Looking ahead: An exploration of healthcare’s digital transformation

How many times have you heard the words, “digital transformation in healthcare”, or “healthcare’s digital transformation?” For some industry professionals, the term sounds cliché – like an overused new buzzword without much meaning to it. For others, it’s the future of healthcare.

To fully understand what the new age of healthcare looks like, and the fundamental role that innovative technology and data analytics play in shaping it, it’s best to approach this concept one layer at a time.

This blog explores:

• How technology has already transformed other key aspects of daily life
• The core principles of digital transformation in healthcare
• How to advance digital transformation in your organization

Digital transformation in daily life

“Clearly, the thing that’s transforming is not the technology – it’s the technology that is transforming you.”

– Jeanne W. Ross, MIT Sloan School of Management

Technology has already transformed how we behave in many aspects of our lives. Take a moment to consider: When was the last time you went to a video store like Blockbuster or rented a DVD from Redbox? How often do you go to an ATM to withdraw cash or to an airport to buy  flight tickets? Even a task as ordinary as grocery shopping has been massively influenced by technology.

Through a digital device, everything is connected and available at your fingertips, and the beauty of this is that the technology is centered around you, the customer. Clearly, technology has evolved how we manage much of our lives. This is what we mean by “digital transformation.”

Digital transformation in healthcare

In healthcare, the same change in behaviors can occur – but rather than ordering dinner or tracking a workout, technology can be the driving force behind better access to providers, more accurate patient assessments, monitoring medication and vaccine adherence, and much more. When these behaviors change at scale, how the entire healthcare landscape operates and evolves can greatly improve, even at the most basic levels.

To put this concept into practice at your organization, it’s important to understand the core principles that make healthcare’s digital transformation meaningful and impactful:

• • Capabilities and Resources
  • Patient Centricity
  • Agile Technology and Cloud Infrastructure
  • Data Security and Encryption
  • Value

Below are just a few examples of these principles applied to improving healthcare.

Complex patient experiences that include significant amounts of paperwork

Why spend hours doing coding on paper or asking patients to fill out forms, when this can be done online? Using secure healthcare platforms for patient information, billing, and quality and risk adjustment coding can save time, improve accuracy, and increase patient and staff satisfaction. This goes beyond the time savings – it transforms the experience for many involved in care delivery for the better.

Fragmented healthcare data in multiple places or different patient portals

Instead of piles of patient forms and charts, real-time access to longitudinal patient data can better inform treatment at the point of care. No need for extra tests or delays waiting on lab results. With the right capabilities and resources, cloud infrastructure, and data security and encryption, patients get the personalized care they need, enabled by the relevant, authorized information delivered to providers when and where they need it.

Securing fragmented healthcare data and managing it responsibly

Data is part of everything in healthcare – and for many organizations, it seems to be everywhere. Billing and coding data are stored in one system, while clinical data is elsewhere, and prescription or engagement data is in yet another location. Siloed datasets delay treatment and innovation. On the other hand, a secure, consolidated data platform organizes and normalizes data, making it more accessible, and therefore, more valuable to those authorized to use it.

Driving digital transformation within your organization

The core principles of digital healthcare can drive thoughtful transformation across the industry. From the way patients engage with their provider, to how new studies are conducted, there is no limit to what we can accomplish collectively with the right technology infrastructure, security measures, analytics, and patient-centric focus.

DataStream was created with this intent – not only to transform healthcare digitally, but to enable innovation and problem-solving at the point of care.

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