COVID-19 accelerated healthcare’s transition towards digital technology since it helped expand the capacity of healthcare organizations (HCOs) through extended patient access and isolation. In addition to HCOs, this transition was adopted by other participants in the healthcare ecosystem, such as independent digital health platform (DHP) vendors, self-insured employers, drug chains/pharmacy benefit managers, and insurance companies. It was not long before independent DHPs, payers, and self-insured employers realized the value of digital technology, so they increased their commitment towards this transition.
The goal of this book is to help HCOs understand, prepare, implement, and leverage digital transformation. The book opines that, to be successful, digital transformation must be led and supported by senior management. Equally important is the cultural transformation of HCOs towards successful change management, which requires an evolutionary approach to continuous process improvements of increasing scope and complexity. Next, HCOs must generate a comprehensive digital transformation roadmap that aligns with their strategic plan for enhancing clinical and related capabilities while improving patient engagement. To accomplish their digital transformation, HCO management and key stakeholders must comprehend and meet prerequisite requirements for: digital health platforms, advanced information technology, and work transformation methodologies. DHPs, and associated hardware and software complements, form the foundation of digital health technologies prevalent in modern-day healthcare and have gained increasing importance since COVID-19. Advanced information technology includes concepts vital to healthcare transformation such as EHRs, interoperability, big data, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, data security, and privacy. Lastly, work transformation methodologies address work redesign that incorporates different levels of process improvements and phases of digital transformation, lean/six sigma, agile methodologies, and human factors engineering to ensure well-designed interfaces for care providers and patients.
The overarching goal of this book is to provide a roadmap for US healthcare towards an organized digital transformation which will lead to improved outcomes, reduced costs, and improved patient satisfaction.