Is Healthcare Modernization a Challenge?

Many healthcare organizations are realizing a need for HIT modernization however majority of them misunderstand the concept of HIT modernization. Is there a certain amount of misconception regarding HIT modernization? Yes, there probably is!  Most healthcare organizations are modernizing quite frequently by adding new applications to achieve the benefit of EHR and to keep up with the emerging technologies but vast majority of them have so much of investments in legacy systems and processes that executing another project is not going to modernize their Healthcare system.   Healthcare modernization is a change in enterprise architecture and the biggest challenge that today’s IT and business leaders face, is actually successfully implementing a change. Modernization set the future state, the principles to be followed, and the standards that organizations are going to function with.

Healthcare modernization will improve the healthcare quality while lowering the cost. It can be accomplished by

1. Investing in infrastructure
   Providing better and efficient healthcare services requires making patient information easily available when and where it is needed.  Healthcare organizations need to invest in Electronic Medical Records to record patient medical history and business & clinical processes reengineering.  Benefits of implementing Electronic Medical Records far exceed its investment.  Efficient EHR will drastically reduce the number of errors made due to inappropriate patient medical history available and will also reduce medical cost by preventing unnecessary medical procedures and exams.  Business and clinical process reengineering will make the healthcare service a better experience for both the patient and the provider.
2. Investing in training
   Investment in the training of staff is critical to make Modernization effective and successful.  Modernization is a change and for the staff to engage fully and successfully in this change process they should receive proper training.
3. Assessing Enterprise Architecture
   Healthcare organizations do not realize the complexity of their enterprise architecture. Their enterprise architecture often consists of redundant applications, diverse technical footprint, and a large number of overlapping application interfaces. A comprehensive assessment of enterprise architecture can help organization with their modernization initiative and increase their business value and decrease overall operating cost. It should include the economical, functional, and technical viability of each critical application and identify redundant and dysfunctional applications and interfaces.
4. Leveraging existing IT investment by utilizing emerging technological improvements
   The biggest challenge that IT industry leaders face is retiring old systems and not able to realize the ability of older systems to provide new value because of limited amount of resources. Modernization does not necessarily require the upgrading of the whole IT infrastructure and the application architecture. Modernization can leverage the existing IT investments by utilizing emerging technological improvements such as Service Oriented Architecture, Cloud Computing, Virtualization, Utility Computing etc.
5. Defining proactive Governing methodologies
   Modernization of Healthcare does not end with implementing an efficient EHR, retiring redundant & dysfunctional applications, and reengineering business and clinical processes. Realizing full benefits of modernization also requires implementation of rigorous governance methodologies that should include but not limit to a documented process for regularly reviewing the change impact, communicate with staff the process, and proactively take steps to ensure the process is being followed regularly.