DHIS 2023

The Pre-Summit Survey

Optimism among Healthcare Organizations Is High Despite Continuing Pain from Staffing Shortages

Staffing Pressures Are Driving Energy in AI, Automation, and Tech Stack Consolidation

While optimism largely remains high, provider organizations still report pervasive challenges, particularly with staffing. Many are seeking opportunities to reduce costs and increase efficiencies; thus, consolidation is top of mind for organizations evaluating their budgets, and energy is high around solutions and technology like AI and automation that can increase efficiency.

 

Summit Discussions

At the summit, small groups comprising various types of attendees discussed the central themes identified in the pre-summit survey. They noted that today’s vendors should be cognizant of their solution’s place in the tech stack and redouble their focus on both robust integrations and frictionless user experiences. As staffing continues to be a major pain point, technology solutions will need to focus on efficiency and outcomes without creating additional staffing overhead or obstacles to providing care. AI in particular holds great promise here but simultaneously poses many risks and challenges to healthcare systems looking to adopt. Development in this space needs to focus on transparency, both for the solution and for the strategy and governance of the customer. Below are takeaways from the small-group discussions.

Staffing Challenges Remain High but Can Be Aided by Technology Solutions

• Staffing and labor shortages have been a major driver of financial pressures for provider organizations in the last year. Many are accepting the new reality of low staff levels and are looking to alternative strategies to do more work with fewer people. Entry-level positions have been particularly difficult to fill, with some organizations outsourcing their revenue cycle management to mitigate some of the staffing pains.
• Functionality for scheduling and capacity planning in healthcare has fallen behind compared to the functionality used in other industries; regulations and liability risks have slowed innovation.
• Any solution (platform, point solution, or AI) that allows staff to work to the top of their license will resonate with healthcare customers.
• HIT vendors can aid in retention at provider organizations by reducing the solution’s burden on staff. Vendors should strive to take a holistic approach to how their customers’ staff can interact with the solution, and ensure a frictionless, easy-to-use experience.

The Healthcare Tech Stack: The Use Cases of Point Solutions and Platforms

• Integration is the primary consideration among provider organizations evaluating point solutions. However, compliance from the vendor providing the platform infrastructure (i.e., the EHR, ERP, or CRM solution) is necessary to ensure successful third-party integration.
• Provider organizations often first consider broad platforms to receive the benefits of integration, even at the risk of losing advanced functionality from other solutions. Still, organizations view the superior agility and focus of point solutions as major benefits over platforms. Attendants worry that some platform vendors may struggle to innovate quickly enough due to their broad priorities and service lines.
• All HIT vendors need to demonstrate ROI for both platform and point solutions. Provider organizations still don’t see a clear ROI or feel confident that solutions are being fully utilized.

AI and Machine Learning Are Top of Mind but Being Approached with Caution

• In terms of AI, many attendees are worried for potential lawsuits. Keeping a human in the loop is important for mitigating liability but may create barriers to realizing efficiency outcomes.
• The transparent delineation of what is and isn’t considered AI is important. Transparency in the AI model and data is also critical for driving trust in the output.
• Attendees are not interested in AI tools that provide solutions to problems they don’t have or that disconnect the providers from the patients.
• The automation of a broken system results in a faster broken system. Change management is a critical component of lasting efficiencies for technology interventions.
• Data quality is still a major barrier to AI model deployment. AI deployment requires a relentless focus on data quality, as the data output is only going to be as good as the data input.

The Way Forward for Provider Organizations
Those in the healthcare industry have invested heavily in capital, technology, and time to create resiliency against the challenges that arise from staffing shortages, technology stacks, AI, and more. But underlying all of that is the need for strong change management. Technology cannot be beneficial until end users choose to adopt it and trust in changing workflows. Organizations need to invest in not only creating change management processes but also developing a strong organization-wide culture that allows for change; those who do so will be best positioned to leverage technology solutions to reach outcomes and ultimately improve patient care.

In our continued commitment to evaluating ongoing challenges in healthcare and uncovering compelling HIT use cases (including the practical applications of AI), DHIS 2024 will focus on how organizations leverage technology to build resilience against pivotal healthcare challenges, such as COVID-19, staffing shortages, financial strain, etc. To actively participate in the discussions and secure your attendance at DHIS 2024, contact your KLAS contact or email info@klasresearch.com.

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