The digital transformation process goes beyond investing in new technology and software. It’s about leveraging what your organization already has, identifying what you still need, and learning to innovate and adapt to an ever-changing digital world in a way that benefits you, your patients, your donors, or your consumers. When done right, digitalization in healthcare can make all the difference between a slow-moving or industry-leading organization.

What Is Digital Transformation in Healthcare?

Digital transformation is a series of changes and decisions an organization makes to support an overarching goal of adapting, integrating, and using more technology and digitalized tools into everyday operations. The specifics of a digital transformation vary across industries, sectors, and individual organizations. Leaders consider how to rethink old processes and use them to pursue a goal, like increased donor engagement, more efficient patient care, or improved customer satisfaction.

What Are the 4 Main Areas of Digital Transformation?

When breaking down how organizations can leverage data, tools, and processes to improve services, increase revenue and inform decisions, we can summarize four categories:

1. Internal business processes and operations: Internal business processes include how your organization operates to meet daily and long-term goals. Technological transformation in this area includes analyzing existing operations to find where you can leverage digital assets — like virtual assistants or big data analytics — to improve effectiveness, quality, or efficiency.
2. Business model optimization: Your business model, or organization model, is a broader view of your operations. Instead of daily processes, this area involves looking at your organization broadly and how it compares to others in the industry to identify areas for new growth or adjustments that let you use technology to your organization’s advantage.
3. Domain transformation: Using technology to transform your organization’s domain means acknowledging the space where you currently exist and analyzing how you can move beyond the traditional or standard to redefine processes, services, or products using digital tools and technology.
4. Culture and engagement: Culture and engagement exist on both sides of your organization — the staff and employees who help you operate and the customers, donors, or end-users who use your product or service. Successful digital transformation requires education, training, and skill leveraging for your team, so you’re better equipped to use new tools, processes, and strategies to engage customers, maintain relevance, and stay up-to-date on user demands and expectations.

Why Is Digital Transformation Important in Healthcare?

The top objectives for digital transformation are creating a better customer experience, improving processes with automation, and increasing or sourcing new revenue. In the healthcare industry, digital transformation is key for time management, organization, and data analysis in today’s technology-driven world.

Digital transformations can also help your organization:

• Reduce operational costs
• Stay relevant and competitive in your industry
• Meet changing customer or donor needs
• Equip yourself with more efficient tools or processes
• Quickly adapt to disruptions
• Meet short-term and long-term goals

What You’ll Learn in This Guide

In our guide to digital transformation in the nonprofit healthcare industry, we break down:

• The biggest problems with healthcare technology today
• The main factors driving digital transformation in healthcare organizations
• Common healthcare digital transformation trends
• The goals of digital transformation
• How to start the digital transformation process for your organization
• The most important elements to modernize in your organization

Contact MIP® for more information on how our nonprofit accounting solution can help your organization achieve digital transformation.

Chapter 1: The Biggest Problems With Healthcare Technology

The patient experience is complex and multifaceted. It includes how patients can access and interpret their own health information, how long healthcare processes take, ease of accessibility to medical information and providers, and flexible payment models.

The patient experience differs from patient satisfaction — the most important question is if you met the patient’s expectations. A positive patient experience that meets expectations can have many benefits for healthcare organizations. Healthcare organizations and nonprofits can improve the patient experience by understanding today’s most significant problems with processes and technology.

The Biggest Problems in Healthcare Today

The healthcare industry is progressing — implementing more advanced medical devices, improving equipment in hospitals and clinics, and staffing qualified medical professionals. Still, it’s also complex and faces several challenges. Today, the healthcare industry’s biggest concerns are patient accessibility, data security, and cost of care.

1. Telehealth and Patient Accessibility

Consumer and provider attitude toward telehealth has improved since the pre-COVID-19 era. Two percent of all outpatient volume could be shifted toward at-home or virtual care, freeing up resources and space. Patients now expect and often need more accessible, flexible options for seeking care, including telehealth options and online health portals.

Healthcare organizations must address which services are better served in-person and which make the most sense virtually. However, even after determining which services they can handle virtually, healthcare organizations frequently lack the technology, training, or budget to adapt to new telehealth and telemedicine approaches.

2. Data Security

With more than 249 million data breaches between 2005 and 2019, healthcare is the most breached industry.

