Healthcare workflows are complex and involve multiple teams. In addition, interprofessional collaboration is often hampered by communication issues and the lack of proper tools to streamline their work. To help overcome these obstacles, healthcare organizations use collaborative technology to improve operational efficiencies. This is beneficial to the industry for several reasons.
Increased Revenue
In a time when healthcare is in a crisis, successful CEOs, for example, Sam Lee Prospect Medical, know that it’s not enough to provide quality care and create consistency. They also need to increase revenue and limit costs, which requires collaboration. However, some healthcare organizations may operate with a scarcity mindset and see their resources as limited. This leads to a competitive framework in which they view other hospitals as competitors to be outperformed or acquired. To avoid violating competition law, these healthcare executives must perform an ex-ante assessment of the potential effects on competition of their collaborations with (potential) competitors. The sub-motives most frequently appear in this respect are improving healthcare provision, efficiency, and market/bargaining position. The latter is mentioned significantly more often in diverse collaborations than in horizontal and non-horizontal ones.
Better Patient Care
Every industry can benefit from working together more effectively, but it means the difference between life and death in healthcare. This is why it’s so important that healthcare professionals work collaboratively to ensure patients receive the best care possible. Hospitals can improve patient outcomes by implementing interprofessional collaboration technology that facilitates communication and reduces redundancies. For example, one hospital lowered fall rates by half, reduced surgical start times by 20 percent, and saved money by eliminating wasteful activities. Sharing expertise is another meaningful way healthcare collaboration can improve patient care. For instance, if a hospital has a successful program for improving spine surgery outcomes, other hospitals can learn from it and adopt it into their practices. This helps to reduce readmissions, costs of care, and patient mortality.
Increased Efficiency
Every industry struggles with operational efficiencies and productivity, but it’s incredibly challenging for healthcare. The most successful healthcare organizations have found methods to increase quality while decreasing costs. Collaboration helps to break down communication silos and connect disparate departments and teams. When employees collaborate with people from different teams, disciplines, and backgrounds, it eliminates bias, widens the perspective, and drives innovation. Collaboration also enables healthcare staff to work more efficiently, as they can share information in real-time and complete tasks more quickly. Research shows that collaboratively teams finish projects 64% faster than non-collaborative ones. This increases productivity and results in better overall outcomes for the patients. This also means team members can focus on their strengths and do their best work.
Increased Employee Satisfaction
In healthcare, collaborating across different departments can help improve employee satisfaction. This is especially important in healthcare, where long hours and constant stress can lead to burnout and a loss of job satisfaction. Getting different departments to collaborate can be difficult, but collaboration technology streamlines healthcare workflows and allows accessible communication between teams. This can improve employee satisfaction and productivity and result in better patient care. One meaningful way to measure collaboration is by looking at financial KPIs, such as revenue growth. This metric shows how well a company performs compared to its competitors. It can also identify improvement opportunities, such as areas where a company is lagging or outperforming its peers. This information can help a company to develop a strategic plan for improving performance.
Increased Reliability
Healthcare is a complex industry requiring collaboration among many teams and departments. CEOs in the medical field must ensure that all aspects of the hospitals they perform efficiently and effectively. To do this, they must network with other businesses and collaborate with different medical professionals in the community. Collaborative technology has helped to streamline healthcare workflows and increase patient engagement. It has also helped eliminate redundant technology and allowed remote patient monitoring. However, proving the value of reliability to business leaders can take time and effort. Other initiatives often take priority over reliability improvements, which can lead to downtime and lost revenue. Thankfully, software development companies offer tools that can help you measure the reliability of your systems and services.
