way).
5. Interoperability of Patient Data
Connecting the care experience, regardless of care location, is why interoperability of systems is a must-have. When healthcare technology securely shares patient data, clinical teams have a comprehensive view of the patient’s clinical history which is vital for patient safety and improving outcomes.
Why is Interoperability Important?
Whether evaluating a new technology or working to modernise existing digital health tools, these reasons are solid starting points for interoperability goals:
- Enhance Patient Care by providing healthcare professionals with complete and accurate patient information.
- Improve Outcomes by facilitating better decision-making and coordinated care.
- Achieve Regulatory Compliance by ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements for data sharing and privacy.
6. EPR Optimisation
One of the biggest temptations is to implement an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) and move on to other priorities after go-live. While it can be difficult to maintain momentum, build optimisation into your EPR strategy so that you continue maximising the benefits of your technology investments.
What are the strategies for EPR Optimisation:
- Develop a cultural mindset for continuous improvement. Regularly reviewing and refining EPR processes to enhance functionality and user experience.
- Help your clinical teams become continual learners. Provide ongoing training and support to ensure staff are proficient in using the EPR system.
- Ask users for feedback. Develop a mechanism to collect and act upon user feedback to make iterative improvements and ensure the system meets their needs.
By implementing these six strategies, healthcare organisations can lead the way in digital health modernisation, ensuring they stay at the forefront of technological advancements and provide the highest quality care to their patients.
At CereCore International, we are dedicated to supporting our customers through every step of this transformative journey. Contact us today to discuss and learn how we can help you achieve your digital health modernisation goals.
