Health systems have recently experienced unprecedented challenges that continue to impact the business of healthcare. They are tasked with managing healthcare worker labor shortages, cybersecurity resiliency, rising demand for a better patient experience, ESG mandates, and a growing need for intelligent automation. Concurrently, these organizations continue to grapple with consuming, interpreting and acting on the growing expanse of data they generate to drive better clinical and operational outcomes.

As health system leadership teams work to address these challenges, the IT organization plays a pivotal role in leveraging existing and new technology investments to improve clinical and business outcomes. Optimized enterprise infrastructure is essential to delivering next-generation healthcare. The demand for digital solutions to support remote care, IoT strategy, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and patient engagement continues to rise.

Whether starting from scratch or seeking to update existing models, IT leaders are tasked with constructing secure, reliable and sustainable environments where clinicians have the right tools to deliver safe and equitable care to patients. 

Here are five ways WWT helps healthcare IT organizations meet these directives.

1. Cloud modernization

Our cloud practice provides expertise informed by three decades of building the infrastructure on which clouds run. We know that each cloud journey is unique. We guide clients through the steps needed to meet stakeholder expectations such as (1) building green data centers and sustainable cloud computing, (2) unlocking the power of data across the organization to enable actionable insights, and (3) rapidly implementing digital solutions for automation, patient engagement and clinician experience.

2. Automation

Automation removes costly barriers that slow down health systems and enables them to efficiently and securely deliver care. With the industry facing increasing talent shortages and decreasing margins, it's crucial that health systems leverage technology to automate routine tasks, freeing up precious clinical and IT resources to work top-of-license. Our automation practice partners with clients to transform their operational and clinical outcomes via game-changing solutions like infrastructure automation, AIIoT and robotic process automation (RPA).

3. Data analytics and AI/ML

Healthcare organizations collect data from thousands of disparate sources, inside and outside of their walls. This wealth of data is only valuable if it can be utilized to derive real-time, actionable insights to drive success. Our Data Analytics & AI team, backed by the expertise of 300+ data scientist and technologists, work hand-in-hand with health systems to (1) capture business objectives, (2) analyze current data maturity levels, (3) minimize the risk of poor data quality, and (4) augment organizational decision-making with data-driven insights to provide quick and exceptional value. Leveraging deep learning and augmented intelligence, our experts help unlock valuable insights.

4. Cybersecurity

Cybercriminals love targeting healthcare organizations for their data-rich environments and the potential to disrupt business processes, damage the brand and worse — endanger patients. As these attacks continue to rise in frequency and garner more publicity, developing cyber-resilience and disaster recovery capabilities must underpin all other efforts.

Our security transformation consultants take a holistic approach, hardwiring cyber protection into the fabric of healthcare organizations by (1) understanding security strategy and connecting it to business goals, (2) identifying and managing the convergence of OT, IT and IoT endpoints, (3) automating workflows, policy enforcement and threat response, and (4) partnering to design and implement end-to-end solutions that transform security from a business blocker into a business builder.

5. Digital strategy and Application Services

Rising patient expectations, combined with recent industry drivers accelerating the democratization of healthcare, are creating new challenges and opportunities for health systems. Patients want a retail-like digital experience and expect modern, self-service tools that empower them throughout their care journey.

WWT is working with our healthcare clients to build care models designed to meet and exceed patient expectations in this rapidly evolving, competitive healthcare climate. We are helping organizations create integrated digital and physical care experiences that provide a consumer-centric approach. Backed by more than 500 world-class developers and designers, WWT can (1) assess current technology landscapes, (2) untangle complex software developments, and (3) upskill and transform development teams in a way that gives IT organizations the ability to create a next-generation patient experiences, both inside and outside of hospital walls.