Research analyst David Maguire, from UK thinktank the King’s Fund, recently told the Financial Times that transforming the healthcare sector is about taking incremental steps, replacing existing analogue systems with the digital equivalent.
He gave the example of AI, pointing out that the journey towards using it starts with a move away from paper-based records.
What he describes as ‘humbler innovations’ echoes FlowForma’s experience with healthcare clients. Legacy systems, proprietary solutions and disconnected silos of information make large-scale transformation difficult, which is why our no code, ‘one process a time’ approach resonates with the sector.
One of our healthcare customers summed it up when he explained why FlowForma Process Automation was so important to them: “You don’t put new IT on top of a bad process; you want to change the process at the same time”. And it’s FlowForma’s ability to transform processes, simply and quickly, working within the constraints of legacy systems, that has made it such a strong fit for healthcare.
Cutting Down On Paper Work
Paper records and paper-based processes are particularly prevalent in healthcare, but because primary and tertiary care services are overwhelmed and underfunded in many countries, change is hard, and the old way of doing things prevail. Despite the challenges, however, there is a big appetite among employees for digital and paperless processes.
Our survey of healthcare decision-makers revealed that 84% believe their hospital has been impacted by incorrect or missing data due to paper processes; 62% told us that they want their hospitals to digitize processes for faster sign-off and decision making. There were concerns about inefficiencies around critical data and a general belief that digital was the way forward.
Another one of our customers, Mark Graham, Director of ICT at Beaumont Hospital, makes a strong case for making the change. "You have better outcomes when clinicians have access to digital data and are not running around looking for paper to treat patients,” he said. “That’s our driver for digitizing processes with the FlowForma Process Automation tool.”
The role of no code software addresses another challenge that emerged in the survey, the shortage of digital skills. A big problem with large-scale digital transformation projects is finding the technical talent to deliver them – 38% of hospitals say that a lack of technical skills is holding back their digitization plans.
The whole point of no code is that anyone can build workflows and re-imagine processes. We see this all the time at FlowForma, where line managers and department heads end up solving their own problems. In complex healthcare systems, who better to do it than the people who own the process?
The range of use cases in the sector is staggering, from hospitals putting digitized information in the hands of clinicians on the frontline, to managing contracts in the back office with greater transparency. Outcomes are about better patient care and greater efficiency, priorities shared by every healthcare provider.
Scale is the other big win with FlowForma Process Automation. FlowForma healthcare customers believe that a simpler approach to processes develops its own momentum, unlike large digital transformation projects that struggle to bring employees along on the journey. No code means anyone can have a go at redesigning a process and there is plenty of evidence that people will.
The experience of Martyn Coleman, IT Systems Architect at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, encapsulates the ultimate upside, employees taking the initiative and being inspired to do things better. “As soon as FlowForma delivered a couple of high profile wins, everyone started to think about their own practices and how they could make them cross-departmental and improve them,” he recalled.
For more information on how FlowForma assists the sector, visit our healthcare webpage. Alternatively, you can take a free trial for 14 days and access our fully customizable healthcare accelerator templates to further ramp up your digital project.