Pivot Point Consulting’s Advisory Services leadership team attended Becker’s Hospital Review 2nd Annual Health IT + Clinical Leadership + Pharmacy 2019 conference in Chicago.
Here are 3 key takeaways:
Telehealth is no longer “nice to have.” It’s a must have.
A robust telehealth program spanning direct to consumer and consults is increasingly vital to a healthcare organization’s market and financial strategy — with leaders like Spectrum Health’s Jason Joseph, SVP & Chief Information Officer, referring to it as “an important part of the spectrum of care services, not adjunct.”
With increased focus around access, affordability and outcomes, Dr. Bala Hota, Vice President, Chief Analytics Officer, Rush Medical College, referred to telehealth as a “down payment on future delivery and finance models as we shift to value-based care.”
Now, the challenge is scaling telehealth. For some organizations, this is expanding from specialty consults to direct to consumer (or vice-versa), for others, this is increasing capacity, and for others, increasing consumer adoption.
Geographic banding around EHRs to improve patient experience.
When health systems come together in partnerships or through M&A, it can be costly — and challenging — to maintain disparate EHRs. Plus, often this model doesn’t provide a satisfying experience for patients if they have to navigate different portals, deal with confusing internal processes and other inefficiencies.
Organizations’ geographic banding around EHRs enables health systems to optimize their IT investments for patients and providers. Michael Reis, Medical Director, Critical Care and eICU at Advocate Aurora Health Care, made the case for consolidating onto a single enterprise EHR across Advocate Aurora’s geographic footprint to provide patient continuity across the spectrum of care.
Technology should be tightly coupled with financial strategy.
Instead of C-suite executives looking at technology as a sunk cost, or being a source of historical performance data, now they’re looking at how IT and finance can deliver more value together — including tracking patients better longitudinally and across the spectrum of care through a rich data and analytics program.
Be part of the conversation.
We appreciate being a part of, and leading, important health technology conversations — to learn from others and share what we’re seeing, given our deep experience.
Reach out to schedule time to discuss any of these issues in more depth with our Advisory Services team.
We provide organizations with a complimentary, no obligation assessment and advisory perspective.
