COVID-19 has turned our traditional technology infrastructure on its head. The pandemic has tested technology’s limits, its ability to meet modern demands of physicians and patients, and its capability to extend and adapt when needed. With a sudden shift to remote work in order to comply with social distancing procedures to keep clinicians and patients safe from infection, COVID-19 has revealed the need for flexible technology like never before.
At the end of the day, CIOs are responsible for transforming healthcare by deploying the right technologies at the right time. Instead of merely providing software and computer support, today’s CIO must also provide strategic business leadership and ensure the collection, maintenance, safety, and privacy of patient data. COVID-19, and its long-lasting implications for the future of work and patient care, presents an opportunity to not only reevaluate your networks and IT infrastructure, but also the ways you collaborate with individual departments to better predict and address their unique needs.
As we consider the evolving implications of a still unpredictable pandemic and begin to think about a potential reoccurrence phase, as well as a recovery phase,– siloed care and the in-hospital, brick and mortar model – is not an option. Take radiology for example. While COVID-19 has dramatically decreased the number of patients coming into the hospital for scans, radiology departments still have a critical need for IT to help support their new way of remote working. It is time we build more versatile networks – not just in terms of interoperability, but also the need for geographical versatility so radiologists can work when and where they need to.
Specialty departments, like radiology, want to work constructively with CIOs and their teams to advance digital healthcare transformation to ultimately enable and streamline care delivery. While many components of a healthcare organization have historically operated in siloes, the ability for technology infrastructures to work across departments is critical for enterprise radiology services, upon which nearly every healthcare organization has come to depend on.
This requires a shift in mindset – no longer is the IT department the behind-the-scenes stage manager, but instead out in front helping to predict and plan - a true force for change and effective collaboration. With decades of advancing their own digital transformation, radiologists have the experience needed as suitable partners and resources to boost your digital strategy. Philips can help act as a facilitator during staff interactions, offering consultancy to deploy the right innovations and empowering the modern CIO to take ownership of their technology transformation with data-driven decisions. Afterall, obtaining the right answers is only part of the equation. The ability to ask the right questions is a critical first step.
