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From Big Leaps to Small Steps

The Missing Linc in Healthcare’s Digital Transformation



When patient care presents as a constant and immediate need, digital transformation can seem like a distant priority. Healthcare providers must urgently address heart disease and cancer with cases on the rise, so investment in digital efforts appears less immediate at-a-glance.  “Digital Transformation” may sound ominous, but the potential for thoughtful connectivity can lead to lasting results.


As investment in digital transformation continues, utilized technologies must deliver value across the spectrum of users and directly contribute to better outcomes.

 

Digital transformation unlocks efficiencies to increase outcomes. The more useful the tool, the more effective providers are at delivering quality care. This not only applies to analogue solutions such as a stethoscope or a blood pressure cuff, but also to digital strategy tools  that possess the same potential effectiveness. The question then becomes, where are we in digital transformation and how close are we to achieving better outcomes?


One Big Leap After Another

 

While health tech innovation had been developing for some time, the leap into healthcare’s digital transformation changed dramatically starting in 2009 with the HITECH Act. 1  This legislative action encouraged electronic health record adoption by both increasing EHR reimbursement incentives and stronger EHR security standards through enforcement. In fact, cost and privacy were commonly considered the key deterrents to EHR adoption prior to this time and the HITECH Act addressed both of these concerns.


 

The legislative action had astonishing influence on the digital transformation of healthcare as we know it. In a 7-year period, Basic EHR adoption increase 9-fold with a saturation of 96% of reporting hospitals utilizing a certified EHR system by 2015. 2  Adoption does not always equate to satisfaction; however, a “2011 meta-analysis of HIT-implementation studies found that 92 percent of published reports to date had predominantly positive results.” 3

 

EHRs, while central to digital transformation, were only the beginning. As we experienced, the pandemic of 2020+ brought about a need for provider and patient to connect digitally when they could not connect physically. Once again, healthcare was thrust into a new era of digital evolution, whether it wanted to or not.

 

Where to Walk, Not Run, from Here

 

In a 2021 study by Deloitte, a majority of participating healthcare executives indicated that digital transformation needed to expand into enhancing patient and clinical experiences, reducing operational burden on clinical teams, and improving operational efficiencies for the entire system. 4  


As investment in digital transformation continues, utilized technologies must deliver value across the spectrum of users and directly contribute to better outcomes. In addition, participants emphasized that the digital experience must be seamless and close to friction-less before, during, and after care.

 

Lincata offers a very critical missing linc in the “during” phase of care that directly reduces friction in the digital ecosystem. A simple solution, Lincata’s in-room digital patient hub directly connects patients and clinical teams:

(1) to EHRs for the purpose of targeting and improving current-state care,

(2) to valuable patient education and clinical communication tools that reduce operational burden, and

(3) to patient portals or apps which ensures a digital handoff aimed at follow-up treatments and better outcome success.

In short, Lincata’s in-room solution enhances and increases the success of many of the other digital efforts Health Systems have already invested in out of both necessity and innovation.

 

A small step with Lincata in-room stitches the digital network together for the purpose of a seamless continuation of care… completing a linc in the chain for both patients and clinicians.


When patients are in-room,

screen time is a good thing.



 

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About Lincata


Lincata is the in-room digital marketing platform that intelligently connects your hospital's existing in-room TVs to your marketing content and digital strategy for the purposes of increasing revenue, reducing re-admissions, and delivering quality outcomes. By linking patient data with coordinated clinical services and relevant patient education content on screen, the Lincata platform increases loyalty to your health system with patients at the best possible time: when patients are focused on in-room screens, managing their care, and physically present to understand the next steps in their health continuum. Lincata's European division is Lincor, whose products have been used for more than a decade by more than 90 hospitals around the globe.

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