With the world moving towards digitalisation, healthcare industry is lagging behind because of the following major challenges that it is facing.
Though these challenges can be overcome, the acceptability of digital transformation with open arms is what organisations need to understand first.
Fear of Acceptance
The long established way of carrying on activities manually have made a deep impact in daily lives. In such a scenario, the advent of technology is a major change who are not ready to leave behind the traditional way of working and embrace the digital transformations that are happening at the speed of light. If we have to define digital transformation, it implies altering the way organizations think and work. It involves a change of mindset and not only accepting or using new technology. Therefore, it becomes important that right from the CEO and doctors to the nurses and other hospital staff, everybody needs to accept the transformation and then work with it.
Money Involved
The transformation that digitalisation brings comes with a cost. The organisations, at times, focus on the ROI without completely appreciating the value proposition that a digitally-powered system can and will deliver in terms of scale, revenue and profit. It is important here for healthcare organisations that instead of looking at the cost incurred, they take note of the money saved, as soon as the inefficient processes are looked after by digital transformation.
Data Security
The security of data is a big challenge for all technology-driven industries, but all the more for healthcare, considering the sensitive and personal nature of data involved. There are healthcare organizations that are so careful of the result that they hesitate to take digital makeovers.
Data is unused
The data in medical industry is generated in huge amount on day to day basis but is not utilised wisely. Therefore, data aggregation and interoperability become major challenges for organisations involved in medical facilities. The data becomes useless as it is not captured properly, understood well and insights cannot be taken out of it.
From Top to Toe
The adoption of integrated Hospital Information System (HIS) and Electronic Medical Records (EMR) is not only what is required to be digital as the organisations believe. It is a complete journey from registration and consultation to the inpatient services and post-discharge follow-ups that has to be taken into account in a hospital’s digital transformation.
