Wanted to build integrated digital health platforms to improve virtual care
The client worked on a strategy to build an integrated system that provides comprehensive care within a defined framework of patient care across community-based care, acute care, and post-acute care. The major strategic plan priorities included growth and optimization across primary care, specialty care, retail health services, and community hospital expansion. The client plans to:
The client: A large non-profit healthcare system in the southeast
The client is a large non-profit healthcare system in the southeast. They have nearly 30,000 team members, 270 physician practices, about 20 acute care and specialty hospitals, and two affiliated medical schools.
- invest in integrated digital health platforms over the next three years to improve the experience, quality, service, and personalization, and
- become a leader in virtual interactions in ambulatory settings, remote monitoring and management, and create a single brand standard that is consumer-driven.
The client had invested in several digital health initiatives covering telehealth and virtual care. Many of the initiatives were launched in the early stages of the pandemic to meet the demands for real-time virtual care alternatives for patients. While the digital health initiatives had demonstrated value to the organization, adoption levels were relatively low. There were also overlaps among several solutions and performance issues related to others. The leadership at the client recognized the need to continue investing in digital health. It determined that a multi-year digital roadmap needed to be developed to accelerate the transition to a virtual care model. The roadmap was also expected to identify new areas of investment. The roadmap would include an organization model and governance framework to drive transformational initiatives.
Twelve different opportunity areas were identified and categorized with Damo Consulting DigiMTM Maturity model
The client decided to take a phased approach to the transformation, beginning with an assessment of the digital maturity of the enterprise and benchmarking its digital initiatives against industry peers. Working in partnership with Damo Consulting, the client carried out a maturity assessment using Damo Consulting’s DigiMTM maturity model framework, supported by an online self-assessment tool and scoring model, which was mapped to the 4-stage digital maturity model. The assessment also identified gaps and opportunity areas relative to peer group health systems across various possible digital initiatives for consideration. Twelve different opportunity areas were identified and then categorized by a ranking system used to determine near and medium-term priorities for a phased implementation. The opportunity areas were validated using an extensive internal survey that ranked the in-flight initiatives and assessed needs for an organizational digital health program using the maturity assessment and benchmarks as a baseline.
A “Virtual Hub” model was developed to serve as a centralized enabling function and help drive a number of virtual care programs, including remote monitoring and home health, virtual primary care and specialty care, acute and post-acute care, and more.
The road mapping exercise was conducted over three months. An extensive group of senior stakeholders, championed and led by the Chief Digital Officer and a team of digital health practitioners, including clinicians, operations, and functional leaders.
Identified the ability to assist patients in navigating and understanding virtual care and in-person care options
The roadmap development process identified the ability to assist patients in navigating and understanding virtual care and in-person care options as a key requirement for success with digital health. High-value expansion opportunities included chatbots, patient mobile apps, wayfinding, and find-a-doctor solutions. Opportunities to expand platform investments such as CRM and data and analytics were also identified as high-value investments.
Existing technology partnerships were carefully evaluated for consolidation and expansion in line with the goal of enterprise standardization in platform choices. Additional considerations identified included the need for a robust operating model to support ongoing digital health programs across the enterprise, investments in training and user adoption strategies, and the use of data and analytics as a strategic enabler for digital health.
