Quest Diagnostics is committed to cultivating strong relationships throughout the healthcare industry. That is one reason our Quanum Healthcare Information Technology team hosts dialogue with members of CHIME (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives) in regular focus groups.

Recently Jennifer Marshall, Director, Digital Product, Healthcare Information Technology, held a group discussion to discuss transformation activities as industry dynamics shift, sometimes requiring hospitals and health systems to consolidate technologies, align with financial constraints, and empower consumers in a more digitally focused market.

Marshall shared findings from a 2021 US research report conducted by Sage for Lumen, highlighting key areas integral to digital transformation priorities. The report found 93% of providers said digital transformation is moderately or very important over the next 3 years. With that in mind, Marshall discussed three primary topics with the group.

Digital transformation objectives. Marshall confirmed that cost savings is an incentive for exploring an outsourcing model. Priority is given to increasing efficiency in areas that are repeatable and with volumes at scale, such as content management and data capture, and in some cases coordinating offshore outsourcing opportunities.

Cloud smart. Marshall cited a statistic that suggests by 2023, more than half of organizations will align to a cloud-smart strategy focused on balancing cloud adoption with the unique circumstances, goals, and values of the organization. She stated that for some time, cloud adoption initiatives have been key in driving digital transformation objectives and modernization. The dynamic nature of the cloud has seen organizations shift from cloud-first, prioritizing cloud adoption above other considerations, to cloud-smart. Participants recognized that their organizations started with cloud nothing, and decisions to shift towards the cloud are driven by organizations investing less in data centers to reduce their footprint. The goal toward becoming cloud-smart has intentional criteria in vendor selections that leans towards cloud-enabled solutions. Additionally, when making buying decisions, IT leaders leverage the insights of operational leaders, security offices, finance, and the physician community.

Digital patient care journey. Marshall noted the Lumeon survey found that only 27% of the respondents have the capability to support real-time digital access for patients and their care team across the healthcare journey. Additionally, 43% of survey respondents included improving care quality as a key priority. Participants in the group discussion shared that, in general, current documents, including those obtained during scheduling, are incorporated into their electronic medical record (EMR) and are easily accessible. For example, MyChart^®, the Epic^® EMR patient portal, provides patients with a real-time view of the healthcare journey. Most participants noted that they face the most challenges with having digital access to patient historical records and care outside of their organization.

In summary, the discussion underscored the value of technology to unify and protect the patient record. When it comes to enterprise content management (ECM), Quest Diagnostics^® seeks to support the EMR to better aggregate data to help deliver unified records and streamline operations throughout the patient journey. View our patient journey video then contact us to learn more about how to deliver a complete and secure clinical picture to the systems and users that need it.