Time to get digitally fit…
This call goes out to all healthcare payors, providers and policymakers as it is time to get digitally ‘fit’!
All recognise the need to continue the adoption of available solutions but acknowledge the hardest part is where to focus effort, or in some cases, where to start…
Digital care solutions are well-positioned to support the dual challenges of our global healthcare workforce and sustainability issues. Which ones will survive and land well – which solutions will we be considered in… 2024?
With a plethora of available options, how does a payor or provider select the right digital solution? Aspects to consider include the digital platforms' cybersecurity (security by design), their capacity to support multiple clinical areas (the growing tech stack), and improve patient outcomes. Improved outcomes reduce elective waiting lists and reduce worsening conditions and the risk of co-morbidities.
The more complex the case, the more specialists and costs are involved. A growing trend in the public and private providers (including medical insurers) is the white-labelling of digital solutions, for example, workforce rostering, CPD and medical education.
Figure 1
Adopting, embracing and accelerating usage...
To help consider Digital Care adoption in a post-Covid world, let’s review a front-to-middle-to-back office uptake flow as a framework (fig 1). The Front office implies a clinician-patient relationship supported and enhanced by virtual care (B2C). The Middle Office, in an acute setting, aims to support the Senior Hospital Management in reporting on, managing and regulating activities. The Back Office (B2B) involves multiple business processes related to payments, operations and high-volume laboratory work. Stakeholder engagement will vary across this framework, but motivations can be aligned.
In line with supporting our care workforce with improved rostering and resourcing, the Middle Office sees accelerated uptake. Hospital and clinical management are burdened with heavier regulatory, rostering and regulatory requirements.
What’s next? Three things will increasingly occur. Firstly, capital for funding Digital Care will find the smartest tech. Platforms which survive will be the best-funded and most cyber-resilient. A cash-strapped digital care provider is not a resilient digital care enabler.
Secondly, virtual wards that support and enable increased ambulatory care will help patients leave the acute setting smoothly and, in turn, allow patients with immediate needs to get admitted to an acute site. Lastly, Management teams in acute and non-acute Middle Office settings will adopt solutions to address the increasing regulatory and staffing challenges.
It's time for us all to become digitally fit!
