Lisa Sershen, chief digital officer of Westmed Medical Group in Purchase, N.Y., discusses the IT and digital strategy for her group to improve the patient experience in the future.
Question: If 2020 is a successful year for you, what will it look like?
Lisa Sershen: Westmed’s technological vision for 2020 is to connect with patients in ways that help to take the complexity out of healthcare. We will do so by offering new ways to improve quality of care by closing gaps in care delivery and patient adherence through technology.
Part of that process will be identifying the right tools to help our patients and providers in the ways they need now while also future proofing with a vision for how we will be able to improve care delivery leveraging future advancements in technology and innovation.
Our end goal is to be able to show measurable success rates in patient engagement and patient adherence through this strategy.
Q: Where will you focus most of your time and energy next year?
LS: We will focus on making small but consistent changes toward increasing the adoption of healthcare innovations both internally and externally and building trust between patients, providers and innovative technologies. This work will contribute to increased adoption and normalization of new technologies in healthcare.
Q: What do you consider the biggest potential threat to your organization?
LS: The healthcare landscape is changing from technology based to innovation based and the rate of innovation often exceeds the rate of technology adoption. We need to keep up with the pace and consistency of change to remain successful and effective in delivering effective and efficient care.
Another thing we need to keep in mind as we introduce new technology into healthcare is incorporating human touch, which will lead to easier adoption by both patients and providers, enhance a patient’s experience with their healthcare provider and ultimately contribute to better health outcomes.
Q: What is the most interesting initiative you have planned for 2020 that will affect the patient experience?
LS: We are currently building a smart-speaker, voice-enabled skill to provide patients with easy access to scheduling needs and useful health information.