By Tom Foley, Director, Global Health Solution Strategy, Lenovo Health
IT in health systems is a collection of multiple moving parts, often spread across facilities in multiple locations and, increasingly, dispersed to a growing number and type of devices. That being said, enterprise management is no small task. In fact, it has turned into quite the undertaking—with IT leaders managing considerations specific to hardware, software, cloud applications, and more. With the end goal being seamless communication across devices and between applications, stakes are higher than ever. What elements should leadership be considering and what’s needed to move forward effectively and appropriately?
EHRs
EHRs are now holding their own as a reference point for aggregated information from devices and input sources across health systems. Although EHR adoption has achieved critical mass, however, healthcare leaders and their IT staff still struggle to demonstrate real value from these investments. A large part of the disconnect between current EHR usage and projected potential benefits is inconsistent use by clinicians and other staff members.
As CIOs sit in the hot seat and attempt to navigate this tool, the end goal is adoption in general—but also satisfaction. Are EHRs helping workflow? Are they encouraging collaboration? Facilitating engagement?
What’s needed: Leadership needs to focus on helping users become (and stay) engaged with EHRs’ potential. Educating users about that potential, allowing ongoing communication, and incorporating feedback loops can help with this mission.
Build or Buy?
To build or buy? That is the question stopping many IT departments in their tracks. Of course, that is not the only consideration weighing on their minds. In general, leaders are looking to balance cost control, flexibility, and functionality to serve internal customers, patients’ needs, and regulatory requirements—all while ensuring security and privacy risks are adequately addressed. According to FierceCIO:
“In a report released [in August 2015] Gartner said it believes that by 2020, 75 percent of application purchases by businesses will be related to building apps, rather than buying them. The report covered a very wide range of trends around enterprise software and services, including predictions around the shift to cloud services.”
The decision to build or buy is not black and white. As more entrepreneurs introduce healthcare apps into the marketplace, IT leaders will need to be strategic about which ones make sense for their unique patient care environments. Decisions can be dependent upon how specific needs are catered to in the marketplace. Apps should be introduced as a result of purpose, not simply the desire to incorporate apps.
What’s needed: IT leaders need to strategize and take steps to gather information from, and engage with, a wider array of stakeholders. They should seek out best use cases and practices. The more knowledge they can gather about opportunities, not limited to those already at work in the healthcare industry, the more intentional they can be about their strategy—whether it involves building, buying, or both.
Cloud and Mobility
The walls of a health system no longer limit its reach. The emergence of cloud technologies, in conjunction with an increasing mobile population of both patients and providers, is shifting the focus from within to outside of organizations. IT leaders are burdened with keeping tabs on more technologies than ever before, making maintaining control of data, communication, and associated risk a relentless job. The daunting nature of where the health industry is heading has left some organizations scrambling to keep up, or reluctant to invest in new systems.
Despite organizations that seem stuck, many are slowly realizing that their “wait and see” approach is actually just a matter of “when” and “where.” Angus Loten and Rachael King write for The Wall Street Journal, explaining:
“There is no question that 2015 has been a year of major cloud adoption. In a recent Verizon Communications Inc. survey of its enterprise-level cloud customers, 84 percent said their use of the cloud increased in the past year. Roughly half of the companies surveyed said at least 75 percent of their workloads will be in the cloud by 2018.”
The cloud, in combination with the increasing use of mobile devices, also means new hardware considerations for IT leaders. Old infrastructures might be inefficient and capital intensive, while new infrastructures built based on new modalities offer opportunities to reduce costs—though security will have to be a priority.
What’s needed: In terms of cloud and mobile technologies, organizations need a clear vision. Processes should be put in place to assess potential options, and regular audits of cloud, mobile, and app services should be performed so that IT staff can stay well informed. While crafting strategy surrounding these key issues, leaders should aim for a user-centric approach. Which methods will be most useful and easy to adopt? Keep in mind compliance with policies, and don’t take a once-and-done approach. Make it a priority to regularly evaluate the efficacy and performance of technologies that are put in place.
Staff
Today’s IT leaders can’t do it alone—and that’s a problem. The availability and knowledge of IT staff can help or hinder IT projects, but their presence, engagement, and satisfaction are needed to keep the ball rolling. However, the industry is facing an alarming shortage of worthy IT talent. According to an article by Katherine Noyes on CIO.com:
“The shortage of qualified IT workers has been an ongoing problem in the business world for many years already, and new research suggests there's no end in sight. Twenty-five percent of projects today are abandoned as a result, and even those that do get finished are delayed by an average of five months.”
General IT talent is not the only thing posing a problem. The role of senior IT leaders also needs consideration, with more and more areas of responsibility becoming paramount to success. Health systems are increasingly adopting new C-level roles that create an alphabet-soup of acronyms ranging from the traditional CIO (Chief Information Officer), to CISO (Chief Information Security Officer), to CTO (Chief Technology Officer), and more.
What’s needed: Organizations need to conduct a strategic assessment of the enterprise and its IT and security needs, review and potentially reorganize current structure, and create a plan for addressing future needs, keeping in mind the potential impacts of IT talent shortcomings.
Interoperability
There are a lot of moving parts in healthcare, and the success (or failure) of interoperability between them can have a great impact on an organization. Siloed systems provide little value if the data captured can’t be incorporated into patient records, or if external systems can’t seamlessly share data.
What’s needed: As leaders continue to navigate a growing spider web of technology—including hardware, software, cloud, and mobile—they must map out strategies that extend beyond their own organizations. They should work to include stakeholders within (leaders, staff, providers) and outside (vendors, collaborators, patients, potential patients) to ensure that choices made reflect and serve the needs of all involved. This kind of foresight could directly contribute to adoption and compliance, realized value, and hopefully secure shared data.
What conversations do you need to start in 2016?
Reference Articles:
1. “Pressure on CIOs to pull value from EHRs” Healthcare IT News. September 11, 2015.
2. “In a few years, Gartner predicts most businesses will do more building than buying of apps” Fierce CIO. August 27, 2015
3. “Virtual, mobile healthcare apps aim to bring consistency” TechTarget. September 1, 2015.
4. “Outspoken CIO Says Cloud Computing Best Option for Digital Health Care” eWeek. May 11, 2015.
5. “Cloud-Computing Promises Fall Short” The Wall Street Journal. November 11, 2015.
6. “There still aren’t enough tech workers, and enterprises are paying the price” CIO. September 10. 2015.