Healthcare
Healthcare is undergoing a technology-led revolution. Organisations and IT leaders are hungry to take advantage of the huge opportunities in data and artificial intelligence (AI) and looking at how to integrate internet of things (IoT) devices and digital twins into their operations. They can see the potential for apps and analytics in developing personalised treatment plans.
Yet with these opportunities come challenges. Data brings value and AI adds insight, yet also complexity and risk in how you navigate privacy, security and compliance. Meanwhile the sector faces struggles with recruitment and retention in the workforce, not least when it comes to IT talent. CIOs and IT leaders have the drive for innovation, but not always the time or resources required.
Healthcare organisations shouldn’t underestimate the opportunities. A recent report by KPMG1 concluded that “the ability to pool large amounts of data, along with emerging technologies such as speech-to-text and machine learning, can allow health organisations to derive new insights into activity, vital signs and well-being.”
Predictive analytics and machine learning (ML) technologies already promise to transform preventative medicine, while digital twins (virtual representations of a patient) can be used to predict potential complications and tailor treatment plans accordingly. Meanwhile, remote patient monitoring (RPM) services are on the rise, enabling frontline teams to monitor patients with chronic conditions outside of hospital and at a distance. The RPM market is projected to reach a value of $175.2 billion by 2027, up from $53.6 billion in 20222.
Yet IT teams working in healthcare face the same challenges as most other enterprises, launching new projects while maintaining existing operations, often under budgetary pressures. Foundry’s 2022 State of the CIO report3 found that the top priorities for healthcare CIOs were security, aligning IT initiatives with business goals, improving IT operations and modernising infrastructure and applications. Driving business innovation and identifying commercial opportunities and go-to-market strategies came much further down the list.
This could cause problems down the line. As Forrester’s Predictions 2023: Healthcare report4 makes clear. “Equipped with new digital capabilities and pressured by new consumer expectations for personalised, convenient experiences, healthcare organisations face a predicament – act now and stay afloat, fail to act and get consumed by the competition, or risk financial ruin.”
Workforce issues also play their part. First, modernisation requires specialist skills that are much in demand. “Everyone is competing for the top talent to come into IT/digital roles” Kathy Azeez-Narain of the California-based Hoag Medical Group told Beckers Hospital Review in 2022. “The offers from pay to benefits to perks have been expansive, which makes it a very competitive space.”5
Second, workers across the healthcare sector are overworked, exhausted and stressed out. Where 45% of frontline workers across all sectors cite workload and 44% low pay as primary reasons for their work-related stress, these figures rise to 55% and 51% in healthcare. 37% of workers feel they don’t have the right technology to do their job.6
Prioritise modernisationHealthcare organisations need to modernise at speed. AI, ML, automation and IoT have the potential to reduce staff workloads, improve patient outcomes and speed up care, but require a clear strategy for data collection and security and management as well as a renewed focus on compliance. This makes it all the more crucial that existing operations are streamlined, and that IT teams have the time and resources to focus on the task. Moving to a cloud-based, service-led IT management model, such as HP Adaptive Endpoint Management, can help, while increasing visibility to assist compliance.
Deliver updates, not disruptionAdopting this cloud-based model also enables organisations to improve the employee experience, ensuring that IT isn’t a source of frustration but a driver for productivity. Here HP Adaptive Endpoint Management and HP Proactive Insights can help, rolling out updates seamlessly in a way that doesn’t hamper workflows, and using device telemetry to fix issues before they disrupt frontline work.
Life sciences and pharmaceutical organisations face similar challenges to those of front-line healthcare. They’re in a race to develop new drugs and devices, and at the forefront of real-world applications for advanced analytics, using AI to match diseases with potential treatments. Demand
for software engineers, data scientists and systems administrators is high, but the supply of talent is constrained. And like every organisation, life sciences and pharmaceutical enterprises are under pressure to support hybrid working models, but within appropriate regulatory and security frameworks.
Cloud-based management solutions like HP Adaptive Endpoint Management can help, enabling in-house IT teams to prioritise on innovation. With HP Proactive Insights, they can also support an increasingly remote workforce, while enabling enterprises to track, monitor and audit their activities for compliance purposes.
1 KPMG, ‘Healthcare Horizons’, p13 2023 https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/uk/pdf/2023/01/healthcare-horizons.pdf2 HIT Consultant, ‘Forester Unveils 5 Healthcare Predictions for 2023’, November 2022 https://hitconsultant.net/2022/11/04/forrester-unveils-5-healthcare-predictions-for-2023/3 Foundry. ‘State of the CIO 2023 EMEA’ – Healthcare Sector4 HIT Consultant, ‘Forester Unveils 5 Healthcare Predictions for 2023’, November 2022 https://hitconsultant.net/2022/11/04/forrester-unveils-5-healthcare-predictions-for-2023/5 Becker’s Health IT, ‘Top 5 health IT issues, according to CIOs’, June 2022 https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/top-5-health-it-issues-according-to-cios.html6 Microsoft, ‘Work Trend Index Special Report: Technology can Help Unlock a new Future for Frontline Workers’, January 2022 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/technology-unlocks-a-new-future-for-frontline
