The technologies that organizations implement aren’t always the ones they believe will have the most impact.
Hospitals and health systems recognize the importance of investing in technology to mitigate the many challenges they face, but determining in which areas to focus the most resources is not always clear.
Often, hospital leaders may believe one technology will provide greater benefits but choose to invest in another because it offers lower risk or a clearer roadmap to success.
This dynamic is recent investigation The survey, conducted by McKinsey & Company, garnered responses from 200 executives of health systems around the world, about 60% of whom are based in the United States.
Respondents revealed that their organizations’ investments are not always aligned with the digital areas that could have the greatest impact: For example, only 90 executives (45%) reported implementing advanced analytics, AI, machine learning or generative AI, even though 88 respondents ranked these in the top three, taking the number one spot for greatest potential impact.
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In contrast, revenue cycle management and back-office automation was the second highest investment area in the digital space, with 140 executives reporting implementation, but it ranked sixth for greatest potential impact (47).
One area where alignment was seen was virtual health to enhance patient experience and access, which was the most commonly implemented technology in the survey, selected by 152 executives (76%) and ranked second for greatest potential impact (71).
The survey also found that health systems may be struggling to scale digital solutions: Despite 72% of executives saying they are satisfied with their investments, 75% of executives say their organizations have not planned or allocated sufficient resources to execute on investment priorities.
Budget or funding limitations were most frequently cited as the biggest challenge to executing digital and AI transformation over the next two years, with 51% of executives ranking it in the top three.
The difficulty of upgrading legacy systems was ranked as a top three concern by 109 respondents, with 33 of them selecting it as their biggest challenge.
Not all health systems have the resources to focus on technology investments, but as pain points such as talent shortages continue to hinder organizations’ survival, leaders must be proactive in implementing solutions and increasing operational efficiencies wherever possible.
