Ongoing opportunities in digital healthcare transformation

Over the past few years, the healthcare industry has embraced digital health initiatives as an avenue to efficiently deliver high-quality care. It’s been an effective tactic, driving improved outcomes and controlling costs, all the while increasing patient engagement and satisfaction. The caveat is that rather than attempting to launch digital transformation efforts broadly across their entire organization at the same time, healthcare IT leaders must determine what digital technologies will best support their goals to improve patient outcomes and control costs, while benefiting both patients and providers. 

According to research from the Center for Connected Medicine (CCM), patient access was identified by healthcare leaders as a challenge that can be addressed with technology in the coming year. Ninety-nine percent of respondents to CCM called out improving patient access as a “high” or “very high” priority for their organization, and more than 85% responded that they were likely to invest in patient access technology. Telehealth services and patient reminders were cited as the most utilized technology to improve patient access, followed by an online provider directory, online bill-pay and self-scheduling tools.

Technology has always played a key role in enhancing patient experience, reducing costs and improving patient outcomes. With the increase in demand and use of telehealth, IT leaders are expanding their view of connectivity beyond the medical campus. Providing connectivity where and when patients and staff need it has become a vital factor in ensuring that patients receive quality virtual care and monitoring. The caveat here is that all communications and collaboration must occur over a highly secure platform that is HIPAA-Compliant and HITRUST-certified, in order to protect the healthcare organization and the patient.

Better healthcare through digital tools and technologies

Electronic health record (EHR) platforms and telehealth, cloud, interoperability and cybersecurity solutions all contribute to healthcare’s digital transformation by allowing for the secure creation, storage and exchange of digitized health data. Wearable monitors for patients, digital front door platforms and billing code verification software are examples of digital tools that help providers achieve greater efficiency.

The rapid adoption of telehealth, however, is not without issues. While routine follow-ups work well, even when sessions are audio only, some ailments can’t be diagnosed without a thorough physical examination. Still, telehealth and telemedicine remain popular options for providers and patients, even if the number of services or sessions has declined once in-person visits became available after the height of the pandemic. 

Wearables help patients proactively self-monitor health issues and help healthcare providers in their remote patient monitoring (RPM) efforts. In part to offset costs, and in equal part to improve outcomes, today’s patients can play an active role in monitoring their own health by using technology that enables tracking of vital signs, and both early detection and prevention of disease. Recent scholarly papers research shows that this is having a positive impact on patient outcomes, as researchers assert that, “The changed patient role leads to an increase in transparency, more patient autonomy, better opportunities for participation in the treatment process, and an expansion of self-competence.”

In RPM efforts, devices like watches or sensors are temporarily attached to patients’ bodies and monitor factors such as heart rates or insulin levels. RPM tools enable a continuous stream of real-time health data between patients and their doctors. These digital-health tools save healthcare providers time and money while improving their communications and clinical decision-making. 

Reducing costs while improving outcomes

Nearly one-third of healthcare costs are associated with administrative tasks. By using AI to automate many of these tasks, leading practices and health systems are helping improve their bottom lines and reduce overall healthcare costs — while improving outcomes.  Automation — at its core, any technology intended to reduce human input can manage highly repeatable tasks. Automating historically manual processes means healthcare staff can now deliver the same level of service with fewer resources. On the payer side, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled solutions can automate or audit manual functions to drive operational efficiency. For example, revenue cycle management software can check insurance claims to ensure the accuracy of billing codes and patient addresses, resulting in fewer payment delays and claims denials. AI and machine learning are transforming massive data sets into practical applications.

As healthcare organizations continue to explore the potential of AI-driven applications, it has become increasingly clear that the vast amounts of data used by these applications require investment in an organization's IT infrastructure.

The first step is a modern network

HCOs must modernize their IT infrastructure for digital technologies to be effective in helping to transform care delivery. Connectivity infrastructure is the main driver of digital health transformation and innovation and can help hospitals and health systems advance the patient experience, drive revenue growth, and increase operational and financial efficiencies.

Hospitals and practices of all sizes can modernize their networks now, and rely  on fast, symmetrical fiber-powered internet connectivity up to 100 Gbps to power their digital health transformation efforts when they choose flexible, scalable solutions from trusted partners. 

Spectrum Enterprise provides technology solutions to 80% of the largest health systems in the US, and partners with healthcare organizations of all sizes. Learn more about HITRUST and HIPAA-compatible solutions that can secure a single or multi-site network with the equipment, connectivity, management, communications and support needed to spur digital healthcare transformation.