Accelerating Value-Based Care Through Digital Transformation
Solving Healthcare Challenges By Proliferating the Growth of Value-Based Care with IT Innovation
Healthcare IT has transformed and experienced significant change as previously decades-long transformation agendas are being compressed into 2–3-year plans. Today’s leaders are prioritizing agile technology innovation in response to a radically changing industry marked by virtual care needs, rapidly evolving healthcare consumer expectations, and a rise in new ecosystem partnerships. Adapting to digital innovation at an unprecedented rate is top of mind for most healthcare executives. Healthcare executives say their top stressors are technology architecture, strategy, workforce, and processes.
Disparate, disconnected systems built on legacy technology have created enormous technical complexity and employee frustration. Employee frustration breeds discontent and burnout, which is a hot-button issue for the healthcare profession. According to a 2023 Center for Disease Control (CDC) Vital Signs Report, 46% of healthcare workers reported often feeling burned out in 2022, up from 32% in 2018. To compound the issue - attrition due to burnout - could further exacerbate existing shortages and maldistributions of providers and place further stress on the healthcare system. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Health Workforce Report, published in May 2024, finds that there is a projected shortage of 139,940 full-time equivalent (FTE) physicians in 2036.
Yet, when digital is done right, IT can help employees strike a balance to avoid burnout while still providing high-quality, value-based care. Per McKinsey - valued-based care has accelerated from creating approximately $500 billion in enterprise value today and may be on track to reach $1 trillion as the landscape matures. Improved medical-cost-management performance in value-based could further support enterprise value creation, and the cumulative impact of these tailwinds may suggest positive downstream effects on patient health outcomes as well. New technology with distinct operational capabilities and platforms with collaborative interoperability specializing in various patient populations will be needed. Investing in core digital technologies - social, mobile, analytics, and cloud (SMAC) - is the cornerstone to helping evolve and improve the patient and employee experience. It is the key to improving patient satisfaction, providing quality outcomes while lowering costs, and addressing employee burnout.
The disruptive change caused by the pandemic has brought significant organizational challenges. Many organizations are adapting to new digital technology to solve those challenges. How do you balance managing patient risk, lowering network leakages, and growing your organization’s profit margin while providing quality care and reducing employee burnout? Although it seems like a Herculean task, it is not impossible. Transformative healthcare IT can be a change agent that fosters an exceptional opportunity for growth.
