To continue prioritizing patient satisfaction and care, healthcare organizations must always work to enhance systems and streamline operations. This is made possible by advanced technological breakthroughs. Stay ahead of the curve with healthcare modernization.

What is healthcare modernization?

Healthcare modernization is the act of upgrading outdated clinical systems and making health data easier to maintain, securely access, run and scale. Programs could include electronic health records (EHRs), lab tools, patient portals and billing software, with the majority of them relying on aging stacks that were built decades ago. More than ever, moving towards digital, cloud-based systems is a priority.

While a large portion of the process is technology-related, true modernization looks beyond the systems. It focuses on ways to enhance patient care and ensure security in an increasingly digital-reliant world. We prioritize emerging healthcare AI technology as building blocks to creating a well-rounded health ecosystem.

Key aspects of healthcare modernization:

  • Implementing new healthcare AI, technology and tools
  • Upgrading health information systems for interoperability
  • Replacing or enhancing legacy systems
  • Designing new systems that encourage patient autonomy
  • Automating workflows and decreasing costs

When should you focus on healthcare modernization for your business?

If you want to deliver the best patient outcomes and experience possible, now is the time to reframe the idea that healthcare modernization is something you can do as something you must do. Incorporating cloud-based platforms that scale quickly enables your team to meet ever-changing demands. When a chance to make a positive change arises, you’ll be able to adapt quickly.

Legacy systems can pose challenges for the IT department—the older they are, the less reliable they become. Upgrading your older hardware improves risk mitigation, whether that’s preventing security breaches or ensuring all programs are regulatory compliant. Old systems are prone to crashes, leading to costly disruptions and damaging downtime; modernized healthcare programs are continually reliable, even under stress.

Bringing AI into healthcare enables your organization to meet patient expectations. With a variety of services available online, patients now demand seamless portals and mobile access that they can manage from anywhere. Implementing modern technology will improve patient experiences and outcomes.

What are 3 primary goals of healthcare modernization?

Clinical: When it comes to healthcare modernization, improving the improving the patient’s access to, quality of, and satisfaction with care is the top priority. Shifting from reactive to proactive care with healthcare AI tools and technologies will enhance the patient experience and ensure higher-quality care.

Operational: A large motivator for data-driven healthcare changes is to enhance efficiency and productivity within a workflow. Breaking down silos and automating manual, time-consuming processes with healthcare AI tools lets clinicians and administrators reclaim time for more direct patient care.

Financial: Though the main goal is to help people, healthcare organizations are still businesses, and that means addressing the rising cost of care. Lowering operational expenses and reducing per capita costs helps manage the revenue cycle and shift from volume-based to value-based care models.

What are the potential roadblocks for healthcare modernization?

Modernizing healthcare doesn’t come without a few roadblocks. That’s why we suggest you partner with an experienced professional to guide you in your journey. Our experts are well-versed in addressing these challenges.

Common challenges to healthcare modernization:

  • Data silos
  • High upfront costs
  • Workforce burnout
  • Talent gaps
  • Resistance to workplace changes
  • Cybersecurity concerns
  • Regulatory complexity

The human aspect of healthcare modernization

In an effort to combat the common misconception that healthcare AI will replace the hardworking people who make your organization what it is, it’s important to prioritize human-centered design (HCD) in each step towards healthcare modernization. HCD ensures that healthcare AI technology and tools can serve users effectively by prioritizing their needs and experiences equally in the outcome.

When applied to the health industry, modernization efforts embedded with HCD can relieve professionals of burdensome tasks like data entry, ensure health providers can access data in a timely manner and keep human oversight at the forefront—and that’s just a few of the benefits.

Implementing HCD in healthcare modernization requires:

  • Stakeholder engagement throughout the entire process
  • Empathetic perspective to understand the expectations of patients, family and staff
  • Iterative design and continuous testing to refine user experiences
  • Modernized solutions and healthcare AI that can integrate and scale for future needs
  • Strong leadership commitment during every step of the modernization journey

The future of healthcare

With new healthcare AI technology created every day, the industry is rapidly changing. Many tools are designed to help organizations shift from the traditional one-size-fits-all approach to medicine to a more individualized method. The data-driven healthcare trend, known as hyper-personalization, will utilize real-time healthcare data analytics to anticipate needs and tailor treatment plans.

Hospital at Home (HaH) is another healthcare modernization model advancing beyond its experimental stage to become a scalable strategy. This method blends virtual, mobile and in-person care, incorporating different types of healthcare AI and technology, such as remote patient monitoring, wearable sensors and 24/7 virtual command centers trained to manage high-acuity care.

The ethics of healthcare AI

Often, when AI is brought up in conversation, valid questions about ethics arise. As a patient, you deserve to trust your medical providers with your personal information and records.

In the healthcare industry, artificial intelligence should be implemented in an ethical framework to prioritize transparency, risk mitigation and data privacy in every instance. Keeping automated technology human-centric is the best way to build responsible AI into your organization.

CGI and data-driven healthcare modernization

Our experience with healthcare AI and modernization spans several critical areas of the industry. By working closely with state Medicaid and federal agencies to innovate with DevOps and agile development and enhance federal healthcare portals, such as CMS.gov and more, our team continues to deliver results.

CGI solutions for healthcare insights:

  • CGI ProperPay: A holistic solution designed to identify and handle claims that were incorrectly priced to guarantee billing and payment accuracy.
  • CGI Transcend: An integrated case management solution created to automate time-consuming manual processes and provide case workers with a 360-degree view of a family.

Trusting CGI with your healthcare modernization

Once you dedicate the time, energy, and team members to modernizing your healthcare organization, you’ll never look back. Don’t do it alone—contact an experienced consultant at CGI today to get started.