Though digital data storage is easier and more efficient than paper, it’s also easier for ransomware attackers to access digitally-based data. Data breaches expose patient information and may result in legal action and steep fines if organizations have violated data regulations. Cyberattacks mean cybersecurity is crucial for the healthcare industry to prevent the theft and loss of data and information. To maintain cybersecurity, healthcare organizations need to take the proper measures, including:

• Following security protocols for application development.
• Building a centralized system for managing information.
• Limiting access to connected medical equipment to trusted users only.

However, healthcare organizations often lack technology and processes to protect data without sacrificing the patient experience.

3. Healthcare Costs

Healthcare spending in the U.S. will reach US$6.2 trillion by 2028. Rising costs affect healthcare organizations, with fewer patients seeking after-care, growing inability to pay bills, and increased reluctance to pursue treatment options. This cost crisis is nothing new, and many stakeholders affect healthcare costs, such as medical drug manufacturing companies, insurance companies, and device manufacturers. Worse, despite patients spending significantly more on healthcare in the U.S. compared to other countries, Americans do not enjoy better outcomes.

Rising costs affect patients and directly impact the revenue of healthcare companies. Patients will be less likely to do follow-up visits or get lab tests. This high spending in healthcare is unsustainable. Fortunately, healthcare providers can take some steps to reduce costs for patients, such as:

• Reducing unnecessary medical tests for patients.
• Negotiating prescription drug costs on a patient’s behalf.
• Empowering patients to select high-value plans that fit their budgets.
• Providing patients with local price variations by either insurers or healthcare providers.

High-level professionals need time and resources to analyze which digital options are best for their organization. Patients also need flexibility in payment processing, such as bundled payments, shared savings, risk-sharing, and user-friendly billing statements.

Problems With Technology in Healthcare

Technology can make many processes easier, but technology can also present problems to the healthcare industry. Issues may include digital disruption, outdated systems, and costs and training.

1. Digital Disruption

As healthcare shifts toward more digital and technology, it becomes “disrupt or be disrupted.” Technology is making way for a more personalized, streamlined patient experience, but organizations that can’t keep up are at risk of falling behind. Successful healthcare organizations will be those that best adapt to new technology and prepare for digital disruptions.

Healthcare organizations can prepare for disruption by analyzing industries where digital convergence is prevalent. Non-traditional alternatives have emerged that may be more posed to take advantage of the digital revolution over traditional healthcare organizations. Healthcare organizations may need to review and adjust their business models to align quality, cost, customer experience, and patient engagement.

2. Outdated Systems

The U.S. healthcare system could save US$16.3 billion by automating workflows. Automated workflows also benefit the patient experience by improving customer service and the productivity of healthcare organizations.

One component of automation is electronic health records (EHRs). Since EHRs are digital versions of medical charts and include a person’s entire medical history and health information, they are susceptible to hacking, misuse, and unauthorized access. Healthcare organizations may need to upgrade their EHR applications to avoid having an outdated, vulnerable system.

3. Costs and Training

Implementing new systems involves updating hardware, securing assistance for implementation, training staff, and ongoing maintenance costs.

• Training staff: Office staff, physicians, and nurses will need to train before and during digital transformation. Everyone should understand how to use the new systems and associated hardware and how the systems will lead to new workflows.
• Updating hardware: Healthcare organizations may face hardware costs, including computers, printers, scanners, laptops, tablets, and database servers.
• Ongoing maintenance costs: Possible ongoing maintenance costs include telecom fees, IT support fees, ongoing staff education, and hardware and software license maintenance agreements. Healthcare organizations may also need to hire new staff like application analysts, clinical data analysts, or IT operations personnel.
• Securing assistance for implementation: Costs for implementation assistance may include costs for an attorney, IT contractor, electrician, or consultant. You may also need to pay for network or hardware installation, workflow redesign support, and chart conversion.

In one survey, 60% of respondents reported a lack of well-developed post-training evaluation to ensure effective methods. Forty percent of tech-related spending goes toward digital transformations, and 28% of companies view the process as costly.

Healthcare Technology in Nonprofit Organizations

Online giving was up more than 20% in 2020. However, nonprofit healthcare organizations must utilize every resource to its fullest to maximize donor dollars. Common pitfalls for nonprofits include:

• Outdated campaigns: Nonprofit organizations need to engage with their donors’ views to understand their position on certain issues and determine what approaches to take for a campaign.
• Delayed communication: Internal collaboration is crucial for nonprofit organizations, yet a lack of the proper collaboration tools can delay communication and make internal collaboration more challenging.
• Disorganization: As for any organization, disorganization can be a significant pitfall for nonprofits.
• Data analytics: Data analytics are often irretrievable due to costly data silos.
• Distribution and budget: Finally, other common pitfalls for nonprofits include distribution and budget. For example, the funding for dedicated engagement can be insufficient.

