The pandemic has forced healthcare organizations to recognize how slow they have been to adopt new technologies and to refocus efforts on developing both patient-facing and worker-facing solutions.
During a virtual featured Session sponsored by OutSystems as part of Becker's Hospital Review 11th Annual Meeting in May, Luis Giraldo, regional vice president of value consulting Americas at OutSystems, discussed the influence of the pandemic on modern application development and the adoption of low-code application platforms (LCAP) to quickly develop future-proof applications.
Four key takeaways:
1. Healthcare is rapidly moving to a more integrated digital experience. The pandemic highlighted challenges created by the digital divide in many industries, including healthcare. The healthcare industry has responded with a drive toward a more integrated digital experience for patients and healthcare workers alike. "The interlock between employee, patient and the internal caregiver experience with the outside is important," Mr. Giraldo said. "They need to be thought of as one impacts the other." This is pushing healthcare organizations to adopt emerging technologies to support their interconnected systems, including 5G, the Internet of Things, data analytics and LCAP development.
2. LCAP solutions allow applications to be built for the future. Many organizations are shifting toward LCAP solutions as they build their own applications. Agility is a key factor for LCAP adoption, as organizations recognize a need to develop quality applications quickly, often with a limited number of developers and at decreased costs. Applications built using LCAP solutions like OutSystems also provide flexibility, allowing organizations to make changes quickly to meet new requirements.
3. Digital solutions create better experiences for both patients and staff. Application modernization has been happening within healthcare since before COVID-19, but the pandemic continued to force organizations to rethink and improve their digital experiences. Not only did telehealth and other patient-facing digital initiatives come to the forefront during the pandemic, but healthcare worker-facing applications became a focus.
Today's applications are using real-time insights and analytics along with automated processes to decrease the demands on staff and the potential for overburdening workers. "Digital is not only driving a better experience for the patient, but is also giving more flexibility to the caregivers, the doctors and the nurses," Mr. Giraldo said.
4. Healthcare organizations can maximize digital transformation efforts with OutSystems. A number of healthcare organizations, including Humana, New York City-based Memorial Sloan Kettering and the UK's National Health Service are working with OutSystems LCAP to quickly develop cost-effective quality applications that integrate with other parts of their ecosystems. Mr. Giraldo said that healthcare organizations are seeing at least a three- to four-time speed to market, with a 50 percent reduction in resources at a steady state and a significant decrease of 25 percent to 35 percent in time spent maintaining systems, enabling even more innovation. "We're seeing organizations that are saving millions and a high proportion of not only labor but licensing costs by moving with OutSystems," Mr. Giraldo said.
To view the session on-demand, click here.