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What is a digital transformation in healthcare? 

physician looking at a smartphone

For healthcare organizations, it’s never been more important to undergo a digital transformation. From improving patient experiences to brand affinity to equitable healthcare access, exceptional digital content experiences increasingly play a key role in delivering care.

Digital transformation can be defined in a number of ways, but essentially, it’s incorporating new digital technologies throughout the various aspects of a business. From the standpoint of content, a digital transformation allows teams to create a cohesive brand message that carries across all online assets and all platforms and channels. For healthcare organizations, it’s never been more important to undergo a digital transformation.

To meet consumers where they are, health systems should consider accelerating their digital transformation efforts by establishing a governance model, creating a digital culture, recruiting and retaining the right talent, and measuring the success of their initiatives.
"Digital transformation in healthcare", Deloitte (October 2021)

No matter the type of healthcare company, whether it’s a large hospital system, an independent medical provider or an organization dedicated to public health or disease awareness, meeting patients and customers where they are in the digital world is what will drive engagement, bring in new business and cultivate relationships.

There’s no doubt that the pandemic accelerated people’s digital healthcare expectations, and many healthcare organizations have stepped up at least as far as telehealth. But when it comes to creating an engaging customer experience online, the industry has lagged other sectors like financial services, retail, travel and entertainment.

People have grown accustomed to connecting with brands on their smart devices, through wearable technology and in a variety of formats from short videos to comprehensive articles. Creating content that is personalized, intuitive and easy to update is imperative.

Digital transformation can improve patient experience

In a Deloitte survey of technology executives at 25 health systems, 92% cited achieving better patient experience as the top desired outcome from digital transformation.

As stated in the study’s executive summary, “To meet consumers where they are, health systems should consider accelerating their digital transformation efforts by establishing a governance model, creating a digital culture, recruiting and retaining the right talent, and measuring the success of their initiatives.”

In addition to making digital transformation a top internal priority, healthcare organizations also need to address their customer-facing digital presence—namely, the healthcare organization’s website. This is true for hospitals and health systems, medical offices and any company producing healthcare content.

In this day and age in which people are more involved than ever in monitoring their own health through various devices, apps and patient portals, digital transformation is necessary for survival. And as far as consuming information goes, people can’t get enough of it when it comes to healthcare. They routinely turn to web browsers or social media to research various medical conditions to educate themselves.

Another example is if someone is planning an elective procedure, being able to go onto a health provider’s website to learn about its services, innovations and other pertinent information can help the patient make an informed decision. The same holds true for anyone researching health insurance companies or looking for informative content from public health organizations, pharmaceutical companies and others.

Brand affinity is key for healthcare company success

Brightspot CMS case study: Healthgrades

Of course, there are all sorts of healthcare websites beyond pharmacies and urgent care companies that could benefit from a digital transformation. Take the company Healthgrades, which publishes comprehensive physician data as well as personalized content collections for its own site and syndication partners. To accomplish its digital transformation, Healthgrades transitioned to a single authoring tool that could allow them to simultaneously build content aimed at advertisers, media partners and consumers.

dispatch-health-case-study-promo.png

Likewise, DispatchHealth, an at-home patient services company, relies on organic website traffic to reach prospective customers as it continues to grow and scale. Operating in 44 states and growing fast, part of its digital transformation required switching to a healthcare CMS that was able to use a modular content strategy, which has helped to simplify and speed up site updates.

Though they have different business models and were facing unique challenges, what these healthcare companies have in common is that they took measures to work toward a digital transformation to support faster innovation and empower their lean content teams to work quickly and independently.

How to achieve digital transformation in healthcare

Using a healthcare CMS that is built to power your company’s digital transformation can provide continuity as you upgrade from your existing legacy platforms. Making sure you choose a system that can help you meet your objectives—whether it’s to streamline your content production so it’s centralized or optimize an existing library of healthcare content—is key.

You also want to be sure that whichever CMS you choose can integrate other applications into your new workflow. And if you go with a headless CMS, the architecture is so flexible and agile that it will be able to support and adapt to new devices and platforms as they are created.

Staying connected between visits

Being able to create a seamless digital experience for patients and customers who may visit you in person but want to stay connected online can help build brand trust and cultivate a long-lasting relationship.

Learn more about how to embark on a healthy digital transformation with the resources below. Plus, contact us today to see how Brightspot can assist with your healthcare organization digital-transformation needs.

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    About the Author
    Dawn Papandrea
    Dawn Papandrea is a regular contributor to Brightspot. She’s an award-winning freelance writer specializing in small business marketing topics. In addition, Dawn has written content for dozens of well-known technology brands and also covers personal finance for various media outlets. She lives in Staten Island, New York.

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