Last week HIMSS presented their State of Healthcare digital event that presented new data-driven market intelligence to the healthcare ecosystem. The data was fueled by survey insights gathered through the HIMSS Trust—a consortium of leaders across the healthcare and technology space. They presented trends and challenges from four key perspectives:
- Health Systems
- Patients
- Clinicians
- Payers
In case you missed the live event, below are just some of the insights and takeaways shared during the session.
Start Measuring Digital Health Progress Now!
When it comes to Digital Health, if you’re not measuring your progress..YOU ARE BEHIND! Respondents were asked “How are digital health initiatives currently tracked and monitored?” Findings show that 60% are measuring/tracking digital health program performance whether it be from a system-level dashboard that tracks all initiatives or from a regular/quarterly prorgess updates.
Patient Access & Cost Reduction are Top Digital Priorities
What are your top digital priorities at your healthcare organization?
Take a look at the table below. How do you compare to your peers? Looking at the results below, it’s clear that healthcare organizations are putting prioritizing the needs of patients at the top of their list. When asked to rank the top priorities when as it relates to digital health, respondents put impoving patient access (34.7 percent) and reducing costs (23.1 percent) at the top of their priority list.
Convenience & Good Care are King
When I think of my visits with my physician over the past 12 months, almost all of them were a telehealth visit and all of them have two things in common. They provided me with the care I needed, when I wanted it. I was able to book the appointment the day-of, took the call from the comfort of my own home, didn’t have to take off time from work, and received my diagnosis and perscription within hours of the appointment. The data presented by HIMSS during the State of Healthcare event showed that 65% of patients preferred a telehealth visit due to the convenience it offered compared to in-office appointments. It also showed that many are willing to share healthcare data if it will improve the care they receive. Providing digital healthcare tools and information is not only extremely conveneient for patients but it also empowers them to better understand and manage their health and the health of their families.
Clinicians See the Great Benefits of AI
Artificial intelligence is poised to become a transformational force in healthcare. But how will providers and patients benefit from the impact of AI-driven tools?
HIMSS asked that very question of clinicians. They asked them to consider the tools and software as it relates to articifial intelligence, and list the benefits they see. The top 3 benefits were the following:
- AI provides a better diagnosis (52 percent)
- Greater procedural accuracy (32 percent)
- Better care by allowing physicians to spend more time on patients (31 percent)
Technological Advances Don’t Come Without It’s Challenges
Although we all see the extremely valuable benefits for digital health and AI, it doesn’t come without it’s challenges. And yes it’s true that the global pandemic dialed up digital health and technology adoption, but the challenges that existed prior to COVID-19 still linger.
HIMSS presented an interesting slide that laid out the different barriers that respondents had when it came to implementing digital health and AI/ML operations. The top barrier for digital health was privacy and security concerns (40 percent), and performance and scalability issues (41 percent) topped the list for AI/ML operations.
When it comes to driver for adoption, there weren’t too many surprises here. Interoperability (63 percent) (surprise, surprise) and evolving the data landscape and quality (71 percent) made the top of the list; making it clear that despite a spike in adoption during COVID, there are still some major barriers that impede progress.
