Building the Digital Omnichannel Infrastructure: 5 Tips from the Experts
Omnichannel care in healthcare is here and accelerating. That is the message I heard most loudly while having the opportunity to moderate a panel at...
Omnichannel care in healthcare is here and accelerating. That is the message I heard most loudly while having the opportunity to moderate a panel at the 2023 CHIME Fall CIO Forum. The panel – “Evolving into an Omnichannel World” – featured three healthcare technology leaders who are driving change across the care continuum within their organizations: Cherodeep Goswami, Chief Information and Digital Officer, University of Wisconsin Health; Stephanie Lahr, M.D., CHCIO, President, Artisight; and Sarah Richardson, Chief Digital & Information Officer, Tivity Health.
Omnichannel care, defined simply, refers to the array of channels used to communicate and interact with healthcare consumers. These channels include both the digital and physical, and both provider-managed and self-managed. These channels are increasingly interconnected and enabled by multiple technologies that combine to offer new care methods and experience opportunities. As is clear to see, CIOs and digital teams have a tremendous responsibility to introduce solutions to facilitate omnichannel options within their organizations, achieve buy-in and support for change, and to implement and maximize the success of solutions alongside their executive peers.
The panelists shared insights into some of the initiatives their organizations are pursuing and experiences that span academic medicine, wellness, and vendors. The speakers also devoted time to outlining recommendations for organizations to move smartly and efficiently toward an omnichannel world. Some key takeaways from this part of the discussion include:
Start with the end in mind. Panelists shared that there needs to be an organizational understanding of what the end goal is meant to look like for both the consumers and the providers in the organization. Richardson then pointed out that with that end goal in mind, health systems and supporting healthcare organizations can understand what tools are needed to meet the digital, omnichannel experience for consumers.
Start small, scale fast. A big bang approach will not work, but doing nothing is the biggest risk. While every healthcare system will need to move to an omnichannel experience sooner or later, the pace will be set by the willingness and ability for an organization to change. To truly start building a track record of success, health systems CIOs and CIDOs need to identify the right place to start in the organization
Goswami discussed an example of working with oncology as a starting point because of the partnership with that team. The success of those initiatives built on themselves and have slowly been spreading to other parts of the organization. Conversely, a big bang approach, as was done for many of the EHR conversions in the last 10 years, is not ideal. Dr. Lahr pointed out to the audience that digital evolution to omnichannel is not just one technology, but dozens of communication, clinical, CRM, and other tools and systems that are brought together in a collective approach to meeting the consumer where they are or need to be. The level of complexity required inherently means starting small and scaling will enable much greater success.
Take a human-centered design approach. While other industries have been utilizing human-centered design principles for decades, healthcare has only recently joined the party. In the healthcare setting, that means including the patient voice and input regularly into the design. As mentioned earlier in the discussion about keeping the end in mind when developing omnichannel and digital strategies, the patient needs to be at the center of the discussion. Dr. Lahr and Richardson both pointed out that future CIOs and CIDOs will need to keep in mind how patients see their own experience and how mobile and other solutions are developed in a way that makes them useful and intuitive. While some on the panel have opted to bring in degreed experts in user experience, and others have taken the approach of teaching the broad principles to their entire teams, the goal is the same: How can CIOs move their organizations from the mindset of clunky interfaces to a designed, intuitive platform-based experience to capture and keep the next generation of patients?
Employ your employees as omnichannel champions. Employees are both your best advocates and your biggest assets in a digital, omnichannel patient experience. By focusing on ensuring buy-in from your employees, organizations that want to move to a digital omnichannel model are creating an environment where there is both strong buy-in for future projects and also a vested interest in its success. Goswami gave the example of starting with employees and utilizing an agile philosophy. The end result was other employees coming and asking to be a part of the next wave of digital transformation.
Do your own secret shopping. There can be no ivory towers for CIOs and digital leaders in the transformation to an omnichannel environment. Richardson described going through the process of scheduling a patient visit in their own healthcare organization to understand the benefits and shortcomings of their current digital initiatives. Having a willingness to not only lead the initiative but to test it yourself is a key differentiator in the success or failure of a digital, omnichannel experience.
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