Smart Health

Smarter health systems create extensive and integrated ecosystems that support improvements in consumer and workforce experiences, better care outcomes and greater access to health care services. Health systems can increase productivity and efficiency, and provide better care to more people. Ultimately, we will proactively manage population health with greater precision in the future than ever before.

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed health systems’ reliance on in-person care delivery. The pandemic has driven the health industry to the tipping point of digital transformation. History will look back on this time as the point in which health care providers and consumers finally adopted virtual care.

In EY teams’ discussions with EY clients over the course of the year, we have seen the conversation shift from just understanding the technologies, to now being focused on how to execute and become smart, especially, what it takes to create a digital-first health experience and weave digital into every aspect of an enterprise. Health care organizations want to know how to move from just “doing” digital to start “being” digital.

Just changing information into a digital form falls far short of achieving the end-goal of seamless and connected care. To move into the future, health systems and hospitals will need to embrace innovative technology, adopt new technical skillsets and tolerate nothing less than hyperconnectivity across their ecosystems.

Smart hospitals are hyper-connected, intelligent, human centered, highly reliable, and sustainable. While advanced technology is the key enabler, developing a smart hospital is not a tech project. Embarking on a smart health journey requires thoughtful consideration of known challenges, strong change management and executive leadership. It involves participation of all stakeholders – management, physicians, nurses, staff and ecosystem partners.

To bring the smart health vision to life, EY teams convene and connect the entire health care ecosystem. We explore where opportunities for collaboration exist and use our experience in technology, strategic planning, organizational design, and process transformation to drive better outcomes for all.

To deliver better care in the right place and at the right time needs an information architecture built around data liquidity. We explore five trends that are shaping a data-driven foundation for the future health industry. To transition to a connected health ecosystem, health care organizations need to get the technical, operational and cultural changes right in order to capitalize upon the potential of massive health datasets and the promise of transformative technologies.

Paying attention to the customer makes sound clinical and commercial sense. What we need to deeply understand are the benefits to be gained from improving the end-to-end experience in a holistic health care journey for both consumers and the health workforce. In the smart health system of the future, a focus on improving the patient and workforce experience will be key. Technologies that uplift the end-to-end experience and remove silos by connecting the care continuum are just one part of the solution. The other is systematically paying attention to the human side of care to get the experience right.