Challenges in healthcare digitalization
As healthcare organizations worldwide strive for more profound digitalization, they face unique obstacles in transitioning towards new care models and integrating digital clinical decision support (CDS) solutions.
A study by IDC Research, the U.S. Healthcare Provider Technology and Connected Health Survey, sheds light on Wolters Kluwer’s leadership in the provision of CDS technologies. The survey provides an insightful understanding of the difficulties healthcare organizations encounter during their digital transformation journey and their adaptation strategies.
Critical roadblocks in the digital transformation journey of healthcare organizations
Findings from the IDC research indicate that healthcare providers are prioritizing goals related to enhancing patient outcomes while addressing larger systemic issues to mitigate unwarranted care variations. However, the implementation of clinical effectiveness solutions alone cannot remedy the ongoing decline in patient care. These solutions must be designed to integrate seamlessly with existing workflows, offering consistent, evidence-based clinical information.
The study points out five significant strategic business goals for healthcare providers:
- Quality improvement (34.5%)
- Improved patient safety (32.3%)
- Medical equity, diversity, inclusion, and cultural competency (30.3%)
- Enhanced patient experience (29.0%)
- Improved access to care (27.4%)
For the enhancement of consistent care, comprehensive solutions capable of scaling end-to-end across care teams and patient journeys are crucial. These solutions can influence clinical collaboration platforms including CDS, drug referential information, medical information, and heighten patient engagement demands. However, the influx of new data, research requirements, and misinformation exacerbate the adoption of efficient clinical technology, underscoring the need for trustworthy health technology.
The importance of harmonized care and worker experience in healthcare
Harmonized care significantly impacts patient outcomes and worker experience. Aligning care across the continuum facilitates better team judgment, more consistent decision-making, and increased staff satisfaction. Unwanted variations in care delivery lead to errors, elevated risks to patient safety, prolonged hospital stays, and spiraling costs. This predicament also breeds dissatisfaction among patients and clinicians, many of whom feel burdened by paperwork, staff shortages, stringent requirements, and poorly designed healthcare management systems.
The optimum strategy for delivering harmonized care involves creating a shared foundation of trust in clinical effectiveness solutions, providing rapid, easy access to evidence-based information at the point of care.
The impact of clinical effectiveness solutions on healthcare organizations
The Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear that technology plays a vital role in healthcare. Many organizations are now recalibrating their future development roadmaps to include more digital technologies, automate workflows, and incorporate greater use of virtual care capabilities.
This transformation has led to increased use of advanced analytics and AI-driven solutions, embedded into CDS solutions, fostering innovation, and generating better predictive models and capabilities. Early disease detection, virtual triage, care automation, symptom checkers, and patient engagement have significantly benefited from improved analytics and AI-powered clinical decision support.
Additionally, providers now face new disruptions, including workforce shortages, inflation, supply chain constraints, reduced budgets, and depleted resources. The strategic response to these challenges is investment in workflow and clinical effectiveness solutions that can yield tangible benefits.
Facing these challenges head-on will allow Wolters Kluwer to continue promoting consistent care, improve patient outcomes, and enhance the patient journey through the continuum of care.
