Geisinger Health Digital Transformation its Key Governance

Geisinger Health launched a multi-year digital transformation programme in early 2020 to transform patient and caregiver experiences, with the goal of leveraging best-in-class technology solutions and innovation from the digital health ecosystem, as well as transforming IT infrastructure to support digital health experiences. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, Geisinger’s leadership reaffirmed their commitment to the digital transformation roadmap and the critical technological investments needed to speed it.

Geisinger Health created a Digital Transformation Office to monitor the road map’s execution, provide unified governance, and enable technology partner selection for key parts of the planned road map. The DTO was able to speed the transformation path, boost digital engagement, and provide millions of dollars in benefits thanks to extensive cross-functional involvement and collaboration.

Padmanabhan, who will speak about digital transformation in healthcare at HIMSS this week, believes governance is the most important aspect of digital transformation. He said, “One thing that does help is to establish a digital function that has centralized oversight for digital health programs at an enterprise level. One way to do that is to establish a digital transformation office with a clear mandate, a set of resources and a budget.”

He explained that because digital transformation programmes necessitate a lot of coordination between solution providers, business stakeholders, and internal IT, the centralised approach makes it easier to keep all of the activities in sync and moving ahead at the same time. The front end of digital transformation is frequently referred to as “digital front doors,” a catch-all term that encompasses everything from telehealth for virtual visits to a variety of digital engagement tools to improve access to care. According to Padmanabhan, this might also include the marketing department in relation to digital engagement activities.