According to SIA’s IT Staffing in the Healthcare Industry report published last month, the healthcare industry is beginning to shift from its traditional view of IT as a compliance-based expense item (e.g., electronic health records, etc.) to IT as an enabler of strategic revenue generation, cost efficiency and improved patient outcomes. Both Forrester Research and Deloitte project the healthcare industry will spend approximately 3.0% to 3.5% of revenue on technology budgets, in line with a 3.3% average for all industries.

More than half of US healthcare executives believe the majority of healthcare payments will have shifted from traditional fee-for-service to value-based by 2020, creating strong pressure to deliver care cost-efficiently, with reduced medical errors, better patient outcomes and higher patient satisfaction. With labor representing 60% of hospital operating costs, the supply-constrained clinician workforce is costly and not scalable as demand for healthcare services grows.

How are healthcare systems leveraging technology to improve patient outcomes, cost-efficiently?

• Increased adoption of telehealth will continue to improve access to healthcare.
• With the explosion of health data available from electronic health records, wearable monitoring devices and smart phones, health providers can better leverage data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning to make better treatment recommendations.
• Virtual and augmented reality will drive better patient outcomes, both in the surgical suite and as an integral part of care coordination and clinician education.

Telehealth adoption continues to grow, with over three quarters of hospitals actively using or implementing telehealth according to the American Hospital Association. An example of growth in telehealth is Teledoc Health Inc., which grew revenues 37% year-over-year organically during the first nine months of 2018. Additionally, more than half of hospitals have implemented remote patient monitoring capabilities, according to the association. An example of this trend is remote glucose monitoring sensor company Dexcom Inc., which grew revenue 39% year over year during the first nine months of 2018.

Digital health startups such as Seattle-based Visom Technology, which combines mobile surgical navigation software with augmented reality and artificial intelligence to access real-time patient data and clinical insights during surgery, are aiming to improve outcomes in the operating room. Additionally, Addison Care combines augmented reality and artificial intelligence to provide medication management, care plan adherence and emergency response to patients in their homes through its virtual home healthcare assistant technology, which was unveiled at this month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Healthcare staffing companies are beginning to incorporate virtual reality technology in clinician onboarding and continuing education. One example is Aya Healthcare, which partnered with Health Scholars to provide interactive, virtual reality simulation training content to travel nurses. Quality analysis tools will allow Aya Healthcare to track performance and recommend additional targeted training for its clinicians.

“We are thrilled about this partnership and the progressive approach this offers to educate a disseminated workforce with superior outcomes to traditional online and hands-on learning,” said April Hansen, VP of clinical services at Aya Healthcare, in a press release. Hansen is scheduled to be a guest panelist at the Investing in Talent Development for the New-Collar Workforce session at SIA’s 2019 Executive Forum on Feb. 26, in Austin, Texas. 

Payers, hospitals and clinics are continuing to form integrated networks and utilizing care coordination to drive higher patient engagement, compliance with treatment protocols and better outcomes. To support these initiatives, health systems are partnering with digital health and telemedicine companies, as well as providers of clinical workforce solutions to utilize analytics, health data, remote monitoring, and augmented and virtual reality to enable new models of patient care, digital clinical workflow, care coordination and clinical education.