By Mark Brohan | January 24 2018

As they seek to identify a clear business case for digital projects, some hospitals are developing integrated programs and procedures to vet new technology.

More hospitals want to build or expand their digital healthcare programs, but many are moving cautiously due to lack of time, money and confidence that the projects will succeed.

A recent survey of 317 hospital executives, including 44 CEOs, by the American Hospital Association finds that 75% of hospitals believe digital innovation is important “because it has strong ties to long-term strategy and competitive differentiation.” But more than 50% of survey respondents say they are holding off on deploying many digital healthcare initiatives due to a lack of time and money and fear of creating unintended operational burdens.

As they seek to identify a clear business case for digital projects, some hospitals, such as Carolinas Healthcare and Spectrum Health, are establishing committees, designating executives and developing programs and procedures to vet new technology.

For example, Carolinas HealthCare System, a regional operator of eight hospitals based in Charlotte, uses a four-point technology evaluation method, says vice president of information and analytics services Pamela Landis. A full-time staff of nine employees reporting to a chief innovation officer evaluates new technology, and, once the hospital makes a selection, works with commercial technology providers and internal departments to deploy the new hardware, software or application. “We make decisions where to put limited resources based on a defined criteria,” Landis says.

Carolinas Healthcare’s defined criteria is straightforward. Any new technology needs to provide a return on investment that cuts costs or increases revenue and improve operating efficiencies. New applications must improve patient care and outcomes. Carolinas Healthcare sees itself as a progressive user of new technology and is using artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and sensors and wearables. For example, Carolinas HealthCare enables patients with an Alexa-enabled device to ask for the location of the nearest urgent care or emergency department and get current wait times at each facility. Alexa is voice-activated personal assistant software developed by Amazon.com Inc. and built into the Amazon Echo and Amazon Echo Dot devices.

The health system’s MyCarolinas Tracker mobile app can incorporate data from multiple devices, including fitness trackers, blood pressure cuffs, and heart rate monitors, to monitor a patient’s daily activity, weight, nutrition, blood pressure, sleep patterns, mood, and blood sugar, among other metrics. The data is then updated to electronic health records.

Carolinas Healthcare is seeing results. For example, the Internet of Things and the MyCarolinas Tracker app, which tracks and aggregates data is improving patient care management. In one instance 81% of diabetes patients taking part in a mobile health initiative lowered their blood sugar levels by an average of 17%.

A centralized planning and workflow process for digital healthcare is also helping Carolinas Healthcare develop better connectivity to share electronic healthcare records with other regional health systems.

In June Carolinas HealthCare System and Novant Health, integrated their electronic health records systems into one shared health information network for the region in and around Charlotte.

Original Article