The Digital Transformation of Healthcare

The digital transformation of healthcare is following a similar trajectory as the digital transformation of other industries, like industrials, according to a new study.

The study, by Lux Research, a provider of tech-enabled research and advisory solutions, reveals that healthcare has been slower to move, so, there is much opportunity to learn from the successes and failures of these more mature digital initiatives, according to Jonathan Melnick, PhD, director of research through Lux.

“Healthcare is under enormous pressure to reign in costs, which continue to grow rapidly and will continue to do so with increasing trends in aging and chronic care,” Melnick says. “Digital technologies, some being developed specifically for healthcare and some coming from other areas, are starting to show ability to reduce healthcare costs overall while maintaining or improving quality of care.

“This report develops a technology roadmap for digital technologies based on the value delivered and technical capabilities of the digital tools to identify drug development, clinical trial management, and medical imaging as the best near-term digital opportunities in healthcare,” he says.

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Melnick says additional findings include news on global healthcare expenditures, which has increased from 2.4 to 7.5% from 2015 to 2020, totaling an additional $750 billion in spending.

Findings also include expert analysis on how digital technologies are being used in the global healthcare ecosystem to lower costs and improve outcomes, he says. 

“Increasing governmental and payer pressure to reduce costs, while not decreasing the standard of care, is a pressing challenge for healthcare executives today.,” Melnick says. “These pressures also roll down throughout the healthcare value chain for product development, in addition to how to capture the value from deploying these new technologies. This report helps develop an innovation strategy aligned with those goals.”

Melnick says that the study was conducted because companies across the healthcare value chain such as providers to payers, to those supplying materials and equipment, are looking to understand how to contend with a changing healthcare ecosystem.

The ecosystem transitions from a value-based care to new point-of-care models, enabled by digital tools, Melnick says.

“In order to fully leverage these shifts, companies need to understand the trends and make informed decisions about the underlying technologies,” Melnick says.

Briana Contreras is associate editor for Managed Healthcare Executive.

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