Aversion to Risk in HealthIT Innovation Costs Organizations Market Share and Profits

The healthcare landscape has undergone a momentous transformation over last few years. The dynamics, incentives and market forces between payers, providers and patients have been completely realigned and the ability of the industry to adapt lies heavily with the creation and adoption of innovative technologies in the field of healthIT. In general, healthcare technology innovation and adoption lagged in comparison with other sectors. However, as increased and improved technological capabilities have taken protagonism in this shift, we can expect vertiginous advances as the industry integrates into the ultra-connected, consumer-centric mobile realities of the market at large today.

Payers and providers are already faced with the challenge of collecting data from the myriad sources that have emmerged recently, and this will only increase as wearables, sensors and telehealth devices continue to progress and gain market share. What's more, not only is the quantity of data growing exponentially through these new sources but the infrastructure and technological requirements to properly secure and encrypt this information is becoming more and more complex. With this increased complexity comes increased organizational liability and risk against breaches and disclosures of ePHI. 

Technological innovation has been one of the main driving forces in attaining competitve advantages in business across all sectors since - well, the dawn of time to be honest. Healthcare will follow suit with those payers and providers who best leverage the capabilities of healthIT and mHealth innovation to improve patient experience, improve quality of care, reduce cost of care and reduce operational inefficiencies undoubtedly rising from the ashes of the tumultuous process of transitioning to the new fee-for-value model. The real differentiator between the different actors in the payer and provider space will be how they handle this increased liability and risk. 

Luckily, how businesses will handle risk really only comes down to a few options: off-loading risk through outsourcing or keeping risk in-house through the utilization of internal development teams.  Market trends indicate that back-office outsourcing for healthcare including IT has been growing over the past decade and is expected to outpace the general market for the next few years as well (10% according to some estimates). Increased access to skilled IT resources, reduced organization risk and liabilities and reduced overall development costs are some of the factors contributing to this growth.

However individual organizations choose to handle the growing risk and liability inherent with increased complexities for handling rapidly expanding ePHI from a growing number of sources, the role HealthIT innovation will continue to play cannot be overstated. Payers and providers will need teams capable of providing forward-thinking solutions to the demands of today's consumer driven health care market as well as information security solutions to address the increasing threat of ransomeware and other cyber attacks looking to infringe ePHI. For providers and payers, failure to embrace the role IT innovation has to play in making a profitable transition to a new model of health care will leave organizations vulnerable to loss of market share and reduced operational efficiencies in care delivery. 

For organizations looking to offload risk, finding the right outsourced HealthIT partner will be even more important. Not only will partners need to have the technical skills necessary and the specific industry knowledge required to create safe, secure and effective software applications but the acumen to provide unique insights to the market and the shifting dynamics, trends and behaviors present. In much the same way that strategic alliances and M&A activities have become an essential part of any payer or provider strategy to gain market share, strategic partnerships with the right outsourced HealthIT will provide competitive advantages and privileged market positions to payers and providers alike.

Michael Scranton is the Director of Business Development at Medical Web Experts and is dedicated to helping health care organizations improve quality of care and patient outcomes while reducing health costs through the improved use of information and technology.