The Covid-19 pandemic has created unprecedented medical challenges and has starkly highlighted areas within the healthcare sector where improvement is needed. In some cases, we already have a head start in undertaking the needed improvements, and changes that were already underway have been given a fresh boost. One example of a trend that has been accelerated by the pandemic is the adoption of digital technologies in healthcare.

A thought leadership paper recently published by Siemens Healthineers examines the digitalization of healthcare. One focus of the paper is the adoption of digital technologies in the healthcare sector in areas such as customer engagement, care coordination, improvements in remote work capabilities, and expansion of the use of telemedicine. We believe that the use of technology-based solutions will continue to grow after the immediate threat of Covid-19 has waned. Both patients and healthcare providers will have become more familiar with various digital tools and platforms, and the benefits will have become more apparent. Some obvious examples: electronic intensive care units (eICUs), home monitoring of patients, virtual forward triage, remote care, and digital communication. These implementations of digital tools not only permit compliance with safety protocols that are essential during a pandemic, but also make care more efficient and effective, and are therefore of enduring value.

Four Steps to Build a Digital Enterprise Sustainably

The growing adoption of digital technologies cannot simply be done in a reactive or piecemeal way. Building a truly digital enterprise requires an organization-wide commitment to pursue four key steps: First, manage data as a strategic asset. Second, empower data-driven decisions. Third, connect care teams and patients. And fourth, build a learning health system.

1. Managing data as a strategic asset is something not all health systems have done in the past. Recognizing data as a hospital’s most valuable asset represents an attitudinal shift and demands far-reaching changes in operating practices. It requires the rigorous and ongoing integration of data from multiple sources, including wearables, imaging, diagnostic laboratory, genetics, social determinants, and payors, all gathered on secure and easily accessible data platforms.

Some of the challenges that need to be overcome are issues of interoperability, as well as the poor quality of much of the data currently being collected. Both clinical data and operational data should be collected with specific goals in mind. Security and confidentiality are, of course, also essential.

2. Empowering data-driven decisions is the next step. Here too we have seen different organizations proceeding at different speeds and with varying degrees of rigor. The Siemens Healthineers paper argues that longitudinal patient data, together with enterprise-wide, real-time operational data, is the basis for better healthcare . Technological innovations, including AI-powered tools, are available to help providers make sense of the deluge of clinical and operational data they will be confronted with.

It is conceivable that data and data analysis could even help with efforts to identify, prevent and contain future pandemics, provided that the data is shared globally and is of a uniformly high quality.

3. Connecting care teams and patients is another area where data and digital technologies can play a decisive role. Again, a cultural shift will be necessary for many people as they adjust to a concept of “moving information, not patients.” Examples of the types of connections that will become more prevalent include home monitoring and secure tele-consultation technology, enabling some patients to receive hospital-quality care at home. Initiatives like this will also help patients gain more transparency into their own care and more actively participate in their own care.

Similarly, healthcare enterprises will learn how to extend the reach of their expert clinicians through services like , which will give remote locations and standalone imaging clinics access to teaching hospital-quality care. Again, data security must be paramount; patient confidentiality must be preserved.

4. Building a learning health system. Transforming institutions into true learning health systems requires leadership buy-in with collective targets, aligned incentives and an organization-wide commitment to transformation. Then, it requires building the right organizational structures. Finally, it requires rigorous measurement and secure sharing of patient outcomes.

Conclusion

To digitalize healthcare sustainably, we believe that it is vital for healthcare institutions to consider long-term, strategic digital transformation now, and to undertake the four steps outlined here. Doing so will enable them to better serve future patients and to help in future efforts to manage and combat pandemics.

The complete Siemens Healthineers paper, This Changes Everything: How the COVID-19 pandemic leads to a significant acceleration of digitalization in healthcare, can be downloaded, free of charge.

Please click here to download the paper on the Siemens Healthineers website.