Making Bigger Moves for Digital Transformation: 3 Insights 

It may come as a surprise that just 52% of healthcare organizations have a digital health strategy in place, according to a recent HIMSS Market Insights survey. After all, across industries, there’s an understanding that digital transformation is table stakes for success. In fact, the Forbes CxO Growth survey found that C-suite leaders believe technology will be the No. 1 driver for growth. Among these leaders, 52% say their organizations are accelerating digital transformation. They’re also looking to scale AI.  

So why do nearly half of the leaders surveyed by HIMSS say their organization doesn’t have a digital strategy? It could be that their organizations have already tackled the hard work of digital transformation and no longer need a digital-specific strategy. Or are healthcare organizations implementing digital solutions without a clear strategy to measure their impact on business objectives? That would be a dangerous place to be in.

The HIMSS analysis found that the 52% of leaders who do have a strategy in place have a clear vision of what they wish to achieve through these efforts and what success looks like. This vision provides “context, direction and momentum” for digital innovation. 

In my conversations with leaders, I’ve found that digital transformation, from a business perspective, must have two objectives: top-line revenue and bottom-line performance. To achieve these objectives, leading organizations consider such factors as cultural alignment, resource capacity, and governance.

Determining the right path forward

The path toward successful and sustainable digital transformation will vary by organization size, type and resources, but there are certain elements that effective plans have in common. They include the following. 

• Fostering cross-functional alignment around tech deployment. Driving the business case for digital transformation depends on understanding the needs of each key stakeholder group and skillfully conveying how digital investments will help meet those needs. In healthcare, this might involve identifying physician or nurse champions for digital tech — professionals who comprehend the impact specific technologies could have in improving care and efficiency and reducing the risk of burnout and who can encourage others to come on board. These are also the professionals who can help determine which technologies should make the cut based on their ability to strengthen the patient experience, clinical processes, revenue and more. Gaining the trust and involvement of influencers on the ground who can both direct the shape of innovation and bring team members into the transformation fold is a vital step for success.
• Pinpointing specific use cases for exploring value. In the same HIMSS Market Insights survey, nearly six out of 10 healthcare C-suite and technology leaders somewhat or strongly agree that their organization has identified specific use cases where AI can add value. That’s a low percentage, and it indicates that organizations are still early in their AI journeys — and some have become disillusioned. While sentiment around AI’s value for these organizations is likely to bounce back, statistics like this speak to the challenge of finding ROI from advanced tech, and not just AI. Of note: optimizing electronic medical record (EMR) systems for effective documentation and information retrieval is the third most important objective for leaders surveyed by HIMSS — and these platforms have been available since the late 1990s. This is an area where AI can provide value by transforming unstructured data into structured intelligence so the data can be easily retrieved and searched by clinicians. Connecting the dots between use cases such as these and the ROI achieved will promote higher degrees of confidence in deploying digital tech in practical ways.
• Bridging gaps in capabilities or resources in pragmatic ways. This is especially important for small or under-resourced organizations, but it’s also essential for success at a time when the economic environment feels uncertain. Technical transformations of any type take time, money and skill. Without an incentive to move forward — such as the “carrot and stick” approach the federal government leveraged to encourage adoption of electronic health records — it can be easy to delay investments in digital tech. But now is not the time to halt digital progress. Instead, savvy leaders will look for ways to advance innovation in easily adoptable and highly pragmatic ways. This may include exploring partnerships with vendors to determine where new tools can be added to existing platforms in cost-effective ways. One business case for pragmatic investment: the risk that inaction will lead organizations to fall behind in meeting consumers’ needs — or push them out of the market.

By exploring practical ways to bridge the digital divide, leaders can establish a path for digital transformation that strengthens their organization’s competitive position while preparing teams for the future.

Photo: ValeryBrozhinsky, Getty Images

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