Investing in digital health solutions requires more than just financial resources; it demands cohesive leadership alignment for a shared vision. Alignment not only improves resource allocation but also enhances decision-making processes, streamlines evaluation, and enables clear ROI tracking. Whether ROI is measured in financial gains or non-financial benefits such as improved patient outcomes, reduced disparities, or workforce satisfaction, collaboration among healthcare leaders is key to realizing the full potential of any digital health investment.
This post explores the critical role of leadership alignment in the context of digital health investments and outlines practical strategies for fostering this alignment. From identifying the right stakeholders to broadening the scope of ROI metrics, we will guide you through the steps necessary to align diverse perspectives and ensure your digital health solutions are both effective and sustainable.
Understanding the importance of leadership alignment
When thinking about healthcare investments—particularly digital health solution investments—alignment on ROI metrics is important because it:
- Enhances the efficiency of resource allocation.
- Facilitates the development of proactive risk mitigation strategies.
- Promotes a focused and efficient digital health solution evaluation process.
- Provides clarity on the organization’s long-term vision and objective as it relates to the digital health solution.
- Provides opportunities to track and monitor performance, identify opportunities for improvement, and hold vendors accountable.
Achieving leadership alignment
- Identify all relevant healthcare leaders. Who might the digital health solution impact, and how? Where might the biggest impact be felt? What about the ripple effects of the solution on other departments or roles within the organization? Everyone should have a voice in terms of brainstorming ways to measure ROI of healthcare investments.
- Consider all possible ROI metrics. With digital health solutions, there may not always be a financial ROI. For example, while the solution may increase revenue and decrease administrative and clinical costs, healthcare organizations may also choose to measure the ROI of digital health solutions in terms of clinical time savings, reduced healthcare disparities, improved quality measures, enhanced workforce satisfaction, and reduced patient harm. Identifying and involving healthcare leaders from the start also helps identify additional, less obvious ROI metrics that could advance value-based care and population health. These are important conversations as organizations decide whether and how much to invest in digital health solutions.
- Align goals. What ROI metrics align most closely with the organization’s broader business goals and overall digital health strategy? What about future goals and strategies? What do healthcare leaders value most? If a particular digital health solution doesn’t meet everyone’s ROI needs and goals, can the organization map out a strategy for alternative healthcare investments in the future to yield additional types of ROI?
- Partner with the digital health solution vendor. Vendors should be able to clearly articulate the ROI in terms of initial and ongoing costs vs. expected financial returns. They should also be able to define the timeframe for when returns will materialize. If your organization has identified and prioritized additional, nonfinancial forms of ROI, your digital health solution vendor must decide whether and how it can deliver those outcomes. It may be helpful to speak with other organizations that have used the solution to achieve the same or similar results.
Looking ahead
There are many ways to define the ROI of today’s digital health solutions. Leadership alignment is paramount to ensure healthcare organizations implement solutions that will meet their needs. Learn how Panda Health can help.