Nonprofits frequently lack the resources to invest in new technology and training to avoid digital disruption and reach donors where they live. Learn more about the impacts of 2020’s economic hardships on nonprofit organizations.

Chapter 2: Main Factors Driving Digital Transformation

The COVID-19 pandemic changed how healthcare organizations approach processes, patient care, and technology. These changes are expected to last and continue evolving. Examples of changes include touch-free healthcare, video telehealth appointments, and new check-in requirements. Organizations had to reorganize and quickly adapt crisis management procedures to account for these changes.

Customer interactions moved to a more digital interface, tripling between 2017 and 2020. With such an increase in virtual care visits, organizations must adapt to new needs and expectations with organizational and financial processes that integrate electronic health records (EHRs) for telehealth. Organizations should take steps to improve the digital patient experience and digitize as many processes as possible, including appointment scheduling, registration paperwork, bill payments, medication questions and refills, and practitioner communication.

Organizations may adopt digital transformation out of necessity or the desire not to be left behind by competitors. Before implementing digital transformation, nonprofit organizations should consider digital transformation drivers’ success factors and implications. The following are the trends and critical success factors affecting digital transformation for healthcare organizations, many of which have been directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Telemedicine and Telehealth

One of the key success factors in digital transformation is telemedicine. Telemedicine is one of the top-funded health categories globally, reaching more than US$4 million in 2020. The telemedicine market is expected to be a nearly US$460 billion market by 2030. The demand for flexible, on-demand healthcare has increased 38 times from its pre-2020 baseline. The recent boom in this approach was born out of necessity but has increased both provider and patient willingness and expectation for the option.

Telemedicine includes on-demand healthcare appointments from the patient’s phone, computer, or tablet. Patients increasingly use their mobile devices to get information, and many seek on-demand healthcare due to its increased convenience and accessibility. Patients want to access their health information, all from a device in the palm of their hand. Consumers use online patient portals to book medical appointments, access medical test results, chat with their doctors, and seek medical information about doctors and hospitals or medical facilities.

Telehealth also encompasses provider-to-provider meetings and remote monitoring from outside hospital rooms. Telehealth appointments became a safer alternative to in-person visits during the global health crisis, but some organizations lacked the resources to accommodate the change.

Organizations need to invest in a telemedicine platform that integrates into existing EHR systems, then implement workflow and training procedures to learn new processes. An EHR includes the patient’s medical history, phone number and home address, and financial information like a credit card number if on file.

Telemedicine has improved the quality of care by increasing accessibility to practitioners, but there are limits for how effective it can be for diagnosing and treating some conditions.

Wearable Devices and Virtual Health Tracking

One type of virtual health tracking technology is remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices, like wearable heart monitors. These let staff observe patients without entering the room in the case of contagious illnesses and preserve bed space for less severe cases without sacrificing ongoing monitoring. Though previously many patients were satisfied with a yearly physical, today, patients have shifted their focus to prevention and want more frequent updates on their health.

As a result of these changing demands, virtual health tracking and wearable devices are growing increasingly common, allowing patients to monitor their health in real-time. Wearable technology devices also enable healthcare companies to receive up-to-date information about the likelihood of a major health event for high-risk patients. Examples of virtual health tracking and wearable devices include:

• Babyscripts is a virtual maternity care platform with a mobile app and RPM. Its use reduced prenatal in-person visit schedules from 12-14 to 4-6.
• TempTraq is a disposable Bluetooth-enabled wearable that tracks body temperature for up to 72 hours and connects to smart devices with apps.
• FemPulse is a wearable device for continuous therapy for women diagnosed with overactive bladder (OAB).
• Fitbit and similar health and fitness trackers help patients on physical health journeys monitor and track things like heart rate and blood pressure and encourage physical activity when applicable.
• iRhythm clinically diagnoses cardiac arrhythmia with wearable biosensors and cloud-based data analytics with machine learning technology for patients across the cardiac health spectrum.

