DHIS 2019 White Paper
Paving the Way for Radical Change in Healthcare

Pre-Symposium Survey

To provide context for the small group discussions, KLAS had attendees complete a pre-symposium survey regarding the biggest challenges they are trying to solve through IT investment as well as the barriers they face in seeing a healthcare IT investment through to success.

Investors, vendors, and healthcare providers are highly aligned when it comes to the top problems they are trying to solve; these groups identify high costs, poor data management, and a lack of patient engagement as the most pressing challenges they hope to address using healthcare IT. However, there are key differences when it comes to the types of technologies and solutions the various stakeholders are investing in.

Investors and vendors identify workflow automation, analytics, and artificial intelligence as key areas for investment, while healthcare providers are focused on purchasing population health management tools, EMRs, and patient experience tools. Several of these providers don’t feel that they have fully realized the potential of their core IT solutions and are therefore not ready to take the next step into analytics and artificial intelligence.

The disconnect between investment priorities is partly a result of the barriers healthcare providers face. In addition to limited funding and lack of interoperability, which are also top barriers for investors and vendors, providers cite lack of internal expertise and organizational alignment as frustrations that hold them back from success in healthcare IT.

Practical Steps to Drive the Future of Healthcare IT

The barriers identified in the pre-symposium survey can be addressed in two ways: systemic change and practical steps taken by individual entities. KLAS’ 2017 Digital Health Investment Symposium identified three systemic changes that can help address top healthcare challenges:

While these steps are important, they require a fundamental shift in the healthcare landscape and will likely take time to come to fruition. In the short term, individual firms, companies, and health systems can act independently in ways that help drive change. In small group discussions, this year’s DHIS attendees identified five broad steps individual entities can take to align industry stakeholders and drive radical change. Within these broad categories, attendees offered several practical suggestions for their industry peers.

Engage Directly with Customers
Healthcare providers would like investors and vendors to engage with them directly to better understand the problems they are trying to solve. They note that when new technology isn’t aligned with their needs and workflows, adoption often remains low, even if the technology is highly innovative. They suggested several ways vendors and investors can better engage with potential health system customers:

Establish Strong Road Maps and Governance
Deciding how to move forward with healthcare IT can be difficult, particularly considering the change management and expertise challenges reported in the pre-symposium survey. Participants noted that success is driven by a strong vision and supporting structure. They recommended several keys to success in this area:

Include More Stakeholders in Discussion
Healthcare’s complexity requires that different stakeholders with different agendas and expertise work together to drive success. At times, key groups are left out of the discussion, making it harder to create alignment and preventing stakeholders from taking advantage of each other’s knowledge and experience. Attendees identified several ways healthcare IT can benefit from stakeholders’ collective wisdom:

Facilitate More Industry Conversations
Another common theme in the small group discussions was the need for more opportunities for investors, vendors, and health systems to engage in collaborative conversation aimed at leveraging expertise, sharing best practices, and understanding the future of healthcare. Several ideas were put forth regarding what attendees would like to see:

Transparency around Technology Performance
Given the sheer number of emerging technologies and companies, it is difficult for healthcare providers to know which technology partners will best enable their success. Additionally, investment firms and vendors looking to expand their portfolios are interested in the performance and potential of new and existing companies. To help these groups, several suggestions were made:

Attendees