For many healthcare companies telemedicine, healthcare IoT, and big data are still nothing but buzzwords. Even though the emerging technologies seem to bring so much to the table, most healthcare organizations are lagging behind other industries when it comes to digital transformation. As per 2018 stats, digitization has covered as little as 7 percent of medical and pharmaceutical companies. Obviously, the healthcare industry is struggling with embracing innovations.
In this article, we will cover some of the most pressing challenges in healthcare digitization, and offer actionable tips for overcoming them.
Obstacles to Healthcare Software Development
Having developed a range of solutions for medical, clinical, and lab services, at VARTEQ we often have to tackle a wide scope of challenges in building and implementing new software. Our list of the most frequent obstacles on the way of digital healthcare transformation includes:
High cost and complexity of new technologies
It’s no secret that new technologies are expensive. Despite the plethora of ready-made solutions, many of them won’t apply for large healthcare organizations. Building custom solutions tailored to the individual needs of a particular healthcare company is often a costly endeavor. On top of that, both clinical and administrative staff will have to learn how to use new software, so an organization will have to invest time and money in their coaching and training.
Solution: research a marker of ready-made software that will suit your needs best. A lot of it is available on a SaaS basis, which means that vendors will charge monthly fees that can be easily included in your operational expenses. If you have to build custom software, consider leveraging offshore outsourcing. Look for a reliable custom software solutions provider with headquarters in the US or Western Europe, an R&D center in outsourcing havens like Ukraine, and a wide talent pool of qualified developers.
The slow pace of tech adoption in the healthcare industry
A Physicians Foundation 2018 Survey spills some light on the subject: working on extremely tight schedules, clinicians don’t have enough time to participate in implementing new software, evaluating it, or learning how to use it. Ironically, they are forced to spend hours on administrative tasks and paperwork: something that can easily be automated using healthcare software.
Solution: having a roadmap for new software development is crucial to its successful implementation. As a rule, building new software from scratch takes about six months. By realistically evaluating the project timeline, end-users, and stakeholders, organizations can allocate resources for implementing digital healthcare solutions. Yet, solving the problem of overpacked doctors’ schedules requires cooperation on all organization levels.
Outdated legacy platforms
One of the core problems with adopting new healthcare software is that it simply cannot run on legacy infrastructures and won’t integrate with outdated systems. Organizations will have to undergo full or partial IT systems upgrade, which will involve expenses.
Solution: the solution lies in identifying the core areas that need automation, and assessing the readiness of organizations IT systems to support the new software. A lot will depend on your software hosting type – cloud or on-premises. At the very least, this assessment will help you understand what stands in the way of implementing digital healthcare solutions in your organization. Your software solutions provider should be capable of helping you to perform such an assessment.
Prevalence of manual data entry or outdated data analysis systems
The digital era is here, yet, many healthcare companies still enter patient data manually. While companies may literally be sitting on a treasure trove of data, this data often resides in disparate databases, is stored in incompatible formats, contains mistakes, or simply cannot be retrieved. The quality of data is what often prevents healthcare providers from taking full advantage of the healthcare software capabilities.
Solution: retrieving your data from legacy databases and aggregating it into a consistent data pool. This task is complex and may take several months. However, this step is crucial for healthcare organizations that want to implement data analytics solutions. Automating data entry and taking a new approach to its aggregation and storage is another minor step that will enable further progress.
Data protection and cybersecurity
It’s no secret that digitizing a healthcare practice means devoting extra attention to safeguarding patient data. As technologies get more sophisticated, so do cybercriminals. The new software will demand new methods of security protection: for organizations that are legacy-bound security is one more area for upgrade and investment.
Solution: start by bridging the knowledge gap and learn about modern AI-based systems for healthcare security protection. Get ready to deploy these systems in line with new software solutions and evaluate your IT infrastructure readiness to support these systems.
HIPAA compliance and overall public healthcare policy and regulations
The HIPAA law requires healthcare companies to take strong measures in order to protect Personal Health Information. Compliance with HIPAA regulations means that organizations should apply physical, administrative and IT security controls to prove their dedication to safeguarding sensitive patient data. It also means that companies can’t use tools like Dropbox and Google Sheets that other businesses can access on a freemium basis. All software used in healthcare practice should be HIPAA compliant.
Solution: be extra careful when choosing a software vendor. Ask for HIPAA compliance experience and ensure that the software you will buy is indeed for healthcare practice. If you plan to build custom-made software from scratch, look for a company with proven experience in developing HIPAA-compliant solutions.
Final Thoughts:
One frequent misconception about healthcare digitization is that the changes you make have to be significant and spectacular. Your patients, though, often do not need anything grand: automating one routine process could substantially improve their experience. Starting small has one more tangible advantage: collaborating on a minor project will enable you to test-drive your vendor and see how your partnership works before you move on to larger goals.
Read also: How To Digitize Your Medical Practice
Need expert advice on how you can digitize your healthcare practice? Our team will be happy to assist you in building a digital transformation strategy. Contact us now for a free consultation!