Digital Transformation in Healthcare
Digital transformation is an emerging concept in care-providing establishments, and refers to the general integration of digital technologies into aspects of healthcare delivery to enhance patient care, improve efficiency, and drive medical and operational innovation. With the rise of the digital and big-data world, digital transformation efforts revolutionize the current model of care delivery, and ideally leads to better patient outcomes as well as increased accessibility. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the adoption of these concepts in established organizations, where patients and clinical staff alike have recognized the importance of technologies like remote care and digital health solutions.
The current landscape of digital transformation in healthcare is in its maturing stages. Familiar examples include a wide range of tools and platforms aimed at patient engagement and optimization of health outcomes. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices allow providers to track patients’ vital signs remotely, which promotes proactive intervention; health information exchange (HIE) platforms facilitate the secure exchange of health information among providers across establishments, which mitigates privacy concerns; artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning algorithms analyze large datasets in nanoseconds to weigh between various treatment plans. The field continues to bring in knowledge from other industries such as blockchain and augmented reality, although these ventures are still in their early stages and far from adoption. Examples include blockchain tech that offers transparent data storage which enhances data integrity, as well as VR applications used for medical training, surgical planning, and patient education. These technologies improve the skills of clinical staff who provide the care and aim to reduce service costs to the benefit of patients.
Some challenges to the adoption of these innovations include fixed-cost concerns in the initial implementation, integration concerns with an aging patient population, and privacy concerns surrounding the sensitivity of personal health data. Therefore, strategic change management training for managerial positions can be essential for the successful adoption of transformations in healthcare. In fact, this type of education and training is emerging among reputable academic organizations like Harvard Medical School. There is an open enrollment program titled “Leading Digital Transformation in Healthcare” for those interested in being a part of this change — anyone can apply to this course, which takes place over 6 weeks for a tuition fee of $2,900. Focal points in this course includes the strategic evaluation in which innovations may provide more effective and patient-centered care, how one may recognize value-producing tech from “hype”, as well as learning to leverage long-lasting innovation changes across healthcare organizations. Furthermore, certain critical success factors have been identified based on lecture titles: strong leadership, engagement from stakeholders, and cultural change within the organization are claimed to offer immense opportunities in innovation implementation and return of investment.
There can be challenges and moral concerns in imitating insights from other industries, since healthcare serves an entirely different, extremely vulnerable, and infinitely more nuanced customer population. Embracing transformation can marginalize already disadvantaged communities that don’t have access to remote care technologies. Patients often rely upon the compassionate, human care that physicians and nurses provide; in digital healthcare delivery, that personhood connection is diminished. Any attempt to adopt practices from tech-focused industries must consider the unique needs of their customers — patients who have barely any choice in the suffering they endure and whose rational decision-making is compromised by their ailments. Algorithms, datasets, and binary numbers lack the higher-order considerations required to address ethical considerations such as beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice. The lack of regulatory framework on these technologies also creates loopholes where transformed clinical practices may create grave consequences related to resource allocation, patient prioritization, and confidentiality.
Healthcare decisions often have enduring consequences for health outcomes throughout a given patient’s life. Therefore, while digital transformations have the potential to enhance the work of healthcare leaders and navigate among the complexities of care delivery, any changes introduced should be evaluated thoroughly due to complex challenges and moral concerns.
References
- Leading digital transformation in health care. Corporate Learning at HMS. (n.d.). https://corporatelearning.hms.harvard.edu/individuals/executive-education/leading-digital-transformation-health-care
- Shudes, C., Shukla, M., Chang, C., Appleby, C., Hendricks, J., & Wurz, J. (2023, June 6). Digital Transformation. Deloitte Insights. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/health-care/digital-transformation-in-healthcare.html