With wearable devices, patients can track their heart rates, exercise, sweat, and oxygen in the blood. For example, people with diabetes can use sweat meters to monitor blood sugar levels, while patients with respiratory illnesses like asthma can use oximeters to measure oxygen levels. Gartner expects global spending for wearable devices to reach US$81.5 billion in 2021, as investing in these products can offer healthcare companies a variety of benefits, such as:

• More accurate personalized healthcare: This data may help medical professionals offer more accurate personalized healthcare (PHC).
• Reduce costs: Improved PHC may reduce costs for organizations, and insurance companies can more accurately estimate a patient’s risk for illness, which can influence insurance pricing. Patients may also be able to take preventive steps to improve their health and lower their insurance premiums.
• Enhance the patient experience: Medical devices may also increase patient engagement and improve the patient experience. Patients will feel a sense of ownership over their health improvements and can make a game out of their health goals, as many fitness watches and apps offer competitive goals to achieve through diet and exercise.
• More quickly diagnose health problems: Wearable devices can help professionals diagnose issues more quickly and intervene sooner while giving patients better information on managing their own health at home.

One common roadblock is the digital divide — not all patients have access to wearable devices, and not all organizations have the training to instruct patients for proper use. Another obstacle is that some wearable data is vulnerable to cyberattacks, which could compromise patients’ sensitive information.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a major digital transformation trend in the healthcare industry and is growing quickly. Organizations use robotics and AI for nearly everything, including:

• Delivering therapy
• Digital diagnostics
• Drug discovery
• Drug management
• Fetching supplies
• Genomics
• Precision medicine
• Restocking supplies
• Medical imaging
• Microsurgeries
• Minimizing wait times

Another common form of AI-based technology is chatbots, which can function as diagnostic tools, customer service representatives, and therapists. As a result of COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) relied on an ML-powered chatbot, or virtual health assistant, to help users identify whether their symptoms matched those of COVID-19 and what steps they should take based on their outcome.

When used in precision medicine, machine learning can navigate complex algorithms with large datasets for optimal treatments and prognosis prediction. Since AI can recognize patterns, this technology can also be helpful for cancer patients who have received cookie-cutter treatment with a high failure rate. With the sophisticated pattern recognition of AI, patients can receive personalized therapies tailored to their lifestyle and genetic makeup.

In 2018, most research participants reported strides in specialty care and telehealth, and many also noted improvements in bedside or point-of-care because of AI and ML. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies use machine learning to reduce the development cycle for drugs, shortening the drug discovery timeline by years.

AI applications can cut annual U.S. healthcare costs by US$150 billion in 2026. With so many uses and benefits, AI and ML are well worth the investment. However, it’s important to keep in mind that AI and ML enhance human work, not replace it.

Big Data Analytics

Big data is data taken from various platforms and formats and analyzed to identify trends, patterns, and risks. In healthcare, successful big data analytics can lead to:

• Better preventive care: Many patients who visit emergency rooms (ERs) are “frequent flyers,” or recurring patients. With big data analytics, healthcare organizations can identify these patients and develop preventive plans to help them avoid return visits to the ER.
• Fewer errors: By analyzing patient records, the software can flag inconsistencies between patients’ health and their prescriptions. When errors are flagged, health professionals and patients receive an alert about the potential risk of a medication error.
• More accurate health predictions: Big data analytics can provide more accurate predictions about future admission rates, enabling facilities to allocate staff properly to provide adequate patient care. This can reduce emergency room wait times and save money, particularly while a facility is understaffed.

More healthcare organizations are taking advantage of big data — 30% of surveyed organizations report having a chief analytics officer or data officer to oversee coordinated data efforts, up from 12% in 2015. Successful big data analysis gives organizations a real-time look at current needs, trends, costs, and risks.

Nonprofits use data for marketing and fundraising, monitoring and implementing new efforts, and streamlining funds. As more devices become equipped with 5G capabilities, it could significantly reduce costs associated with technology infrastructure. 5G could bring savings of approximately US$94 billion to the healthcare industry in 2030. MIP Fund Accounting® software can help your nonprofit organization organize data for smarter budgeting and forecasting possible scenarios.

5G Connectivity

5G has lower latency for faster speeds, more bandwidth, and quicker reactions to commands. Buffering will be a thing of the past as patients can access instantaneous downloading, uploading, and streaming. Regardless of location, patients can also experience better quality video conferences. This means 5G connections will be especially impactful for rural communities without wired broadband that lack access to the same telehealth as other communities.

