In terms of digital transformation, the U.S. healthcare system lags other industry sectors. While the COVID-19 pandemic significantly accelerated adoption of digital solutions in healthcare, hospitals and health systems will need to embrace much more innovation to stay competitive with nontraditional providers entering the healthcare space.
That was the key message during a Sept. 28 webinar sponsored by Bright.md and hosted by Becker's Hospital Review. In a conversation moderated by Kevin Pereau, founder and CEO of TranscendIT Health, three panelists discussed advancing virtual care:
- Ray Costantini, CEO and co-founder of Bright.md
- Ann Mond Johnson, CEO of the American Telemedicine Association
- Corey Schmid, general partner at Seven Peaks Ventures
Four key takeaways and quotes:
1. Making change in healthcare is a daunting task...
"A health system I advise wanted to implement online advance digital care planning. From a layman's perspective, this should be simple. They estimated about 400 hours to get that implemented," Ms. Schmid said.
2. ...But it's time for hospitals and health systems to implement much-needed digital solutions.
"Telehealth and virtual care have been enormously important during the pandemic," Mr. Pereau said. "Patients as well as providers are more comfortable using the digital front door than ever before."
3. Continued digital progress is the only way for hospitals and health systems to stay competitive.
"If you don't think about patients as consumers, if you don't use digital tools to not only change where healthcare is happening but how it's happening, you become increasingly behind companies like Walgreens and Walmart and Teladoc," Mr. Costantini said. "They're all coming; the barriers to entry in the ambulatory care space are getting lower and lower. Health systems have to be thinking about using digital tools to change that entire experience of care."
4. Winning organizations will deploy digital solutions that improve clinical and organizational efficiency, as well as outcomes, access, provider experience and patient satisfaction.
"Some organizations have effectively deployed asynchronous solutions, and that's really given them an opportunity to deal with COVID-19 surges in ways they may not have thought of before, and able to maintain relationships with the community and patients more successfully than they maybe would have otherwise," Ms. Johnson said.
Click here to view a recording of the webinar.