Healthcare organizations are turning futuristic visions into reality with advancements in digital tools, technology, and data analytics. With no shortage of options and possibilities, making strategic decisions about where to invest is even more important as healthcare leaders narrow in on creating a more connected organization to deliver the next level of care. Prioritizing digital investments that address immediate pain points while creating opportunities for growth and long-term improvement will take a careful balance to enable digital transformation.
Huron’s survey of over 300 U.S. healthcare leaders provides a glimpse into what's shaping and challenging healthcare organizations' digital strategies. Five driving forces surface from the research.
- More focus is needed on data security: As data collection becomes more prevalent, the importance of protecting sensitive information grows. Over 60% of healthcare leaders say that security and compliance are their top digital transformation priorities over the next one-to-three years. Cybersecurity and risk mitigation also emerged as a key focus area, with 43% of leaders ranking it as their top investment driver.
- AI is here to stay: While healthcare organizations are just starting to scratch the surface of how they’re using intelligent automation (IA) and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), 100% of leaders agree that a comprehensive automation strategy is needed. More than half of organizations say they already have an automation strategy in place. As regulation proposals surface and leaders gain more nuanced understanding of how they can add IA and GenAI to their tech stack, nonclinical functions, including clinical denials and appeals processing and supply chain optimization, emerge as priority use cases.
- Patient metrics are the top evaluation criteria when selecting tech investments: As healthcare organizations adopt new technologies to address a broad range of issues, decision-makers are increasingly scrutinizing how they affect their patients. Three of the top five criteria used to evaluate digital investments tied back to patients, including patient satisfaction, readmission, and impact on long-term health outcomes. Nearly 40% of leaders said that improving patient outcomes is a top consideration when investing in new technology, indicating a more patient-centric focus when making strategic decisions.
- Inadequate training is eroding ROI: While selecting ill-fitting technology or not having the requisite technical staff to move implementation forward can make achieving optimal outcomes difficult, failing to train end users emerged as the single biggest impediment to yielding ROI. By focusing more on implementation quality rather than speed to go live, leading organizations can avoid costly setbacks that prevent investment success.
- Overcoming cost hurdles is paramount: Core technology interoperability, data security, and consumer-facing tool development were all noted by respondents as key challenges, but the cost of implementation rose to the top. It presents leaders with the question: How can they resolve major industry issues when the cost of solving them is too high? Leaders may be better served by instead asking, “What’s the cost to my organization of not making essential technology investments?”
Use cases for digital tools, technology, and analytics will vary based on an organization’s unique pain points and long-term vision, but data security, AI, patient outcomes, training, and cost will be integral to how organizations invest and execute their strategies moving forward. Determining how these key trends fit into their long-term vision can help organizations provide higher-quality care and set them up for future success. View Huron’s full digital, technology, and analytics healthcare market research for more insight.
