Executives from health systems that score high in digital health told Becker's they're focusing on making care more convenient, streamlining administrative operations and carefully deploying artificial intelligence.
"It's the vision of our board, of our senior team, to truly transform ourselves utilizing the digital tools that are available and to help develop other digital tools that are on the forefront," said Craig Richardville, chief digital and information officer of Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health.
Intermountain came in second on a recent scorecard of the digital health portfolios of 20 leading hospitals and health systems. The March 27 report from Galen Growth and Finn Partners graded organizations on such digital health measures as ability to solve healthcare pain points, financial strength and performance.
Mr. Richardville said Intermountain is looking toward AI and ChatGPT, first for administrative operations while being "very careful on the clinical side to make sure we do no harm." He said the health system partners with large digital health companies while striking investment and co-development deals with smaller ones. Remote monitoring, data and analytics, and value-based care through prevention and early diagnosis are other focal points for Intermountain.
"Digital health has to be embedded with the way we operate," said Aaron Lewis, executive vice president of growth and integrated solutions for Brentwood, Tenn.-based Lifepoint Health, which ranked fourth in the report. "They're not tools that sit out to the side and are interesting. We've listened to our operators. We've listened to the challenges. We've gone out and asked questions about where the friction is. And then focused our energy and efforts around solving for those solutions."
He said Lifepoint Health is aiming its digital health strategy toward "operational efficiency, inclusive care, care anywhere and consumer health."
"The other element about our digital solutions is some of them may not be the most fascinating but are high impact," Mr. Lewis said. "We've really focused on what the impact can be rather than what the splash might be from a press release perspective."
Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health, which was No. 5 in the rankings, is concentrating its digital endeavors on launching "innovative care team models" and ensuring AI tools "minimize health inequity," said Dan Roth, MD, executive vice president and chief clinical officer.
"The digital health focus of Trinity Health is to make access to healthcare easier for those we serve," he said. "To do this, our focus is on making the methods patients use to access care and interact with their care team simple and straightforward."