Healthcare 2021: In the Eye of the Storm
Perhaps no other industry has experienced as much impact and change over the past 18 months as healthcare. And that is doubly true for the IT people, processes, and technologies that support the providers, payers, pharmaceutical companies, and overall supply chain delivering life-saving care to the world.
As we enter the second half of 2021, in the midst of new uncertainty around COVID-19 variants, the world of healthcare IT is not slowing down. In fact, according to a survey of 399 healthcare executives across six countries**, 81% say that the pace of digital transformation is accelerating.
Accenture studied the impact of the past year on the healthcare industry at large and found consistent challenges as well as opportunities. It comes as no surprise that 100% of executives surveyed indicated that the pandemic created an unprecedented stress test for their organizations. But that stress also focused attention on the technologies, the architectures and the supply chains that support the delivery of care. Ninety-two percent of those same healthcare executives said their organization’s ability to generate business value will be based on the limitations and opportunities of their technology architectures. And 87% agreed that their organization’s business and technology strategies are becoming inseparable.
Considering the advances made in recent years reimagining healthcare, the synergies between technology and health are clear. From nanoware and telehealth, to virtual primary care and surgical simulations, technology is now a visible and ever-present part of patient interactions.
With technology architecture so vital to success today – and to the creation of a more robust model for the future – organizations remain hamstrung by the same issues that have slowed the pace of innovation in the past. Technical debt, skills gaps, and fear of change remain at the top of most IT executives’ lists of challenges. And technology adoption on the consumer side is also slow and inconsistent. In a 2020 PWC annual report on the state of healthcare, usage of technology by consumers was found to be lagging. In the report, only 19% of consumers surveyed said they have used a mobile app to help them take a prescription drug correctly or let them log symptoms, yet 83% of those who had done so thought it was useful.
Clinicians are also vital users of technology but have experienced their own challenges when it comes to delivery of care. A 2018 survey by the Physicians Foundation found that 62% of physicians reported issues such as third-party authorizations, treatment protocols, and EHR design were hurting patient care. In 2021, with telehealth going mainstream, those same physicians and their organizations are also challenged to meld the virtual and in-person care worlds.
Yet, the long-term perspective on the hybrid healthcare delivery model of virtual and in-person is optimistic. In a 2021 McKinsey interview with Dr. Ido Schoenberg, Amwell chairman and co-CEO, said “COVID-19 helped us overcome the final barriers to online care – only because there was no other choice. People were locked in their homes, doctors were locked in their homes – they had to connect online. And the entities that enveloped it and surrounded it – payers, employers, and others – had to join to create coverage, to create permissibility regarding this modality.”
In many ways, the rapid adoption of video conferencing in the past year across every facet of life – from education and tele-work, to entertainment, to healthcare – has changed everything. As Dr. Ido Schoenberg said, “I believe the strong tailwinds that we see are persistent: from a state of necessity, we are now looking at acceptance of the legitimacy of online connections as the main pathway of healthcare. It’s no longer ‘telehealth’, it’s really ‘health’.”
Call to Action
The time is now for healthcare organizations to ensure that IT is an enabler for future growth. As the Accenture survey indicated, 73% of healthcare executives say that their technology architecture is becoming critical to the overall success of their organization.
Consider the following:
1. How can you turn technical debt into technical wealth?
Are there legacy systems that are holding back your modernization plans?
Is there value that could be unlocked to fund strategic priorities?
2. How can you rapidly close the IT skills gap?
Are legacy environments dominating your team’s time and energy, to the detriment of progress
3. How can you fortify the IT supply chain?
Do you have partners that can provide resiliency and responsiveness in the delivery of service across locations?
Multi-Vendor Services partners like CDS are here to help. Call us today to learn how we’ve helped organizations across the healthcare value chain – from pharmacy retail, pharmaceutical manufacturers, payer/provider organizations, and hospital networks – to redirect legacy, non-strategic spend to pay down technical debt and fund their modernization initiatives.
References:
Accenture Digital Health Technology Vision 2021 – survey of 399 healthcare executives across six countries
PWC 2021 Annual Report, “Top health industry issues of 2021: Will a shocked system emerge stronger?”
McKinsey 2021 interview with Dr. Ido Schoenberg, Amwell chairman and co-CEO
