Striking Alignment Around Health Tech Investments

Healthcare leaders have a plethora of priorities to balance. Between patient care, outcomes, access and equity; labor shortages and staff burnout; care coordination across specialties and settings; the impact of inflation on the bottom line; and the rapidly advancing array of tools used to address all these needs — the modern healthcare juggling act is understandably complex.

While different types and sizes of healthcare organizations understandably prioritize different goals in line with their budgets and objectives, achieving strategic alignment is an ongoing struggle. Research conducted by HIMSS Market Insights underscores this tension, highlighting the challenges and opportunities healthcare leaders must weigh as they invest in new technologies.

In this blog, the first of a three-part series, we’ll begin to explore some intriguing findings from the HIMSS survey, “Targeting the Biggest Bang for the Buck,” which spanned executives, IT/tech directors, clinical leaders and clinicians at hospitals, clinics, academic medical centers and healthcare systems of all sizes.

Achieving alignment 

According to the HIMSS report, only 20% of healthcare leaders are confident that their organization is aligned around IT initiatives that will meaningfully impact care delivery and patient outcomes. This alarmingly low percentage demands a closer look.

Not surprisingly, clinical leaders are more likely to prioritize improving patient outcomes (56%) compared to 48% of IT leaders and 30% of executives. This is a natural focus for clinicians, whose daily responsibilities revolve around patient care. IT leaders, conversely, prioritize the technological infrastructure and data management capabilities that enable those outcomes, while executives take an even broader view that balances patient outcomes with overall financial sustainability and organizational strategy.

While these different perspectives are expected, given the unique focus of each functional role, this lack of alignment is a critical issue that health systems must address if they hope to progress. If leaders work in silos, initiatives will likely fail to achieve full potential. The key is fostering better communication and collaboration by establishing cross-functional teams.

Tasking the IT department with driving digital transformation alone could be a recipe for disaster. These professionals need the business understanding and support from executive leaders combined with the frontline user perspective of clinical staff. Likewise, charging clinicians with spearheading change could omit a critical ingredient of technology aptitude that IT can provide. Involving leaders from different departments in the decision-making process is crucial to capturing all perspectives.

Seeking a unified solution

The right digital solution can bring these groups together by simultaneously advancing organizational objectives from all three perspectives. For example, integrating digital cloud fax with AI solutions for intelligent data extraction can support the goals of each leader’s role:

• Improving patient care by ensuring that critical information from faxed documents is accurately captured and delivered in a timely manner, reducing treatment delays and improving care coordination by making clinicians more productive
• Addressing the bottom line by reducing costs associated with paper-based fax systems, server maintenance and telecommunications equipment while automating downstream processes and freeing staff for more valuable tasks—adding systemwide efficiencies that executives will appreciate
• Digitizing business processes by replacing manual data entry and document management systems with a scalable solution that integrates with electronic health records, improving data accuracy and interoperability to alleviate a huge burden from IT leaders

Clinical priorities, business objectives and IT goals are not mutually exclusive in healthcare. In fact, these three perspectives must align for successful healthcare transformation.

In the next installment of this blog series, we’ll dig deeper into the HIMSS survey to explore how health leaders can navigate financial barriers and resource limitations to maximize their tech investments.

Continue reading…

Part 2: Overcoming Financial Barriers to Digital Transformation
Part 3: Prioritizing Health Tech Investments: Key Considerations for Leaders

Johnny Hecker

CRO and EVP, Operations