Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1482786
78 CIO / HEALTH IT to the healthcare industry combined with a funding market that has come in a bit. Digital health is here to stay, so I would expect to see deeper, more meaningful relationships develop in the near term between surviving companies and hospitals and health systems. I would also anticipate that there will be some consolidation among some of the stronger companies to better leverage more limited operating resources. Michael Hasselberg, PhD, RN. Chief Digital Health Officer at Uni- versity of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center: In 2021 we witnessed an unprecedented venture investment in digital health, leading to inflated valuations and a marketplace flooded by companies with questionable business metrics. ese factors caused uncertainty among health sys- tems seeking industry relationships. Now, we are seeing a reset in the funding of digital health companies, enabling health systems to seek stable industry partners to transform care. At University of Rochester Medical Center, we believe that this is an excellent time to partner with digital health companies. Due to the investment market pullback in 2022, these companies must be more thoughtful about how to spend their capital and grow. Only those with the strongest value propositions with a clear return on investment will survive. is increased clarity around value gives health systems like ours even more confidence that the vendor solution will actually meet our needs. Patrick Woodard, MD. Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (Memphis, Tenn.): Recent digi- tal health layoffs certainly mark a turn in the rapid growth of digital health tools, but I believe this reflects current market conditions more than the future of the industry. at being said, a deep pocket is not enough to fix healthcare's problems; Amazon's discontinuation of Am- azon Care demonstrates that challenges remain regardless of funding. I do think there is a silver lining. Being forced to be lean and nimble will help to focus digital health companies on finding true product-market fit, or fade away and leave a spot for another contender. Part of this shi will be to drive digital health companies closer to health systems' needs. Health systems will continue to be a primary location where patients receive care, and digital health companies will need systems' expertise. But values will need to be aligned. In general, health systems have a low risk tolerance for failure and tend to value tools that specifically move toward the "quadruple aim." Digital health companies should ensure they can demonstrate success in moving one or more of these needles in an integrated, enterprise fashion. In this way, not only can partnerships continue, but they can thrive. Tony Ambrozie. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Infor- mation Officer for Baptist Health South Florida (Coral Gables): I don't think what's currently happening with the digital health com- panies is either unexpected or bad in the long term for the market as a whole. e last 18 months of wishful investments have led to a bubble in the digital healthcare space. And bubbles are always rudely burst by slow- downs or recessions — it's not the first and not the last case and not unique to healthcare by any means. When too much money chases too few quality investments, it is inevitable that there is too much duplica- tion and too little differentiation in the quality of offerings. We're see- ing too many solutions not doing the hard work of sound technical and functional implementation and deep integration into EHR and other critical systems. All this frenzy may have created the illusion of short- term opportunity and potential for investors but not enough solving the hard problems for providers. Coming from outside healthcare, I've been distinctly underwhelmed by the low quality of digital solutions, both from a functional as well as architectural and engineering per- spective. But some economists have shown that bubbles and their aermath actually lead to advancements in the long term that may not other- wise happen, except for the regrettable investor and painful job losses. Aer the bubble bursts, there is necessary consolidation that creates scale, where pieces of the assets are recovered at reasonable prices by stronger players and incorporated into better and more comprehen- sive products. ere is a better focus and understanding of what the problems really are and how to robustly solve them, based on closer partnerships. And better returns on investments and newer jobs are created in the process. So, medium to long term I think there are positive implications to this readjustment, outside of temporary job and investor losses. Zafar Chaudry, MD. Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Officer and CIO at Seattle Children's: Healthcare is already heavily into the digital transformation journey. ere have been a multitude of new startups in the digital health space driven by the pandemic — many of them have similar capabilities such as digital front door apps, for example. For me, it is only logical that many of these digital health companies won't survive; consolidation is inevitable. I do not see this limiting organizations in solidifying and continuing partnerships with the digital health companies that survive and continuing the good work that has already begun. n Texas hospital hit by ransomware attack By Naomi Diaz R ichmond, Texas-based OakBend Medical Center is notifying patients that it was the target of a ransomware attack on Sept. 1. In a notice on its website, the Texas medical center said it took all systems offline, placed them in lockdown mode and referred the attack to the FBI, CYD and Fort Bend County's cybersecurity team to investigate the incident. "At no time was patient safety ever in jeopardy," the notice read. The health system's IT staff has since been cleared to start rebuilding its systems. In a Sept. 9 update, OakBend reported they were still in the process of rebuilding and that phones and email were still impacted. The notice listed alternative phone numbers that patients could contact to reach the health system. OakBend did not disclose whether the attackers breached any patient information from its system. n