Healthcare's digital transformation has brought an abundance of technology for hospitals to adopt, but they need to be discerning in the tools they chose to deploy. Becker's talked to executives from three health systems to learn more about overhyped tools that hospitals would be better off refusing.
Five tools for hospitals to skip:
- Proprietary technology: Hospitals should be wary of technology that does not integrate across platforms or allow for interoperability and interconnectivity, according to B.J. Moore, CIO of Renton, Wash.-based Providence. He said this technology "leads to technology silos, technical debt, unnecessary complexity and higher costs."
- Augmented or virtual reality: Thomas Graham, MD, chief innovation and transformation officer at Kettering Health in Dayton, Ohio, said that while he is optimistic about some of the simulated applications for AR and VR, he "thought that the ball would have been moved further on the insinuation of the technology into the clinical setting by 2022."
- Natively written applications: Hospital applications should be cloud native, rather than written natively for on-premise use, according to Mr. Moore. He said the cloud is where "innovation and scale are occurring."
- Niche technology: Hospitals should carefully consider the end-to-end patient experience before adopting technology that targets very specific scenarios of patient engagement.
- Fax machines: Christine Brocato, vice president of strategic innovation at Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health, said she is always shocked at the ubiquity of fax machines in healthcare facilities. "Better processes exist, but old habits die hard," she said.