Guest Commentary: The sustainable growth of digital healthcare requires a rethink of operational models.

The sustainable growth of digital healthcare requires a rethink of operational models

By Bruce Nixon, CEO of Holocentric

The concept of digital healthcare is alluring and exciting as it offers incredible potential to transform the health sector and deliver great benefits to patients and healthcare professionals alike.

Already advances in cloud computing, mobile technology, automation and even artificial intelligence, are starting to have a considerable impact on improving patient care and backend operations. For instance, the adoption of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is rising, albeit slowly. In a 2016 report by PwC, the financial benefits that can be achieved through implementing EMRs nationally equal $1.76 billion annually.

However, the introduction of digital healthcare raises a number of questions, including:

·         How will such benefits be realised?

·         What needs to change for such an initiative to be successful?

·         Are existing processes and systems aligned to the utilisation of EMRs?

·         If they are partially implemented, what impact will this have on the desired benefits?

·         Will they be partially realised, not gained at all or will there be additional costs?

·         Will this just add to a series of failed transformation initiatives?

The reality is healthcare organisations are grappling with the introduction of new technology into their existing frameworks and struggling to reconfigure areas like standard operating procedures, upskilling of employees and also understanding the risk and compliance implications associated with digital healthcare.

For the most part Australian healthcare organisations are still weighed down by paper-based practices, relying on thousands of documents that quickly become out-of-date or inaccurate, causing significant compliance issues and also impacting patient care.

The reason for this is because operational models in the healthcare sector have remained largely unchanged for many years and are still very hierarchy-based and divided into silos, with silos operating independently of one another. And because new digital technology is designed to cut through silos and create efficiencies, its implementation and ability to be fully leveraged can be challenging.

Technology should not be viewed in isolation to operations

One of the biggest issues of undertaking digital transformation is that the new technology to be implemented is often viewed in isolation and not linked to the current operating ecosystem. The outcome is there is little understanding of what any requirements are for its deployment and where efficiencies can be made; counteracting the benefits the new technology can potentially offer.

The need for any new digital technology must be based on the business processes, responsibilities and accountabilities of the organisation. There must be explicit linkages between business processes and the requirements for the technology to deliver a workable solution.

Rethinking the operational model

What if you could try new technologies before you buy? Is it possible to actually build a simulation of the future operating model so that all aspects of change are better understood?

What’s required for new digital technologies to be fully leveraged across organisational value chains is a rethink of the operational model so healthcare organisations can better understand how new technology will impact employee roles, processes and compliance.

Rather than introduce new technology and implement improvements department by department or silo by silo, healthcare executives need to see how change will impact entire value chains as they flow horizontally and vertically across the organisation, affecting different areas, roles, processes and controls in varied ways.

More sophisticated tools needed

So they are better equipped to handle the introduction of new digital technologies, healthcare organisations need to invest in more sophisticated tools that are able to map the operating environment and allow the type of visibility needed to implement digital transformation.

But more than this, tools are required that can also help these organisations to simulate the impact of digital transformation so there’s a better understanding of requirements and if the new technology will deliver the expected results.

As with any major business transformation, there needs to be some guidance on what you’re working towards. Otherwise how do you make sure that everybody is working to the same agenda? 

Business GPS to help you to navigate digital transformation

A business GPS or digital model, should outline the processes people need to follow, the roles they will play, system design, decisions made and the impact on end users. This model should link all of these elements and provide clarity on how any new changes will affect operations and also minimise the risk of time and budget blowouts. This model should also identify how the desired benefits will be achieved.

A coherent, consistent and integrated model will help to bring together the information locked up in thousands of documents into one reliable source in a way which can cater to various stakeholders who will require different snippets of information at different times, in varying forms.

The model should also be used to simulate the expected operating environment, capture all knowledge, communicate to all parties concerned, incorporate changes that are discovered, drive the development of ICT systems, deliver an operating model and allow future changes to operations. Hence, the business GPS guides the entire transformation journey.

A tool for strategic decision making

While a business model is great for planning and helping management to make strategic decisions, implementing the business model requires an intuitive business management system (BMS). A BMS can assist in validating the business case for new technology, by allowing a comparison of service levels and performance between the old and the new models. This is in fact a digital twin of the actual business operating model.

It will be instrumental in the implementation phase as it will generate the standard operating procedures and training guides, and include the compliance obligations. It will be the blue print for operations and allow the agile adoption of further technological improvements.

There’s no denying that digital healthcare is the future and will help to deliver much needed efficiencies and improved patient care for the health sector. However, implementing digital transformation isn’t necessarily straightforward in an industry that is complex and crucial to society. Ultimately realising the potential benefits of digital healthcare and new technology will require a rethink of operational models and the use of sophisticated tools to enable successful adoption and implementation.

About Holocentric

Holocentric helps organisations to improve performance by helping them to understand how people, process and technology come together to satisfy client needs, meet regulatory obligations and achieve business outcomes. The Holocentric BMS addresses the gap between enterprise systems and business needs by acting as a dynamic model of your business operations that draws upon the relationships between all aspects of operations. http://www.holocentric.com/

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Comments welcome!

David