For hospitals and health systems, the past two years of Covid-19 have seen a whipsaw of crises. Digital tools have been rushed in, helping to keep clinics open while enabling innovations in patient communications as well as workforce health and remote patient monitoring. Even institutions lacking digital health strategies managed to implement tactical initiatives. Organizations with established digital strategies, meanwhile, fared better—they leveraged existing staff and tools in new ways.
Ready or not, Covid-19 shoved the healthcare system into the digital age. Patients scrambled to keep pace, racing to activate or lose out on limited care options. With the pandemic now (hopefully) ebbing, it's worth wondering what will become of our digitally activated providers and patients. Where do we go from here?
Industry colleagues, health systems leaders and peers are all asking this question. The digital health landscape is wide and varied, as are the respective approaches to digital health. Though commonalities exist, there are even more differences—some articulated clearly, others reactive to market realities.
Answering this question requires knowing where you stand. Any health system's digital health readiness generally falls into one of the following categories:
