Despite the enthusiasm from executives, there are still significant barriers to digital innovation for many health systems, including resources, funding and operational capacity.
As health IT leaders move forward and push through these issues, AHA and AVIA's Executive Report lays out five priorities for digital innovation:
1. Patient-generated data and customized services: New technologies, such as wearables, have entered the scene and offered healthcare providers mountains of data they haven't had before. Once health systems understand how to securely gather and incorporate data into their operations, "these data sets can allow hospitals and health systems to provide more nimble and personalized care, track population health trends, and efficiently structure patient services," the report says, specifically noting that the data can help providers take better care of patients with chronic conditions through constant monitoring or "proactively [managing] population health needs."
2. Network utilization and management: With the move toward value-based care, health systems are looking for better ways to keep patients in their network. "Digital solutions can help to solve this problem in a variety of ways, including tracking patient utilization data to report and analyze profitability, improving demand management by confirming referral appropriateness and patient readiness, and improving service and access by simplifying scheduling," the report states.
3. Referral management and in-network retention: "Matching the right patient to the right physician at the right time through more effective referral management has become a key strategic and operational imperative for hospitals and health systems," the report states. Logic-based digital tools can offer analysis and decision support to help hospitals and organizations play matchmaker.
4. Social community support: Emerging digital solutions can play a big role in improving public health and supporting underserved populations effectively. These solutions offer "new opportunities to share data and connect to community partners, providing a virtual network to support the patient," the report states, adding that with proper use they can help to improve care coordination and outcomes, reducing costs in the long run.
5. Convenient patient access: Just 26 percent of healthcare executives reported that they had implemented solutions, such as patient portals, to improve patient access to their own health information. But as the world becomes evermore transparent and digital, patients are demanding access. If organizations don't provide it, patients turn to nontraditional forms of care, leaving health systems behind. "Digital solutions offer opportunities to make it easier for patients to conveniently access their healthcare services, including remote diagnostic tools like telemedicine or virtual exams," the report states, noting that these technologies will allow organizations to remain competitive.
Source: HealthTech (View full article)
Posted by Dan Corcoran on December 12, 2017 06:22 AM
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