Digital transformation will most likely come from established health systems. Here’s what they need to do.
February 16, 2024
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At first glance, it looks like health care in the United States is ripe for disruption. Digital technology advances have the power to help address the shortcomings of care delivery: It costs too much, its quality isn’t what it could and should be, and millions of people live hundreds of miles from the nearest hospital and/or don’t have a primary care doctor. But for many reasons, the incumbents — established health systems — will be extremely hard to displace. Instead, the winners will be health systems that team up with digital tech companies.
We’ve all watched digital innovators demolish certain industries: video and record stores, neighborhood movie theaters, travel agents. A one-time #18 on the Fortune 500, photo film giant Eastman Kodak was felled by digital photography. But some industries and players successfully fend off digital competitors and incorporate their innovations into their daily operations. An Economist article observed that even though most banking has moved online, the average large bank is 138 years old. Walmart, the world’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer, is also the second-largest online retailer.
John Glaser is an executive in residence at Harvard Medical School. He previously served as the CIO of Partners Healthcare (now Mass General Brigham), a senior vice president at Cerner, and the CEO of Siemens Health Services. He is co-chair of the HL7 Advisory Council and a board member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance.
Sara Vaezy is executive vice president and chief strategy and digital officer at Providence, where she is responsible for corporate strategy, artificial intelligence strategy, marketing, digital, and experience for the integrated delivery network, which includes 51 hospitals and 1,000 clinics serving 5 million patients annually. She also is a member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s board of directors and the Harvard Executive Education faculty.
Janet Guptill is president and CEO of the Scottsdale Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping its more than 60 large, integrated health systems leverage information and technology to create effective, affordable, and equitable health care centered on whole person care.
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