The technology that healthcare organizations have embraced in recent years has brought a host of benefits to patients, staffs and the organizations, but in some cases, these technology benefits have come with challenges for information technology (IT) managers.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic overshadowed other IT priorities, healthcare managers faced myriad challenges to their data infrastructure, says Mutaz Shegewi, an IDC research director. These hurdles include: EHRs and digital transformation; the rise of medical consumerism; and complex merger and acquisition deals that bring separate groups of people, platforms and tools under one umbrella, according to HealthTech.

Providers have data flooding into their systems, and the question is what do they do with it, says Shegewi, adding that they’re trying to switch from data-rich to data-driven. The rise of telemedicine, greatly accelerated by the pandemic, has put pressure on providers to optimize their data infrastructures, but healthcare organizations are historically slow to adopt new data center technologies, and COVID-19’s impact on budgets has further limited modernization initiatives.

Proactive, forward-thinking organizations will see a host of benefits from optimizing these infrastructures, he says, including improved employee efficiency, ease in automating services, elimination of data silos and stronger security.

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