Investor Newsletter November 2022

KLAS Market Insights

High Energy in the Remote Patient Monitoring Market

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions are top of mind as provider organizations strive to improve patient outcomes and reduce cases where patients need to visit a health system. RPM solutions are most often used by patients with chronic health conditions and allow healthcare providers to monitor vital signs like weight, blood glucose levels, and blood pressure. The goal of RPM programs is to improve health outcomes for patients and reduce the cost of care for chronic diseases by providing more data to determine treatment. Instead of relying on a single data point collected at the time of an office visit, organizations can use RPM solutions to gather rich longitudinal data and flag risk factors before they result in a costly emergency.

Despite RPM being top of mind, most solutions are immature, and widespread adoption is limited due to various factors. The cost of and reimbursements for the solutions vary, with organizations often looking to multiple funding sources—like grants—to get solutions off the ground. The challenge of proving future outcomes can also limit adoption; while some organizations have shown success with RPM, diverse patient populations can make outcome predictions difficult.

The RPM market is highly fragmented—there is a variety of hardware and software options. This has spurred the demand for device-agnostic software offerings and EMR integration. About 25% of RPM customer respondents are vulnerable—that is, they are unsatisfied, stuck, considering leaving their vendor, or planning to replace their vendor. As a result, it is likely that the RPM market will see high purchasing energy from organizations looking to switch RPM solutions and organizations standing up RPM solutions for the first time.

KLAS Investment Perspective

KLAS and Bain Collaborate on a Report Featuring Organizations’ Post-Pandemic Investment Priorities

KLAS and Bain recently collaborated to survey more than 275 healthcare executives and ask them about their investment priorities. The key findings and insights were recently published in a report, which outlines providers’ technology stack strategy, segments that are receiving the most focus, and the opportunities vendors and investors should be looking for.

If you would like access to the report, please send an email to investorservices@klasresearch.com.

Welcome, Steve Bitteker, to the Emerging Technology Team!

Steve Bitteker joined the KLAS investment team earlier this year as our research director of emerging technology. In this role, he aims to help KLAS identify new HIT categories to deliver valuable insights to investors and providers. Before moving to Utah, Steve spent 15 years in New York at companies like Moody’s, New York Life Investments, PineBridge Investments, and Deutsche Bank.

KLAS Reports—Recently Published & Upcoming

Emerging Technology Reports

Each week, dozens of new companies are knocking on the doors of provider organizations and health systems to present their latest innovative solutions. KLAS publishes 90+ individual reports annually which that provide early performance data on these solutions designated as emerging, disruptive, or innovative. To view the KLAS reports library, visit our website.

Continuum Health IT HIT Staffing
First Look 2022

HSi Wi-Fi & Cellular Infrastructure Services 
Emerging Solutions Spotlight 2022

Market Specialty Reports

KLAS publishes 75+ specialty reports annually, providing market insight based on customer perceptions of and experiences with the vendor/consultant solutions they employ. KLAS also validates industry trends, emerging technologies, purchasing decision insights, and market energy. Interested in KLAS report purchase options? Contact the KLAS Investment Advisory team at investorservices@klasresearch.com.

Credentialing 2022: What Solutions Have Fulfilled Their Efficiency Promise?

Home Health 2022: Exploring Technology Satisfaction in a Dynamic Market

Upcoming Specialty & Emerging Technology Reports

CDS Point-of-Care Reference 2022:
How Are Solutions Being Adopted by Clinical Users?

CDS reference tools enable clinical users to follow standard treatment recommendations and more quickly and confidently make clinical decisions. However, if these tools are not efficient for point-of-care workflows, they can cause frustration for users, especially those already experiencing burnout. Some CDS vendors are trying to address this frustration and report their solutions have evolved to be more user friendly. To understand the customer experience and how each solution is being adopted, this report draws on feedback from vendors’ general customer bases as well as on feedback from a subset of clinical users (defined in this report as providers, nurses, and pharmacists).

Facility-Based Post–Acute Care 2022:
Top Challenges in the Aftermath of the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a wave of challenges to facility-based post–acute care organizations (i.e., SNFs, LTCHs, and IRFs). Staffing has become a particular pain point, with organizations citing burnout, increased competition with staffing firms, and intensive patient care for severe COVID-19 cases as contributing factors. To help organizations understand how peers are approaching the current environment, KLAS interviewed 82 leaders from facility-based post–acute care organizations regarding the top challenges they face and the technology vendors they use or have considered investing in to address these challenges.

Home-Based Post–Acute Care 2022:
Top Challenges in the Aftermath of the Pandemic

The homecare market has surged as healthcare organizations have sought to maintain quality patient care throughout the pandemic and fulfill requirements for value-based reimbursement. Organizations are looking to expand their homecare offerings; however, the pandemic has exacerbated staffing shortages and decreased bandwidth, making operations—let alone growth—difficult. To help organizations understand how peers are approaching the current environment, KLAS interviewed 88 leaders from home-based care organizations regarding the top challenges they face and the technology vendors they use or have considered investing in to address these challenges.

How Vendors Can Improve Upgrades for Customers 2022

KLAS research shows that HIT vendors see more sales and increased retention rates when they continually develop new features to help drive greater success and adoption among customers. In a recent study, KLAS interviewed 55 HIT vendors about how they roll out upgrades to customers. Drawing from those insights and vendor performance data, this white paper outlines four areas that are critical to ensuring smooth upgrades for both vendors and customers: clear communication, training, proactive assistance with upgrades and adoption, and all customers being on the latest version of the product.

