Hospital leaders say their organizations must improve the way they leverage data
Ninety percent rate clinician burnout as a major concern for their provider organizations.
Photo: Weiquan Lin/Getty images
Ninety-four percent of healthcare executives responsible for technology at their organizations said they plan to invest in software to proactively address two of healthcare's top priorities, clinician burnout and a potential recession, according to healthcare data company Intelligent Medical Objects, a healthcare data enablement company.
Ninety percent rate clinician burnout as a concern for their provider organizations.
Additionally, 98% of respondents acknowledge their organizations must improve the way they leverage data to confront future challenges.
While there are a myriad of external factors affecting day-to-day operations, such as staffing shortages and the economy, one area where executives can take tangible action is where investments are made in uncertain times, according to the survey of more than 300 hospital leaders surveyed for, "Intelligent Insights: Data challenges, tech investments, and shifting provider priorities."
"Hospital providers face a lot of uphill battles – from data integration to clinician burnout – and this survey shined a light on how data integration can have a positive impact on patient care and day-to-day operations," said Ann Barnes, IMO's CEO.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Executives are experiencing a multitude of threats – both internal and external – but 71% cited maintaining or improving clinical care quality as the most important internal risk.
Other issues included clinical staff burnout at 65%; administrative staff burnout at 50%; and data issues such as fragmentation, management and optimization at 45%.
Ninety percent of those surveyed said they lost money because they had lost or leaked revenue due to inefficient data use.
Approximately 98% of respondents acknowledged their organization must improve the way they leverage data. Investment in software is a priority with
94% planning to invest in software.
THE LARGER TREND
Provider organization leaders work with dozens of software vendors that contribute to data silo challenges.
The survey found that 84% of provider organizations report working with more than 20 individual vendors, which can create a major integration and management nightmare for everyone involved.
AI has arguably been the most talked about technology for driving meaningful change in healthcare but it is taking time to gain traction.
Eighty-five percent of leaders think AI has received too much hype. Yet, at the same time, providers are overwhelmingly adopting AI to both improve clinical quality and administrative functions.
A strong majority favorably view the impact AI has had to improve clinical quality (81%) and administrative functions (83%) for their provider organization. Among the 17% with unfavorable views of AI's effect on their provider organization, 98% of that group are still hopeful for AI's future capacity to impact administrative performance and efficiency.
Healthcare provider leaders who are responsible for or have influence over technology implementation and purchasing at provider organizations with more than 20 doctors seeing patients (e.g. health systems, hospitals, physician group, specialty care center)
The survey respondents included: 41% health IT / data science leaders such as CIO or similar; 26% clinical leader such as medical director or chief nursing officer; 24% financial or revenue leaders such as CFOs and revenue cycle managers; and 9% administrative or operational leadership such as chief administrator or CEO.
ON THE RECORD
"For technology to have a positive impact on providers, it has to get out of the way and integrate seamlessly into clinical workflows," said Dr. Steven Rube, chief clinical officer at IMO. "This survey validated an assumption that we at IMO had. That providers needed assistance to seamlessly integrate relevant clinical data in the care of their patients. The pandemic unleashed a torrent of investment in new healthcare software solutions, and provider organizations have struggled to understand which types of software will present the best ROI."
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org
Joe Drygas and Randy Bush will offer more detail during the HIMSS23 session "The 5G Advantage: Advanced Connectivity for Life Sciences and Healthcare." It is scheduled for Friday, April 21 at 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. CT at the South Building, Level 1, room S105 C.
