Welcome to MonITor

HealthTech’s blog launches to help healthcare technology decision-makers as the industry evolves.

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Ryan has been a magazine and newspaper editor for 21 years, with the last 15 covering a variety of bases for CDW’s family of tech magazines. As Editor in Chief, he works on developing editorial strategy and is always on the lookout for new writing talent and sharing great stories with the IT world. In his spare time, Ryan enjoys spending time with his family, biking and obsessively following Iowa Hawkeye sports and Cubs baseball.

Technology deployment represents just one facet of the ever-expanding role of today’s healthcare IT leader. CIOs, information security directors and other stakeholders no longer make decisions in the backrooms or basements of their organizations, but instead execute well-thought-out plans to save their facilities both time and money, while also preparing and laying the groundwork for future endeavors.

Healthcare leaders navigate an increasingly complex IT landscape. Questions linger surrounding federal healthcare initiatives, alongside cybersecurity threats that emerge almost daily.

Cloud migration, Big Data storage, cybersecurity and disaster recovery represent just a few of the massive IT investments healthcare organizations make. Leaders cannot afford to take such decisions lightly. After all, patient privacy and safety are on the line. Instead, they must consider all options and weigh all factors, including costs, workflows and employee — as well as patient — satisfaction.

CDW understands those needs, and we hope our newest blog, MonITor, will help organizations take the most appropriate actions. In MonITor, our healthcare industry experts will deliver insights, tips and more details on all of the tools available to meet organizations’ long-term strategic missions. We’ll arm healthcare IT decision-makers with the know-how to solve any number of problems.

Patient Demand Fuels Provider Changes

Of 200 providers polled recently by CDW, 71 percent said improving patient engagement is a top priority at their facility. The study also found that:

For 67 percent of organizations, the top motivating factor for increasing patient engagement is improving patient care overall.
Only 29 percent of the 200 patients surveyed would give their provider an A on their use of technology for engagement.
Among patients, 83 percent say they are comfortable communicating with their provider via mobile apps, while 75 percent are comfortable with online chat.

Patients want healthcare providers to meet them on their terms. They also want better, more affordable care, faster. That means deploying tools such as smartphones and tablets, and even virtual reality and artificial intelligence. Our experts will share strategies for marrying innovation and patient satisfaction to continue to improve the care process.

Similarly, senior living communities must grow to ensure state-of-the-art resident care and satisfaction. Four in 10 seniors own smartphones, according to the Pew Research Center, which is more than double the number of seniors who owned them in 2013. Senior tablet adoption is also rising, along with social media use.

Once online, seniors tend to engage at high levels with devices and content, with most older adults lauding technology’s impact on society, Pew’s research shows. Our experts will share how senior living communities can stay ahead of the curve, from infrastructure needs to deploying and supporting resident-facing tools.

In Healthcare, Challenges Become Opportunities

The demand for better workflow and improved patient engagement through technology clearly exists. But uncertainty in the industry means that provider organizations and senior communities must do more with less and continue to change the way their users work.

Healthcare is complex. Let’s work together to navigate this new terrain. After all, we’re here to help.

This article is part of HealthTech’s MonITor blog series. Please join the discussion on Twitter by using #WellnessIT.