Top 5 essential digital skills for healthcare leaders

The year ahead could be a challenging one for many in the healthcare industry. The economic downturn means that budgets will be under pressure, and so healthcare companies are needing to look at cost-effective ways to stay ahead of the competition. At the same time, the commercial landscape continues to rapidly evolve as the digital bar continues to be raised at a speed and scope that is unprecedented. 

“Businesses need to keep up to speed with these changes unless they want to risk falling behind their competitors,” says Sarah Gilchriest, President of Circus Street. “Patient journeys have permanently changed, and virtual interaction has accelerated. Consumers and customers have higher than ever expectations of the digital capabilities of the companies they use, and require a more personalised and instant service than ever.”

According to Gilchriest, businesses therefore need to look at how they can ensure they are positioned to benefit from the technology available to them in order to best drive their business forward in 2023. 

“Many healthcare businesses typically lay the foundations of digital capabilities in technologies and third party partners, but to truly scale this needs to be driven by leadership,” she says. “These employees need to be given the opportunity to gain the knowledge and tools to use advanced and ever-changing technologies to support them in the workplace. Customers will reap the benefits of this approach, and it will ensure your retail business is future ready. So, what are the critical digital skills healthcare leaders should focus on in order to drive transformation, and help ensure their companies are prepared and agile enough to navigate the period ahead.”

Siemens: smart finance to help medical technology growth

Siemens Financial Services (SFS) has opened an Insight Paper ‘Digital Transformation in Healthcare’, which focuses on the need for investment in key medical technologies that will enable the digitalisation of global healthcare systems.

According to the report, the medical technologies’ market will continue to grow. The fastest growing areas are:

• Al in Diagnostics 32.5% CAGR
• Telemedicine 22.9%
• Smart Hospitals 19.3% 

Smart Hospitals will reach a value of US$239.6bn from their current US$58.6bn market share, while telemedicine is expected to achieve US$392.2bn from its current US$75.3bn.

The ‘Digital Transformation in Healthcare’ report examines how smart finance for healthcare technology vendors and healthcare providers alike can build an ‘affordable and financially sustainable approach to acquiring digital and AI-driven technology’. 

Hyfe AI uses acoustic AI in its digital cough monitoring

The first telemedicine session ever took place in 1897, when doctors made a remote diagnosis of croup based on the sound of a cough during a telephone consultation. 

Now, healthcare company Hyfe uses acoustic AI in its digital cough monitoring.

“Digital cough monitoring is Hyfe’s bread and butter,” says Dr. Joe Brew, Co-Founder and CEO of Hyfe AI. “It consists of processing continuous audio so as to identify cough, and then quantifying cough’s frequency over time.”

Digital evolution delivers better healthcare outcomes

As the biggest global healthcare crisis of the modern era, the COVID-19 pandemic put the sector under scrutiny like never before. The knock-on effect of the rapid response of healthcare providers and pharma companies is likely to raise consumer expectations about how quickly and efficiently treatment can be delivered.

According to Hannah Graham, Group Account Director at Equator, that presents both problems and opportunities for providers. 

“The healthcare sector is attracting investment in a way many other industries are not. But it also means a shift away from outmoded systems and processes is paramount if user demands are to be met,” she explains. “Modernisation isn’t easy. There’s a recognition at management level that legacy systems might not be fit for purpose. But there’s also a battle over how to replace them - and what exactly should be replaced. The cost of making changes can be immense.

“Board-level clinicians will be keen to buy into new tech that maximises patient outcomes, from diagnostic equipment to robotics. Yet without robust operating systems to underpin use of the technology, providers face leaving a big gap between patient expectation and experience: digital records falling between silos; booking systems that fall over; treatment pathways lost in a forest of red tape.”

Equator is seeing clinicians and senior operations managers working more closely on digitisation strategies, in order to deliver better outcomes. But there’s so much more to be done.