The field of healthcare digitalization is maturing and getting increasingly sophisticated, demanding healthcare and technology leaders to think more strategically than they were perhaps required a few years ago.

Chief Innovation or Chief Digital Officers are moving more to the executive level, where they need to take into consideration not just which tech solutions are really good, but which make most business sense at a given time for a given institution, say Karl Kellner, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, New York and Venkat Inumella, Partner at McKinsey & Company.

As observed by McKinsey and Company while a few years ago, most of the sponsor money, the private equity money, the private investment in the US was directed at biotech and pharmaceutical companies and some medical devices, that has completely changed and most of the investment in healthcare in the US is now in health services. Many opportunities await talented individuals to lead some of these new organizations and innovate healthcare. 

The three priorities of health technology leaders

…in hospitals and larger healthcare systems at the moment are:

1. Investing in innovation.

2. Learning how to be the leaders in innovation.

3. Figuring out how to do more with less - how to get the most out of the budget with all the environmental and financial constraints.

Top challenges hospital and healthcare systems technology leaders face are:

1. Realization that tech investments have lower ROI than expected - it is hard to implement large innovative projects.

2. Technology is the least of the problem; the vast majority of improvements can be achieved through technologies that have been available for years. The challenge is to take the technology that already exists and apply it in a thoughtful, meaningful way that is both gets to the outcome and is financially prudent.

3. Lack of technology talent. Doing new digitalization projects is going to take a lot of new technology acquisition, new technology, upskilling light over the next several years that you know, that they're not used to.

What about data?

Data is very important for many reasons, but while the question of patient access to data is getting resolved, the question of how can we make better use of all the existing data within the systems remains open. “Most data within the health system is not used from a data science standpoint. And that's beginning to change. In the US coalitions are forming between provider systems that are trying to exchange their data and build algorithms on top. The government continues to think about ways in which they can encourage systems to exchange more data for the purpose of common resurgence,” says Venkat Inumella.

The role of the CIO is getting increasingly demanding.

CIOs need to not only think from the technology excellence point of view, but also from a business and strategy point of view as to where to invest.  “The best CIO is, are able to quickly zero in on some sources of value across the value chain, if you will, and then build off of that to a more transformational kind of chassis. And then over time, digital really becomes almost like a business unit,” says Carl Kellner. 

How can healthcare providers do more with less? 

1. Focus is very important (even if it’s changing in the short term, for example, first the pandemic, workforce, etc). 

2. Focus on the value you will get to unlock investments. Value doesn’t necessarily mean financial value.

3. Technology leaders need to elevate themselves to the executive level and think broadly about the operational, strategical, and clinical impact of an investment. 

Tune in to the full discussion in iTunes, Spotify, Health Podcast Network.