Hospitals are under pressure to undergo a digital transformation — but success in this arena requires more than just shiny new tools. It demands cultural readiness, frontline buy-in and a clear-eyed view of what success looks like.
On Monday during a panel at the Reuters Digital Health conference in Nashville, health system executives shared what they’ve learned about navigating change when implementing new technology.
Hospitals need to assess their change readiness before they launch a new tech project, said Pia Banerjee, director of cancer innovation transformation at the American Cancer Society.
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“That’s both the psychological element as well as the technological element — so trying to assess the organizational impact and what the culture looks like. Are people in a state of readiness to actually accept what might be coming down the line? And what is your technology currently looking like — can you see if you’re in a state of technological readiness?” she stated.
She also noted that tech initiatives are only successful when the organization has a strong understanding of the “why” behind the effort.
“As you engage in any large-scale digital transformation, what you will find is it’s going to start to bring up all the inefficiencies in all the departments that you’re working in. How do you prevent yourself from going down all these little rabbit holes along the way as you move forward with digital transformation? We’ve all experienced that as we go forward, so you have to make sure you keep in mind what your actual outcome is so that you can keep that focus,” Banerjee explained.
Hospitals leaders may want to establish certain checkpoints in time so they can assess how they’re progressing toward their goal, Banerjee remarked.
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Fellow panelist Reed Smith, chief consumer officer of Ardent Health, pointed out that hospitals should be regularly measuring the outcomes of their pilots. That way, they can nix the project if it becomes clear it isn’t delivering the intended results.
“I think being able to turn things off is a good proof point back to the organization. ‘Hey, you know what? We’re serious about this.’ And I think that’s part of the communication and change management piece at some point,” Smith said.
Overall, he emphasized the importance of clear metrics, as well as the willingness to end ineffective projects and move on.
Smith also highlighted how crucial it is to have early participation from frontline workers.
“Our CEO talks about this all the time — change them with you, versus change them to you,” he stated. “Try to bring folks along — help them be part of the solution. Because, in all honesty, they’re the ones that are day-to-day doing the work, and they’re going to have better perspectives in a lot of cases.”
Another panelist — Charlene Hope, chief pharmacy quality and safety officer at UChicago Medicine — encouraged hospitals to co-design solutions with frontline users to ensure relevance and adoption.
She also encouraged experimentation, saying she recently came across a program started by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement centered on “breaking the rules” of healthcare.
“You interview patients, nurses and physicians, asking ‘If you could break a rule, which rule would you break?’” Hope explained.
Her organization also has a Shark Tank-style program for quality improvement projects, she noted.
“We have different people that are leading quality improvement projects do a pinch of their program that they’re implementing, and it just makes it fun. It’s also making it okay to do things fast and think creatively,” Hope explained. “And I think it’s with these types of activities that we start building a culture within the healthcare industry that will help providers and partners become more comfortable with making these types of innovative changes.”
Photo: Boonyachoat, Getty Images