Why the Digitization of Healthcare is an Unavoidable Imperative

Healthcare has to just look at some other large industries to see the business case for investing in IT. The retail sector was due to spend about US$190 billion on IT globally in 2015, while the financial services sector was expected to dole out about US$461 billion (admittedly, this includes hardware, software and related services). Obviously these industries have recognized the potential and even the indispensability of IT for their businesses. Why then is the healthcare sector not fully awake to the possibilities?

Digitization is the present and the future

The reasons may liepartly in the five myths that McKinsey consultants Stefan Biesdorf and Florian Niedermann highlight in an article published a couple of years ago (Healthcare’s Digital Future, July 2014). The biggest myths that the authors dispel in their article are that patients don’t want to use digital technologies for healthcare or that these are only used by youngsters.

Using data from different countries, the authors show the mismatch between what the healthcare industry perceives as expectations and what patients actually want.  Healthcare providers don’t need to be paralyzed by worries of huge expectations from users. They need to take the important step of getting started, staying committed and then enhancing the patient experience with added features and functionality.

While I believe that getting started on the digital route may not be as much of a problem now than it was a few years ago, there is certainly some reluctance and, dare I say, resistance to be fully committed to the IT transformation.

Benefits far outweigh the costs

To think that embarking on the digitization journey or using more IT alone will solve all of healthcare’s problems would be naïve. There will be people, process and technology challenges as one moves forward with IT-driven healthcare delivery.An example, are hospitals doing enough for their future? Napier’s view (consequently our product strategy) is that the Acute Care sector will be called to do a lot more and will have to significantly enhance its community outreach and project services well beyond its four walls. That is an area ripe for investment in technology as it can and should be designed to be technology centric from day one. Holistic case management of Chronic Illnesses’ and Smart Health technologies need to be in place. A recent study by DesignSingapore Council has showed that our seniors are quite savvy with WhatsApp, Viber and Skype. Why not integrate those in our process flow and deliver a great Patient Experience?

I’d like to conclude by pointing to a recent piece by Rebecca George, the Vice Chair and Public Sector Health Lead of Deloitte UK where she makes a strong case for IT transforming the National Health Service (Can IT transformation deliver a cost-effective 21^st Century healthcare service? February 19, 2016). As she says:“Done correctly, digital services can ensure…world-leading universal care, overcoming financial challenges, supporting advances in research and improving patient outcomes. There are inevitably risks…but the reward is a cost-effective, 21^stCentury healthcare service.”