Healthcare: digital transformation proves complex

The possibilities for digitalization in healthcare are increasing rapidly. More and more Swiss healthcare providers are turning to telemedicine, patient portals and digital support for diagnosis or treatment processes. As a result, the complexity of their own digital transformation is increasing, particularly with regard to the associated interfaces with patients, the workforce and upstream and downstream service providers. The broader understanding of the scope of digitalization has led to the surveyed acute hospitals, rehabilitation clinics and psychiatric clinics seeing themselves as less well equipped for digital transformation than they were two years ago: While 13% of the survey participants felt very well prepared in 2019, this year not a single one of the surveyed organizations is any more, as KPMG Switzerland writes. At the same time, the proportion of service providers who felt inadequately prepared had tripled from three to nine percent.

Comprehensive digital alignment not given

"The more pessimistic self-assessment of service providers is based not least on the experience with the Corona pandemic," explains Marc-André Giger, sector head of public administrations at KPMG. Overcoming the associated problems revealed both the complexity and the need for the organizations surveyed to catch up. It also revealed obstacles to implementing digitization initiatives that had not previously been identified as such. "The survey results show that Swiss service providers have clearly underestimated digital transformation," Giger concludes.

At least the service providers seem to have recognized the signs of the times: While in 2019 around a quarter of respondents "fully" agreed to have a clearly defined digitisation strategy, in 2021 this figure is just under a third. However, the number of institutions that had 'somewhat' agreed to have a clear digital strategy in 2019 has reduced from 53 to 35% in 2021. "To be best positioned and equipped for digital transformation, a clear strategy is essential. Against the background of the necessary management of the pandemic, however, it is understandable that the strategic focus on digitalisation has not been at the forefront during the last two years," Giger classifies.

Lack of resources as the biggest obstacle

The service providers are willing to drive forward their digital transformation. In recent years, they have, among other things, prioritised projects differently, strategically realigned the organisation, adapted organisational structures and created new roles. However, there is a wide gap between investment requirements and budgets: medium-sized hospitals in particular expect an increase in their investment requirements, which on average even exceeds that of the large hospitals. Thus, 50% of the medium-sized hospitals cannot cover their current needs with the available budget.

If budgets remain unchanged, this issue will become even more acute in the coming years: 93% of the medium-sized hospitals would not be able to cover the demand in five years with their current budget. The service providers also see the lack of resources (67% of the mentions) as the biggest hurdle to faster implementation. The complexity of the IT landscape (52% of the mentions) and the reluctance to make radical decisions (43% of the mentions) are further significant obstacles for the service providers.

Cooperation central to successful implementation of digitization

In particular, the lack of resources could be somewhat dampened by cooperation. More than half of the service providers surveyed can imagine collaborating with competitors or other cooperation partners. However, the survey shows a downward trend with regard to cooperation plans for the realisation of the digital transformation: in 2021, just under 30% of the respondents stated that they would "not" or "rather not" launch further cooperation initiatives. In 2019, this was only one-fifth of respondents.

According to Marc-André Giger, the reasons for the more critical attitude of service providers towards collaborations and partnerships are to be found in the numerous challenges that accompany such joint initiatives: These include, for example, sharing a common vision, difficulties in contractual arrangements, but also the complexity of cooperation at the organizational and technical level.

Focus on patient well-being

Patients remain the most important driver for digital transformation in healthcare. For example, around three quarters of healthcare providers cited improving patient experience and satisfaction as a motive for digitization. Communication with upstream and downstream care providers also plays a key role in the implementation of digital transformation, according to 69% of survey participants, followed by an expected improvement in patient safety (62% of mentions).

Press release KPMG Switzerland

The detailed study can be requested here: https://home.kpmg/ch/de/home/themen/2021/09/clarity-on-healthcare.html

Methodology

A total of 38 service providers took part in the study - 23 of them acute hospitals (university hospitals and predominantly centre providers), 8 rehabilitation clinics and 7 psychiatric clinics (predominantly cantonal psychiatric services) - across all language regions and organisational sizes.

Other topics:

Digital access to the medical record