What is Digital Transformation in Healthcare? Its Benefits and Challenges

We recently interviewed 100+ decision makers in hospitals to understand better where these organizations are on their process automation journey. 

In this blog, I deep dive into the findings, uncover key challenges and recommend solutions to drive digital transformation success. 

What is Digital transformation in Healthcare (the impact of paper processes on hospital, paper lite initiatives)

Our survey illustrated that there are still far too many processes managed on paper / email / excel across hospitals, with 65% of our survey respondents telling us that 50% to 100% of their processes are still managed in this way.

Survey respondents indicated that paper processes had a negative impact on their hospital in the last 12 months, the main impacts were incorrect or missing data, poor visibility, and process inefficiencies.

When asked what was holding these hospitals back from digitizing at scale, the most popular answer was no resources / a lack of technical skillset, with 38% stating this as the challenge.

*Stats based on 2021 Online Healthcare Survey Commissioned by FlowForma Process Automation*

Examples of digital transformation in healthcare

Key examples of digital transformation in healthcare include digitalizing:

• Monthly Housekeeping Inspection
• Hospital to Hospital Transfer Referral Form
• Incident Reporting
• IT Request
• Theatre Notes
• Transfer Request
• Waiting List Card
• Consent For Release Of Information

We understand that technical resources are in high demand at hospitals, which is why many hospitals and care homes empower businesspeople to lead the charge on automation, by utilizing the no code FlowForma Process Automation for rapid process digitization by the business, in a controlled environment managed by IT.

• 72% of respondents said that their hospital is currently working on a paper light initiative
• with 35% expecting to be paper lite within 2 years
• 26% hoping to be paper lite within 3 to 5 years
• 9% thinking it will take 6-8 years to become paper lite.

“There is a huge amount of paper in every hospital and electronic processes won’t replace everything in the short term, but we’re chipping away at it. The results have often been spectacular” said Mark Graham, Head of IT at Beaumont Hospital, when speaking as a customer on a FlowForma webinar.

The benefits of digital transformation in healthcare

It’s obvious from the survey respondents that hospital decision-makers and clinicians understand the benefits of digitizing and want to accelerate their hospital process automation plans as soon as possible.

74% of respondents are motivated to digitize in an attempt to reduce paper usage and 69% understand that they would be able to improve patient experiences, by digitizing more.

*Stats based on 2021 Online Healthcare Survey Commissioned by FlowForma Process Automation*

“You have better outcomes when clinicians have access to digital data and are not running around looking for bits of paper to treat patients. That’s our driver,” said Mark Graham, Head of IT at Beaumont Hospital on a FlowForma customer insights webinar.

Learn how a large European hospital accelerates its focus on patient-centric care by taking paperwork out of processes using the FlowForma Process Automation tool, to meet clinician needs, Read more.

Challenges of digital transformation in healthcare

Download your copy of our digital transformation in healthcare infographic to guide your hospital on its process automation journey and paper lite initiatives. You'll be equipped to solve common healthcare digital transformation challanges.

Highlights include:

• Common healthcare process challenges and how to overcome them
• How to get started, use our process automation timeline to guide your organization
• Real-life healthcare ROI statistics from FlowForma customers
• Top tips for process automation success

Digitally transform your hospital processes: Try Flowforma Process automation today

Create incredible patient experiences with FlowForma® Process Automation. Drive digital transformation in your healthcare organization and rapidly automate processes to improve compliance and communication.

Our process experts can offer you a glimpse of what your processes would look like in digital format and the time and cost savings expected by moving your hospital processes online.