As businesses and industries slowly emerge from the pandemic, many leaders are reexamining their operational models – none more so than those in healthcare.

The challenges and opportunities are many: alleviating burnout on the care team; thriving in an increasingly consumer-centric, value-based care setting; getting ahead of new and mounting cybersecurity threats; improving efficiency while lowering costs; grasping and taking advantage of the latest advances in AI and process automation; and much more.

The pandemic did not create these challenges in healthcare organizations, they have long been realities. What the pandemic did was throw back the curtains on all of them in a big way. When the dust and debris of the crisis began to clear, these issues were still with us, but perhaps needing more urgent attention now because the pandemic took precedence in our minds for well over a year.

One common opportunity runs through all of these challenges: Information technology can play a pivotal role in the solutions available to leaders in overcoming them.

But IT can also be the problem. The pandemic may have set healthcare leaders back 16 months or so in working earnestly on these issues, but we were already behind – healthcare as an industry has chronically lagged years behind in IT innovation when compared to other industries such as banking and transportation.

This article is the introduction to a weekly series of process-based articles exploring solutions and strategies for driving business improvement, focusing on how to integrate information technology into the effort. In each of these articles I will define the critical topic, explore the problem it is striving to solve, examine the implications for healthcare, and then suggest solutions based on real-world experience. Topics will include:

• How increasing burnout among all clinicians – not just physicians – impacts not just patient care, but the health of the entire organization. It is more than just medical errors or turnover, though these are serious concerns. As Juneja and Sangwin wrote in a recent article: “In short, you will be paid less if you have dissatisfied care teams under value-based contracts” (Juneja & Sangwin, 2021). I will explore what can be done about that.
• The need for managed services. Building on the previous subject, we are seeing many clients expressing the need for managed services and outsourcing in order to scale and manage costs, especially with physician practices. This includes functions like help desk, billing, payroll and data entry. Managed services are about improving their operations in terms of speed, efficiency and accuracy. Again, more time with the patient and less time doing paperwork and haggling with insurance companies means better pay and opportunities for increased satisfaction all around.
• What can we do with population health and precision medicine? Can solutions be found to allow them both to peacefully coexist? Can we improve outcomes for the individual and a population at the same time through parallel initiatives? I will look at both sides of this challenge, which was exposed to the glaring light of scrutiny during the pandemic as notable failures occurred around the country. I will propose data-driven, process-focused solutions in this area.
• Recruiting and maintaining top talent in the post pandemic world. We often talk about physicians and nurses in this context but often forget the white collars in the mix—financial and operational people. The pandemic has presented us with new concepts of work and the workplace. Is the future going to be onsite, virtual, or a hybrid of the two? Whatever the model, finding and retaining the appropriate staffing resources will be crucial.
• Robotic process automation. RPA shows promise in serving our customers, whether they be patients, physicians or managers. Areas of opportunity include implementing IT help desk chat boxes, administering records, managing inventory and improving revenue cycle functions, including billing, claims, appointment scheduling and accounts payable.
• Adapting to new and increasing cybersecurity threats. Cybersecurity threats, especially ransomware attacks, have been increasing of late, and healthcare systems have long been easy targets. The more sophisticated the attacks, the more vulnerable healthcare becomes. Several proven solutions will be offered.

This is just a sampling of the articles I will present over the next 10 weeks in this series. The challenges out there are numerous, but they need not be overwhelming. Next week, I will start with an exploration of the convergence of population health and precision medicine, and whether there can be parallel solutions that work for improvement in both individual health and overall health in our communities.

More coming soon …