This article was originally published on HIT Consultant.
By Rupert Colbourne, Chief Technology Officer at Orbus Software
The digital arms race continues in healthcare as the industry struggles to tackle fundamental issues, including systemic labor shortages, spiraling costs, and the shift to preventative care. The sector is looking to technology to help solve these challenges, drive efficiency gains, and improve outcomes, and this has set the digital market on a path to be worth $939 billion by 2032.
Healthcare organizations today are trying to manage an array of technologies, both old and new, as they seek to advance transformation efforts. And many are struggling to plan and execute an effective IT roadmap that supports business objectives. The sprawl of systems, hardware, and software has added more challenges to overcome. These span compliance problems, cyber security vulnerabilities, and technical debt, all of which are holding back the industry.
It’s clear that the sector is struggling to realize the benefits of digital transformation. Therefore, the industry needs to rethink its approach. By implementing a digital blueprint, organizations can make smarter decisions around transformation, as the framework provides 360-degree visibility. This helps healthcare providers streamline processes, drive efficiency gains, and improve outcomes.
Digital blueprint and healthcare
The clarity from the model enables healthcare organizations to map out their entire ecosystem, spanning applications and IT infrastructure to business capabilities and processes. The framework provides an understanding of the gap between existing technology and what’s needed to achieve future operational goals. Providers gain insight into the technology roadmap and where and how to integrate emerging technologies like 6G, VR, and AI. The end result is that a blueprint can significantly improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of care. The 360 visibility enables better decision-making through optimizing software and systems, helping the healthcare sector in numerous ways, including:
- Improving interoperability
Most organizations are struggling to manage legacy systems and new technologies that fail to communicate with each other. This lack of interoperability impacts care decisions. With a digital blueprint in place, it facilitates developing standards and platforms, ensuring systems can share information seamlessly.
- Enhancing data management
With the complex web of systems, there are vast volumes of data generated, which makes it challenging to manage and analyze. The visibility the framework provides supports better management and interpretation, leading to more informed decision-making, helping providers optimize patient care and their operations.
- Automating and streamlining processes
The healthcare industry is plagued by extensive paperwork and regulatory compliance that takes time away from patients. Automating administrative tasks frees up time to focus on care and improves efficiency and coordination across and within networks, along with reducing human error. Additionally, it can lower levels of staff burnout, helping retain skilled workers.
- Easing Staffing shortages
Systemic labor shortages are a global industry problem. A digital blueprint helps guide decisions around how and where to deploy new technologies, such as AI-driven diagnostic tools or robotic process automation. By utilizing technology, it can reduce some of the pressures on finding talent.
- Improving patient care and outcomes
Streamlining and optimizing IT infrastructure helps improve decision making and, ultimately, care. For example, creating user-friendly portals and apps encourages people to proactively manage their health information and treatment plans. Additionally, this can address health equity concerns for patients in remote or underserved locations. Putting in place evidence-based guidelines and clinical decision systems ensures care is data-driven.
- Reducing the risk of a cyberattack
As the healthcare industry continues to digitally transform, it’s increasingly in the crosshairs of cybercriminals. Therefore, strengthening defenses is critical to reduce the risk of a data breach. With a blueprint in place, organizations gain visibility into potential vulnerabilities so more robust measures can be deployed, along with threat intelligence and scenario planning for ongoing vigilance.
Technology can alleviate healthcare woes
Given the challenges the healthcare industry faces, it’s clear that managing technology more effectively in support of optimizing decision-making is vital. With uncertainty the only constant, implementing a robust model to better understand how to integrate and deploy technology, both old and new, is critical to usher in a new era of improved patient care and outcomes along with operational efficiencies. When technology is optimized, it can vaccinate the healthcare industry from many of the ills it’s battling.
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