All around the world, COVID-19 has underscored the importance of resilient healthcare organisations and professionals. Within the healthcare space itself, the last 18 months’ challenges have also highlighted the need to increase the speed of digitisation and evolving processes and structures. BDO’s recent 2021 Healthcare Digital Transformation Survey underscores how leveraging digital tools to improve care and drive growth is core to being a successful and sustainable healthcare leader in 2021.
Following that, identifying optimal approaches, and avoiding costly, time-consuming mistakes are naturally top-of-mind for healthcare decision-makers. In such situations, leveraging industry benchmarks and insights can be a pivotal brick in the puzzle to reaching the best possible results.
BDO’s 7P model has been developed to do just that. Through the model, organisations can identify best-in-class solutions and approaches to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving healthcare space.
One of the most significant changes that COVID-19 has accelerated is the Place of work and care. Work-from-home schemes have not yet been as widely implemented in healthcare as elsewhere. Still, it is one of the driving forces behind fundamental changes. More importantly, the treatment of patients is increasingly happening online. Finding the best ways of interacting with out-patients, doing initial consultations, preliminary data analysis to identify symptom causes, etc., and providing fully covering telehealth services is a challenge many healthcare organisations face. Establishing or updating offerings over the whole service spectrum is a priority from first-line digital consultations, over ongoing telemedicine-based disease management to ‘hospital@home’ solutions for severely ill patients.
Telehealth also underscores a shift in Process in healthcare. Organisations and professionals must integrate new technology and find ways to work smarter to alleviate work pressures that have been enhanced by the last 18 months’ events. Finding ways to alleviate some of that continued extra stress is key to staying functional and achieving long-term growth. Furthermore, training and internships have been changed, which presents another challenge to healthcare organisations.
As a result, it may be time to re-examine the Purpose of healthcare organisations and their role in the world changed by COVID. With many new tools in hand and facing a changed world, healthcare organisations and professionals may be on the verge of further major shifts – both within the space and for their role in society - as new opportunities and possibilities for innovation appear.
This is by no means a process with a clear goal line. Instead, healthcare’s future is one of continued development and upgrades navigate a constantly evolving landscape.
BDO’s worldwide expert healthcare and financial services teams advise healthcare organisations on all aspects of their businesses and operations. Thanks to our presence in more than 160 countries and industry expertise across all spaces, we can deliver unique, on-the-ground expertise to assist you wherever you are – or want to be – active.