Health IT investment is still important, despite the new financial realities for health systems that lost millions or billions of dollars during the pandemic.
Jefferson Health Executive Vice President and CIO Nassar Nizami expects his system to emphasize EHR expansion and digital health capabilities to meet the needs of patients in the future.
Question: Where do you see the biggest need for IT investment today?
Nassar Nizami: Our biggest investment to date in is in the area of the EHR; we are standardizing to one electronic medical record system. We decided to move forward with our largest go-live with five hospitals that covers 1,200 beds over eight months. The new investment will be an exploration in digital health and transformation. Telehealth is another component of that, and how we interact with the patient journey will rely more on digital transformation in the future. We are now taking steps in that direction and I think future investments will include larger spend on digital technologies that make interactions with patients more seamless, more digital and more patient centric with the goal of improving overall patient engagement.
Q: What are the most exciting initiatives and innovations your team is working on right now? What do you have planned for the future?
NN: Even prior to COVID, we were partnering with several products to develop innovative solutions with patients in mind. These solutions reduced inefficiencies and costs while improving quality. There are many things we are proud of at Jefferson, but it's our openness to experience that has kept us at the forefront of healthcare innovation. One partnership in particular is with a company to develop digital apps. I'm excited about the opportunities and doors that will open as a result of this partnership, which connects us to a number of other innovative organizations that are looking to make a change, but not disrupt, healthcare.