What three areas should every healthcare CIO be focusing on for 2018?

Mobility, cloud and digital transformation are revolutionizing outdated patient care and IT processes to drive efficiencies in all areas of healthcare. With a well-designed strategy in place, health executives who set their focus on these three areas will see improved patient care, streamlined clinical workflows and a substantial return on their investment.

The new realities of work today mean that both providers and patients want access to their data and devices at anytime, anywhere. Cloud, mobile and digital transformation technologies make this possible. For example, providing an iPad to patients to allow them access to their labs and their care programs, along with social media apps and games, will often lead to a better patient experience. In today’s age of value-based care models, improving patient experience is critical to achieving better HCAHPS scores and lowering readmissions.

What does the ideal clinical mobility strategy look like?

An effective clinical mobility strategy must meet the goals and requirements of the clinicians who use mobile devices daily. Thus, any first step toward a comprehensive strategy is to survey and receive feedback from clinicians on want they want mobility to do to improve their workflows and patient care.

With clinicians’ goals in mind, it’s then a matter of choosing a mobile platform, a device (e.g., Apple or Android), and apps and other accessories to meet the team’s goals. Here,

executives need to consider management, security and infrastructure access:

• With potentially thousands of new mobile devices on

the network, can your IT system ensure that your Wi-Fi network will support all additional bandwidth requirements?

•  How does the clinical communication software integrate with the hospital’s existing PBX to support VoIP on the smartphones?

•  What mobile threat-detection solutions will work best to find real-time anomalies on the devices, networks and apps that could lead to compromised devices?

• What training and user support will you offer for the successful adoption of a given mobile solution?

It’s important to remember that mobile technology is changing rapidly, so an effective strategy cannot remain static. Rather, the best mobile strategies are regularly reviewed against established KPIs to drive ever-increasing mobile effectiveness, adoption and patient care.

How is the cloud enabling new opportunities to improve care?

There are two main perspectives that are affected by adopting the cloud. Within IT, leveraging the cloud helps the IT department offload mundane tasks (such as email and or backups) so that precious data center resources (both personnel and hardware) are freed up to concentrate on more meaningful tasks to support, develop and improve patient care. In addition, the cloud helps quicken speed to market for applications or research.

From a clinical perspective, the cloud has enabled collaboration and information-sharing in near-real time because of the cloud’s inherent capability of “access anywhere.” This has translated into more accurate and up-to-date information at the point of care and has resulted in quicker patient consultation times.

A great example of the cloud enabling both IT workflow and clinicians’ effectiveness and efficiency is the story of Kony at Broward Health. Kony is a cloud mobile-app development platform. Broward wanted to develop mobile apps. Had Broward’s IT department chosen to develop mobile apps on-premises, it would have taken a lot more time and investment in infrastructure. By leveraging Kony’s cloud-based mobile fabric, however, Broward could save time and cost ― but, more importantly, the provider could protect its revenue stream as the app was a directory for doctors to help with in-network referrals.

How is mobility driving a more efficient clinical workflow? Where can CIOs best focus investment and attention to improve clinical workflows?

Mobility drives efficiencies in clinical workflows in myriad ways:

• Reduces average length of stay

• Saves minutes per nurse shift on documentation

• Reduces admit and discharge time

• Consolidates devices

• Decreases STAT order-to-lab-time

• Reduces the WOW (workstation on wheels) footprint

Let’s look in detail at messaging. Simply deploying to clinicians a secure texting solution on a smart device can drastically improve both their daily caregiving responsibilities and patient care.

It significantly reduces communication delays associated with voicemail and email, and provides better and quicker responses to consultation requests and ancillary services. With secure messaging deployed, adding the VoIP and integrations into nurse calls, alerts and alarms will drive further device consolidation by giving clinicians one device versus several.

The biggest return on an investment in clinical mobility is making sure the Wi-Fi and VoIP infrastructure will support and scale with the growing demand for mobility at bedside patient care.

“An effective clinical mobility strategy must meet the goals and requirements of the clinicians who use mobile devices daily.”

• - REMY MORGAN CDW

About CDW

CDW Healthcare is a leading provider of technology solutions focused exclusively on serving the healthcare marketplace. Working closely with healthcare organizations nationwide, its customers range from small rural providers to large integrated delivery networks. The dedicated healthcare team leverages the expertise of CDW technology specialists and engineers to deliver best-in-class solutions from data center infrastructure through the point of patient care. For more information, visit CDW.com/healthcare.