PACS 2022:
Changing Market Leads to Volatility among Large- to Small-Volume Organizations

The US PACS market is poised for change. Several vendors have made or undergone acquisitions, and some vendors have large customer bases still on legacy solutions. Over 30% of the 368 organizations interviewed for this report are at risk of replacing their current vendor, and organizations are looking for vendor partners to advance their enterprise imaging strategies. Further, industry-wide staff shortages have led to support and innovation challenges among PACS vendors. This report examines how these vendors have addressed this shifting market’s challenges and met the needs of customers with large volumes (300,000+ studies per year) and small/midsize volumes (less than 300,000 studies per year).

Value-Based Care Reimbursement 2022:
Organizations Anticipate Increased Revenue from VBC

Value-based care (VBC) has been established as a priority among healthcare organizations and payers as participants have gained more experience in managing their quality metrics and contracts, ultimately realizing returns on their investments. For this report, KLAS talked to over 50 healthcare executives to gauge their current standing with VBC contracts, their plans for taking on more risk over the next three years, and their perceptions on which vendors can help them achieve their upcoming goals with VBC.

IQVIA Healthplug:
First Look 2022

With the increasing focus on patient outcomes, healthcare organizations are striving to make it easier for doctors to provide quality care. IQVIA Healthplug is a point-of-care clinician tool that puts needed information in clinicians’ hands, allowing doctors to use mobile devices to access patient records, make prescriptions, track notes, send messages, manage referrals, access schedules, and more. This report seeks to validate adoption of Healthplug’s key features and provide an overview of the customer experience.

STANLEY Healthcare Hugs Infant Protection (Software & Hardware):
First Look 2022

Newborn infants pose unique security and safety challenges for healthcare organizations, including potential abduction attempts and mother/infant mismatches. STANLEY Healthcare, recently acquired by Securitas, offers Hugs Infant Protection (software and hardware) to safeguard families and providers through real-time tracking and automated security alerts. The Hugs product line includes a legacy generation (launched in 1998) and the current generation (launched in 2014). This report examines customer experiences with the current generation of Hugs Infant Protection.

TransformativeMed Cores:
Emerging Technology Spotlight 2022

Healthcare worker efficiency is more important now than ever before. However, EMRs are not fully optimized, and unnecessary clicks and navigation eat up providers’ time. TransformativeMed Cores can integrate deeply with health systems’ EMR solutions in an effort to streamline multiple provider workflows. This report seeks to validate customer adoption of Cores’ key features and examines customer experiences with the solution.

To make a purchase or find more information on KLAS reports, contact the KLAS Investment Advisory team at investorservices@klasresearch.com.

KLAS Events 2022–2023

Digital Health Investment Symposium (DHIS)—September 2022 Preliminary DHIS Insights on Staffing

The DHIS event in September focused on the healthcare equivalent of “punctuated equilibrium,” a hypothesis in evolutionary biology that evolution is marked by short periods of rapid development between long periods of little or no change. The healthcare industry has seen this type of development—the evolution of healthcare was slow before the pandemic spurred an unprecedented need for rapid change and innovation.

One area that has experienced punctuated equilibrium is staffing. For years, staff shortages in healthcare have persisted, and while there has been some innovation around this issue, staff augmentation services is the only solution that has been broadly adopted. The shock of COVID-19, in addition to other institutional and market forces that have been mounting over the last decade, triggered what is known as The Great Resignation. Suddenly, the persistent issue of staffing shortages has become an existential issue as departments face the possibility of closure.

Before DHIS22, KLAS invited attendees to share how they have been impacted by staffing shortages. Nearly 80% of provider attendees reported seeing negative or significantly negative impacts, saying they desperately need solutions that can lighten staff’s load. Interestingly, a small number of vendor attendees reported seeing positive impacts due to the staffing shortage. Notably, these vendors were well positioned with products that are intended to alleviate staffing pains.

This data shows the pain that healthcare providers are feeling during this staffing crisis as well as the extremely limited number of solutions that are mitigating staffing issues. Looking forward, DHIS attendees believe staffing shortages will continue, and they say innovative solutions will (1) help retain existing staff, (2) attract new staff in a sustainable, scalable way, and (3) allow providers to do more with the staff they have.

As macroeconomic indicators point to continued market instability and uncertainty, it is harder than ever before to predict the trends and forces that are critical to success. This year’s DHIS was a unique opportunity for healthcare providers, vendors, investors, and innovators to discuss today’s key issues and explore the critical issues of tomorrow.

Next year, DHIS is slated to take place in September in Park City, Utah. Mark your calendars now so you can add your voice to those who are solving the key challenges in healthcare.

KLAS Global Summit
June 6–8, 2023
VILA VITA Parc—Porches, Portugal

The KLAS Global Summit in 2023 will be returning to the stunning VILA VITA Parc resort in Portugal. KLAS looks forward to bringing together healthcare leaders from across Europe, Canada, Asia/Oceania, and the Middle East for two days of collaboration and learning.
This invite-only event is limited to 150 executive-level attendees and is a unique opportunity to interact with global healthcare leaders who are mutually focused on improving the delivery of healthcare. If you have not received a personalized invite but have interest in attending the Global Summit, please email us at investorservices@klasresearch.com.