By HFT Staff

Most healthcare leaders have established digital transformation as a top priority spurred by the pandemic, yet they’re facing a chronic, underlying challenge that is impeding their efforts: data readiness. As a result, the number of healthcare executives planning to invest in technologies designed to improve data readiness and support systemic interoperability is projected to jump 440 percent by 2025 —  the highest percentage of increased investment compared to other healthcare IT categories. 

 The overwhelming majority of healthcare executives surveyed (95 percent) are focused on digital transformation, according to a new survey, “Healthcare’s Data Readiness Crisis: Triage vs. Transformation,” conducted by Morning Consult and commissioned by Innovaccer, and 61 percent aim to have their organizations achieve full digital transformation in just three to five years— a blink of an eye in healthcare time. 

A brewing data readiness crisis threatens to undermine digital transformation, as 97 percent of healthcare executives surveyed report they are pushing for more data interoperability. Three out of four respondents said they need clean, interoperable data that works across every system in the organization. Nearly half (42 percent) said their organizations’ data is highly fragmented and siloed, 41 percent cited data interoperability as the top technical barrier stifling innovation, and 58 percent didn’t believe that their electronic health records (EHR) vendor could support their enterprise data strategy. 

Closing this data readiness gap is the foundational step required to realize the promise of digital transformation and measurably improve clinical, financial and operational outcomes. That is a key reason many healthcare executives surveyed said they plan to invest in a healthcare data platform that fosters enterprise data readiness and pervasive interoperability. Indeed, the number of healthcare executives who plan to invest in those technologies is projected to jump 440 percent by 2025 — by far the greatest percentage increase across all other categories, including EHRs, cloud migrations, patient portals and CRM, according to the research. 

“All across healthcare, clinical, claims, and other data and the crucial insights it can reveal are literally trapped in hundreds of disconnected systems within each institution,” says Abhinav Shashank, cofounder and CEO of Innovaccer. “And instead of unifying these systems, we keep pouring more money into old technologies and erecting more data silos. It’s time to unify and optimize data across healthcare to make it complete, trustworthy, and actionable. And that requires a shift in our thinking. When we approach digital transformation from the perspective of ‘data readiness first,’ healthcare IT leaders will find they can address their immediate challenges while establishing a foundation for accelerating transformation long term.”