3 things to look out for when investing in digital healthcare workforce solutions

The healthcare industry is saturated with new technology systems. Some were designed to help healthcare organizations optimize clinical workflows; some were designed to improve patient care delivery; and some were designed to simply digitize an industry that was- and still is - utilizing pen and paper as a tool to complete complex daily tasks. With thousands of emerging software companies offering solutions to improve healthcare operations, why are many organizations still struggling with digital innovation?

Industry agnostic solutions

Healthcare operations are unique and ever-changing, but many major technology players throughout the healthcare industry were not built for healthcare. Software built to serve multiple industries such as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM), and Vendor Management Systems (VMS) often require extensive custom development in order to meet the needs of the healthcare industry. A study by McKinsey & Company found that 45% of large custom software development projects run over budget, which must be factored into the base pricing and custom development proposals. These generic systems often offer irrelevant features as well, which can be distracting and frustrating for end users.

Technology built specifically for healthcare can quickly address industry nuances in areas such as payroll, clinical workflow, and compliance that “industry agnostic” systems cannot address with ease. As healthcare specific solutions only sell to clients within the industry, software vendor representatives and account managers will likely be industry experts, which is an important element when it comes to the implementation and support process.

Disconnected systems

Many of today’s technology offerings help healthcare managers, administrators, and providers reach individual goals and objectives, but the time it takes to piece together information from each system creates an entirely new level of administrative burden. The lack of data interoperability leads to wasted valuable time as trained professionals end up having to manually upload the same information into multiple systems, and later extract it in an attempt to form consolidated reports.

According to a recent study by Black Book, ~85% of healthcare providers have audited the current state of digital transformation at their organization in 2020, and 93% have identified redundant and/or conflicting systems. When selecting new technology offerings, healthcare organizations must be aware of the interoperability capabilities of each system and consider the direct and indirect outcomes across the organization.

Limited accessibility & collaboration

New systems typically impact multiple stakeholders across the organization, but many healthcare software vendors sell licenses with a fixed number of users. Adding administrators and provider users to these licenses is quite costly, limiting the potential benefits each system could provide throughout the organization.

Establishing a culture of transparency within a healthcare organization is foundational for identifying operational inefficiencies, learning from mistakes and creating a collaborative environment for clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals.

How Kimedics can help

As healthcare managers continue to develop their digital innovation strategies, industry leaders suggest prioritizing data interoperability, leveraging industry specific offerings, and discovering ways to involve all stakeholders across the workforce to achieve organizational buy-in and digital adoption.

At Kimedics, we understand the disconnect between healthcare data systems and the frustration it causes for healthcare professionals. That is why we built a platform to address the individual needs of professionals throughout the organization. Our platform is a home base for healthcare providers, medical directors, leadership, operations managers, schedulers, financial analysts, recruiters, administrators and coordinators.

Through our open API structure, the Kimedics workforce management platform can easily integrate with new and existing systems (i.e. NPI NPPES database, Salesforce, Quickbooks, etc.) to consolidate critical information, facilitating faster and smarter decision making across your entire medical group.

Learn more about how Kimedics can enhance your healthcare organization's operations by booking a free consultation with our workforce solutions specialist.