Dr. Christine Gall, Head of Healthcare Marketing

Although there are numerous differences between healthcare delivery in the U.S. and in Europe, there are also many commonalities. These include a rise in consumerism, staffing shortages, dwindling margins and new workforce demands for hybrid work environments.

In May 2022, the International Data Corporation (IDC) European Healthcare Digital Executive Summit brought together more than 50 senior European healthcare executives to discuss how European healthcare stakeholders could consolidate a data-driven transformation, bring recent digital advances to the mainstream, and develop new digital health strategies to accelerate and scale innovation and drive sustainability.¹ These are challenges also important to the U.S. healthcare market.

• The rise of the “patient digital front door,” refers to how telehealth services, wearables, mobile health apps and similar platforms can improve patient access, outcomes, and experience. The speakers noted that the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use of these modalities. Although adoption services has slowed, it continues at a significantly higher level than pre-pandemic. In the U.S., for example, 67% of survey respondents accessed video telehealth services in 2022, compared to 37% in 2019, according to the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Telehealth Satisfaction Study released in September.²

These point-of-care technologies will be a key factor for healthcare providers to improve the patient experience, address patient needs more comprehensively, and build better relationships with patients, while  improving provider productivity and efficiency.

• The patient and workforce experiences are intertwined. The COVID-19 pandemic was difficult for healthcare providers globally, with greater levels of emotional and physical stress resulting in heightened levels of staff and physician turnover and burnout. When well executed, digital technologies can improve both the patient and workforce experience. The pandemic accelerated adoption of new remote work and virtual care models, although their deployments varied in the degree of sustainability. Healthcare requires a strategic approach to leveraging digital technologies to help manage staff, optimize workflows and employee experiences, whether through point-of-care technologies, workflow automation tools, or self-service automation systems that support timely access to key services and information.

• A broader extension of data-driven intelligent ecosystems has emerged. In the U.S., the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted just how fragmented the healthcare system is and how siloed healthcare data are. In comparison, findings from IDC demonstrated that 70% of European healthcare and life sciences organizations joined or plan to join “digitally enabled industry ecosystems” that will enable evidence-driven decision-making.

And it’s clear that digital health strategies that enable the effective deployment of the digital front door are necessary to achieve these goals. There are, of course, numerous obstacles, including the need for data standardization and interoperability, and data quality. Further integration and alignment across healthcare ecosystems is necessary to streamline digital health care and engender trust between patients and their care teams. The 5G network will continue to be an integral component of this strategy to leverage value-based care to forward the digital transformation journey in healthcare.³

T-Mobile has America’s largest, fastest, and most reliable 5G network in Healthcare, imagined for tomorrow but ready to give you an edge today. At T-Mobile for Business, we’re focused on providing healthcare organizations with the connectivity solutions and dedicated, exceptional service you need to keep you reliably connected with both your staff and patients. Visit T-Mobile for Business – Healthcare to find out more about how we can take care of your business.