The best digital systems adoption methods to maximise efficiency and ROI

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Industry Article - Ergotron

In part three of a three- part series exploring why digital health systems are the secret to future-ready care, this feature explores how health organisations can roll out new systems with maximum efficiency and minimal friction.

The benefits of digital health systems are clear. They’re the closest thing health has to a silver bullet; they can save money, generate efficiency, and ease the burden on staff, all while providing better patient outcomes and building resilience for crisis situations.

What’s less clear is the path to successful digital adoption. Replacing old systems with new can feel like climbing a mountain that never ends. But case studies of those who have made the switch contain some prescient lessons. 

In New Zealand, the Canterbury District Health Board has been leading the way on digital adoption and integration with its HealthOne program. An early report looking at the changes Canterbury made between 2007-2013 offers insight into how the DHB rolled out new systems with maximum efficiency and minimal friction.

These are two of the most insightful findings - 

1 - Explain the vision. Much of Canterbury’s success can be put down to its ability to get various stakeholders - from local GPs to senior hospital clinicians to board members - to support the systemic changes taking place. Chief Executive of the DHB, David Meates, told the authors of the report this was achieved by communicating clearly that, “We need the whole system to be working for the whole system to work”.

Whether at an individual hospital level or a whole-of-region level, change is bound to create consternation. Taking the time to discuss the change and clearly explain the reasons behind it accelerates uptake.

2 - Foster a culture of innovation and transformation. Importantly, Canterbury also invited its stakeholders to contribute to change through programs that asked staff and contractors to devise solutions to problems they were seeing in their day-to-day work. Meates said, “We want everybody in the health system to be part of changing the system”. Not only did this strategy create buy-in, it also provided insights and ideas that informed the evolution taking place and made the transformation more efficient and meaningful. 

While no two regions or hospitals are the same, the Canterbury roadmap can provide insight and practical advice for hospitals planning their own digital evolution. It can also provide some much-needed motivation. All transformations are iterative, but the Canterbury example gives hope that positive results can be seen early. Even in 2013, when the digital transformation was still in preliminary stages, the DHB had recorded a fall in acute medical admissions and reductions in length of stay and rates of readmission. 

Adoption of digital technologies is a journey, but it’s not one every hospital has to take alone. And at its end are results that can’t be ignored. Digitisation will create higher standards of care, more equitable access to the health system, budget savings for hospitals, reduced costs of illness for nations, and a long list of outcomes we can’t even imagine yet, because we’re only just beginning to learn what this technology can really do.   

To learn more about the adaptation of EMR systems, watch the webinar ‘EMR, a strategic sustainable approach’ now On Demand. 

Ergotron is a leader in supplying digital-ready and enabling equipment, distributed in New Zealand by Sektor Ltd. 

For more information visit https://www.sektor.co.nz/Manufacture/Ergotron-Healthcare or contact us on healthcare@sektor.co.nz about how we can help you benefit from digital health transformation.