The healthcare industry is facing significant challenges, particularly in their efforts to update technology across the board, exacerbating clinical recruiting and retention issues which are serious issues affecting the industry.
In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare, one truth stands firm: technology is the linchpin for future progress. Moving forward and evolving will require technological adaptation. These insights resonate deeply with the challenges faced by the healthcare industry and underscore the transformative potential of Healthtech.
“I see major developments in healthtech in areas like HR, specifically around retention and the employee experience. Today, over 70% of physicians are employed within large hospital systems, which is drastically different from what the sector looked like even 10 years ago. While technology has made drastic leaps in healthcare, the industry is not supporting its workers. Clinicians and healthcare providers face an overload of work, which is causing over 20% of the workforce to leave and prompting huge nationwide increases in healthcare strikes. This is ultimately creating a demand for innovations in how hospitals, particularly HRtech, use technology to manage the employee experience,” CEO Sarah M. Worthy states.
The toll of the relentless pressure healthcare providers face is evident in the form of widespread burnout and diminishing morale among healthcare professionals.
“We are losing clinical talent faster than we’re able to recruit and educate them. It’s not just the pandemic that brought us to this point for years, clinicians have been dealing with increasing amounts of work at declining compensation. Over the next few years, we’re also losing a huge portion of our senior clinical workforce those who have the most experience, as the Boomers reach retirement age,” Worthy shares. “Technology can help solve these issues in a variety of ways the biggest one is replacing manual, low-value tasks with digital automation to free up time doctors and nurses are currently spending on administrative tasks. Physicians spend almost 9 hours a week on non-patient-related paperwork. The majority of this work is repetitive and digital technology, including AI, could effectively give each physician those nine hours back to spend on patients and themselves.”
While the challenges facing the healthcare industry may seem insurmountable, can be the key to their resolution.
Among these solutions is the automation of manual, low-value tasks that currently inundate doctors and nurses, sapping their precious time and energy. The majority of this work is repetitive and can be efficiently managed through digital automation, which may include the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). By relieving clinicians of these administrative burdens, which are often repetitive paperwork, technology has the potential to give them back those precious nine hours each week. This newfound time can be reinvested in patient care and personal well-being, fostering healthier, more sustainable work practices.
“We’ve used technology to measure and improve customer experiences and build stronger brand relationships with customers for almost two decades. I see a huge opportunity in learning from and adapting to the digital customer journey as we build technologies that support the employee journey. Technology enables healthcare organizations to create more personalized and impactful experiences for their clinical talent and build better relationships between managers and clinicians. Ultimately this is what we know works to retain great doctors and nurses long-term,” Worthy explains.
This connection between technology and customer experiences should serve as a guiding principle for healthcare leaders and organizations. Worthy envisions a profound opportunity to apply lessons learned from the digital customer journey to the development of technologies that support the employee journey within healthcare organizations and explains that technology can empower healthcare organizations to craft more personalized and impactful experiences for their clinical talent. This, in turn, can nurture stronger relationships between managers and clinicians, addressing the core issues that lead to dissatisfaction and burnout. Ultimately, this approach can better retain exceptional doctors and nurses over the long term.
The healthcare industry must learn to navigate the intricate challenges of clinical talent shortages, burnout, and the looming retirement of seasoned professionals. As healthcare leaders forge their path toward a brighter future, they must recognize the imperative of embracing Healthtech solutions that empower clinicians, streamline operations, and create a more personalized and impactful work environment.
The journey toward a reimagined healthcare future is propelled by technology. Healthcare organizations that harness its potential will find themselves at the forefront of an industry that is being redefined and revitalized. By leveraging the power of Healthtech, these organizations can ensure that the healthcare system remains robust and adaptable, poised to meet the evolving needs of both patients and clinicians.