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June 19, 2018 01:00 AM

Healthcare provider organizations seek digital tools to improve the patient experience

More than two-thirds of healthcare organizations say they're adopting new technology initiatives to improve the patient experience and over half say clinical outcomes is a motivation for new tech tools, according to a new EY survey.

Almost all organizations surveyed—mostly executives on the provider side and some payers—have a new technology initiative in the works for the next year, EY found. Leaders at organizations with more initiatives underway are more likely to think they have a competitive advantage.

"There is this wave of focus on the consumer that we've seen digitally across a lot of other industries that we're now seeing hit healthcare," said Christer Johnson, a principal and health analytics advisory leader for EY.

Executives at provider organization might be focusing on giving patients more digital agency to relieve some of the burden on providers, Johnson said. Providers have been struggling with burnout, particularly since electronic health records were put in place. Giving providers even more technology might exacerbate the problem, Johnson said.

To better drive performance, healthcare executives are turning to analytics; 43% have already put analytics initiatives in place and 50% plan on implementing them over the next year.

Analytics are crucial for achieving some of healthcare executives' other goals. Without analytics, "organizations are less equipped to capture value, control costs, maintain or grow market share, and improve patient outcomes in an increasingly competitive market," Johnson said in a statement.

Nearly half of the respondents also plan on measuring and improving patient experience in the next year, according to the survey.

But they're up against some challenges—including "fear of the unknown." Healthcare organizations are struggling with funding, and almost half the respondents cited that as a concern.

Part of the problem is how slow the transition to value-based care is, Johnson said. "A lot of payers are in this in between spot where they're thinking about some value-based arrangements, but they're not there yet," he said. "A lot of providers are really struggling with that business model."