From signing contracts with Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare to partnerships with Google, EHR vendor Meditech had a busy 2022. In 2023, the company is focused on "agility" and "innovation," Meditech spokesperson Robin Montville told Becker's, as it looks to grow and compete in a crowded EHR market.
The uncertain economic situation and high installation costs have led to some hospitals seeing their finances negatively impacted by a costly EHR implementation. Meditech is aware of financial factors influencing a hospital's decision to upgrade its EHR.
"Health systems continue to face significant challenges — including staffing shortages, burn out, rising wages and supply chain costs," Ms. Montville said. "Additionally, inflation and lost revenue have left many organizations in the 'red.' These pressures have pushed organizations to make the most of their current investments and prudent decisions about the value of any new ones."
To combat the myriad crises facing healthcare, such as clinician burnout and inefficient workflows, the company is turning toward artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning.
In 2022, the company released the Expanse Virtual Assistant. This tool allows clinicians to use voice technology to review patient records and orders, with the goal of enabling clinicians to spend more time with patients.
Additionally, the company is looking to partner with Big Tech companies to work on healthcare data tools and expand its capabilities beyond its EHR.
"Through our collaboration with Google Health, we are embedding search and summarization capabilities into our EHR," the company spokesperson said. "We are tackling a long-standing challenge in healthcare — the ability to search both current and legacy data in an efficient manner — to show a truly intelligent, longitudinal view of the patient's history. To achieve this, we are leveraging technology outside of our EHR to enhance its capabilities."
As hospitals leverage the power of the cloud, Meditech is working to capitalize on the success its Meditech-as-a-service, cloud-hosted subscription service had in 2022. The service is designed to allow organizations to access the latest version of the company's Expanse EHR and go live quicker.
The service is not the only cloud-based area the company sees ripe for growth in 2023: Meditech unveiled a slew of apps working on the cloud in the last year. The company is rolling out its Expanse Patient Connect, an app allowing secure patient texting and communications.
"By leveraging the cloud as a platform for innovation, we can incorporate new technologies that improve care delivery and the user experience," Ms. Montville said. "In 2023, we will continue our progressive course by developing new cloud-native solutions for interoperability, analytics and additional third-party app development."
Finally, the company is looking beyond the U.S. borders and into the Canadian market. The company recently rolled out Traverse Exchange Canada, a tool that will work to connect Canadian healthcare organizations using Meditech.