Becker's Hospital Review

38 INNOVATION What 800 execs said they needed to undergo a digital transformation By Hannah Mitchell T he pandemic has led to calls for a digital over- haul of long-standing hospital practices, but there are still some outstanding factors caus- ing hesitation, according to a July 9 Harvard Business Review report. In a survey of nearly 800 board directors, three trends emerged as the biggest roadblocks to adapting to a digital-first world. ree details: 1. Getting the most out of digital tools. Before the pandemic, 5 percent of board meetings were virtual. Now, that number sits at 95 percent. Even when employees return to the office, more than half of boards will pursue a hybrid meeting model. Initial data shows that hybrid meetings can shorten meeting lengths by 30 percent while increasing atten- dance rates by 20 percent. More than half of virtual board meetings are through Google Meets, Zoom or WeChat. is demonstrates that there is room for digital tools that help with board-specific processes, such as voting or sharing secure documents.. 2. Digital transformation and cybersecurity are a package deal. To go digital, executives need to simultaneously implement cybersecurity measures. Even though taking operations digital may be lucrative, the con- tinuous cyberattacks on hospitals may be deterring. e survey found 83 percent of board directors said cybersecurity was a top priority, but less than half of executives said their boards have a dedicated plan to improve cybersecurity. Additionally, many direc- tors said their boards have not been inquiring about cybersecurity risk plans from their IT departments. e survey also found that more than half of board directors use personal email accounts rather than the encrypted email accounts provided by their company. 3. Insufficient digital savviness. Many directors cited a lack of digital savviness as an added cause for hesitation. Not being trained in new digital tools can keep them in their comfort zone. Almost all survey respondents (94 percent) said they needed more training on new technology and best practices. About half of respondents (48 percent) said they would consider hiring independent experts to develop digital competency. n OSF HealthCare's 'hospital-at-home' model gets new brick-and-mortar command center By Jackie Drees P eoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare in July unveiled its digital health building and technology hub that serves as the power- house of its virtual "hospital-at-home" care model. OSF HealthCare's digital health entity, named OSF OnCall, provides hospital-level service to patients in their homes. The program offers an array of healthcare services and includes digital programs and software to connect patients and providers 24/7, the health system said in a July 14 news release. The new three-story OSF OnCall building serves as the epicenter of the health system's virtual care programs, Jennifer Junis, senior vice president of OSF OnCall, said in the news release. "This is our virtual hospital, or our hospital without walls," she said. "So what you will see within this building are our care teams that are delivering care through technology out into other areas — into our hospitals, directly to patients in their homes, and they are able to monitor them through technology. We are able to really meet pa- tients and care for them where they are." OSF OnCall offers various digital health capabilities, including re- mote patient monitoring, virtual nurse triaging, intensive care mon- itoring and telehealth carts. The program also provides hospitalist services and remote inpatient care so that patients can receive hos- pital-level acute care services from home. n 4 top stressors on healthcare innovation By Jackie Drees N inety-three percent of healthcare executives' organizations are innovating with an urgency and call to action this year, according to a June 21 Accenture report. For its Digital Health Technology Vision 2021 report, Accenture sur- veyed more than 6,000 healthcare executives from 31 countries and 14 industries, including 113 healthcare provider executives and 113 health insurance executives in the U.S., about their technology pref- erences and plans for their organizations over the next few years. The survey was conducted from December 2020 through January 2021. Of the respondents, 100 percent said the COVID-19 pandemic has created an "unprecedented stress test" for their organizations. Here are the four top stressors the executives cited: 1. Technology architecture 2. Strategy 3. Workforce 4. Processes n

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