Digital transformation has drastically impacted the healthcare industry. And it is crucial that businesses should keep up with digital transformation in healthcare. Making the final decision on the right technologies for investing and getting your team on board with change is often a great challenge. Adapting to the digital era requires coming out of the comfort zone and shifting towards a flexible and risk-taking mindset. More specifically, it means discard the traditional business methods and trust that disruption will yield big results.
Indeed digital transformation is the positive impact of technology in the healthcare industry.
Some strong examples are Telemedicine, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled medical devices, and blockchain electronic health records. They have completely revamped the communication ways with health professionals. Also, it helps in ways our data is shared among providers to identify the root cause and make decisions about the treatment plans and health outcomes.
Innovation is the main focus here. The main objective is to streamline physicians’ work, optimize systems, improve patient outcomes, reduce human error, and lower costs through amazing web and mobile experiences. Sadly, the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries have lagged behind when it comes to leveraging digital strategies.
According to a survey, 71% of healthcare and pharmaceutical companies have embraced digital strategies as compared to other industries. The healthcare market is investing more and more in employee health by deploying digital technology and using it to bring in more business. The implementation of technology has helped patients to get better treatment with virtual reality tools, wearable medical devices, telehealth, and 5G mobile technologies. The doctors can streamline their workflows using AI-enabled systems.
The unfortunate circumstances grab attention and the current COVID-19 crisis is the best example. As the pandemic continues to disrupt lives, business leaders are using more and more information to successfully steer their organizations. The problems brought forth the point to several broken aspects of the legacy healthcare system, mainly the disconnected technology initiatives. They continue to assess the pandemic’s impact and understand the urgent need to shift toward stronger employee engagement and better use of digital health technologies. The vision needs a significant change by several incumbents like healthcare providers, employers, life sciences organizations, and consumer-focused healthcare data platforms.
Prior to discussing how to enhance employee health as one of the vital features of the future of health. Let us discuss how this pandemic is hasting the transformation of healthcare.
Closing the Gaps of the Healthcare Industry
COVID-19 pandemic has showcased much inefficiency in current workflows. For instance, limited access to accurate data from many sources restricted efficient and affordable care. Although there was an extra burden, many hospital leaders and clinics still use traditional tools and technologies like fax or email to communicate with physicians and other hospitals.
Such reactive communication channels create gaps and the broken aspects of the current healthcare system reveal numerous opportunities to develop a more resilient system, in areas such as collaboration, care delivery, and affordability. Many employers understand the impact of the broken gaps and want to explore ways to deliver better care to the employees.
Deployment of Data & Analytics
Employers have realized the importance of delivering personalized experiences and in order to fulfill that they need valuable and actionable insights through the adoption of advanced digital technologies. Many employers agree that the COVID-19 pandemic has expedited broad-based adoption of data and technology. Leveraging virtual health tools have accelerated rapidly that would have taken years.
Latest technologies such as digital assistants have become commonplace in internal processes and care support. It is also believed that the only way to go forward is to focus more on how to deliver care and products and services to more people at a much lower price point, so it is more accessible and much better from a value perspective.
Examples of transformative solutions that can be built around
As we are aware of how the current crisis is likely to speed up the transformation of the industry to invest in digital technology, here are some solutions that can help health care providers to improve employee health.
Enabling Employee Care
The innovators of healthcare technology are creating solutions that will help to increase access and convenience. For example, developing some powerful tools and aligning with the benefits to deliver pocket-friendly financing options to the employers. There are cases where many consumers are struggling to pay their personal health care bills due to the COVID-19 crisis, innovators are aligning closely with health systems and insurance companies to offer lower rates of interest and longer repayment times for their additional expenses.
The main goals of the digital health offerings are to maximize access to high-quality care by reducing financial barriers and healthcare navigation hindrances. They also ease physicians’ tasks by automating repetitive but important tasks such as ordering medication, adding diagnoses codes in the documentation, and populating billing templates.
Data and Platforms
The health care innovators are partnering closely with incumbents to collect data, filter it, and create an infrastructure that can help incumbents to make better health decisions at affordable costs.
For instance, they are creating great platforms that make it easier for the employees to connect with the physicians, including specialists. They offer unprecedented opportunities for employers to establish clear expectations for high-quality and low-cost care, they should seek and negotiate for healthcare solutions with the same rigor as their business requirements. By partnering with healthcare solutions that emphasize digital engagement, employers can implement a well-planned approach that helps employees stay motivated while managing healthcare costs.
Being Consumer-focused
Both the employers and the consumers have become more involved in their healthcare choices, it is essential for the industry to create a more seamless experience. It begins with acquiring customer data and seeking transparency for decision-making at every stage. Consumers had to deal with a lack of transparency in healthcare especially when it comes to the cost part as well as the value of services in enhancing their health.
Not having the information will create big difficulty in making informed decisions. Eventually, the result will be the waste of time and money and will bring worse health outcomes. However, with the dissemination of data and more exposure to extravagant spending, consumers expect more transparency.
Employers should make it a priority to understand the healthcare benefits landscape. Forming alliances with benefits consultants can help them expand the data at scale and improve the purchasing power for healthcare.
Shifting the healthcare industry towards the future of employee health
Many healthcare arrangements have focused primarily on cost reduction as a measure of success, not enhancing the quality of life. As care models mature, all stakeholders, including providers, employers, and consumers will demand higher quality and efficiency.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought an opportunity for employers to partner with the health systems to leverage the latest technology, data, and information. Amid a growing marketplace of digital health innovations, choosing health plans that improve the member experience and ensure access can help expand clinical outcomes and business value.
About Net Health
Net Health is reuniting caregivers with their calling through cloud-based software for specialty medical providers across the continuum of care. Net Health’s interoperable EHRs deliver end-to-end solutions that ensure compliance, improve outcomes, empower providers and inspire care. The company serves over 14,000 facilities, including 98 percent of the largest hospital chains, two-thirds of skilled nursing facilities and many leading hospice organizations and private practices. Net Health is a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, Level Equity and Silversmith Capital Partners.