Faster 5G speeds could benefit the healthcare industry through real-time health monitoring, better connection to wearable devices, more data-intense surgery with millisecond-latency requirements, and telesurgery. 5G can help nonprofits take advantage of newer, faster technology to reach new people more quickly. 5G can also help organizations mobilize fundraising and workforce. When used AI, 5G can enhance services and the patient experience. Examples include:

• Drones enabled with 5G could deliver devices or life-saving medicine to patients in rural areas that are difficult to access.
• Clinicians may soon use 5G connections to enter a virtual environment and perform robotic surgery.
• Since 5G could support medical training, students could use virtual reality (VR) headsets to practice complex surgeries at their own pace.
• With augmented reality (AR) glasses, first responders could connect with specialists at another location to show them what they are seeing and receive better guidance.
• When paired with 5G, remote monitoring technology can collect and provide clinicians with medical data instantaneously, such as physical activity levels and vitals.

5G could greatly improve preventive care, reducing the costs of patients developing chronic conditions or visiting emergency rooms or hospitals. However, with these benefits comes the risk of cyberattacks and data vulnerabilities. Organizations integrating 5G should also adopt better data protection practices. 5G can operate in high-band frequencies for faster traffic or lower low-band and mid-band frequencies with unlicensed spectrums. This variation could interfere with speed, reliability, and balancing ranges.

Chapter 3: Objectives of Digital Transformation

In the healthcare industry, digital transformation refers to the positive impact of technology, and for medical professionals, digital transformation can:

• Reduce errors.
• Streamline work.
• Optimize systems.
• Lower operational costs.
• Improve patient satisfaction and outcomes.

However, keeping up with digital transformation can quickly become overwhelming in the healthcare industry, which is why it is essential to determine your organization’s goals for digital transformation.

What Is the Fundamental Goal of Digital Transformation for Healthcare Nonprofits?

With digital transformation, nonprofit healthcare organizations can:

• Reach more people: A digital transformation allows your organization to spend less time on clerical work and more time engaging with patients.
• Increase revenue: For many healthcare nonprofits, a key objective is increasing revenue, which organizations can accomplish through the new digital services.
• Save valuable work time: Digital transformation can save your healthcare organization valuable work time. You can automate more processes, and by saving your staff time, your organization can operate more efficiently.
• Improve accuracy and reduce errors: With digital transformation comes automation, which can help reduce errors and improve accuracy, as your organization will rely less on manually entering information.

Get more nonprofit management tips at MIP®.

Determining Your Organization’s Digital Transformation Goals

Set key performance indicators (KPIs) and establish metrics for measuring progress. The best KPIs for measuring the progress of digital transformation efforts include analyzing the limitations and breadth of usability, measuring the number of users compared to the number of licenses, and counting the number of processes that will be performed on the new software. You’ll also want to track the amount of new revenue that you can attribute to digital investments and productivity indicators.

Examples of common digital transformation goals include:

• Increased efficiency: Digital transformation optimizes processes and makes workflows more efficient by reducing the time it takes to complete core processes like processing paperwork.
• Better quality service: One of the crucial goals of an organization’s digital transformation is to provide better quality service and meet patients’ needs.
• Process automation: Automating processes, such as moving operations and processes to run on new software or tech, can allow an organization to operate more effectively.
• Reduced operational or advertising costs: Operational and advertising costs can be significant, so reducing these costs can greatly benefit any organization.
• Increased donor, customer, or patient engagement: Tracking donor, customer, or patient engagement and experience is essential for determining the success of your digital transformation.
• Flexibility to be more innovative: The flexibility to be innovative is important to many healthcare organizations, and product innovation can enhance the customer experience.
• Boost overall employee or organization morale: Your organization can improve team morale by reducing workplace stressors and addressing common concerns with automation and technology. To ensure your digital transformation is successful, motive your employees to believe in the mission’s goals.

Follow the steps below to determine your organization’s digital transformation goals.

1. Consider Your Core Values

When considering digital transformation for your organization, return to your mission statement. Focus on the “why” of this transformation. Analyze how you’re currently meeting those values and how you could improve or exceed meeting them with digital transformation. Digital transformation involves sophisticated tools like machine learning and artificial intelligence to automate processes. You should look beyond your bottom line and consider your core value metrics to maximize this automation.

2. Explore Your Industry

Look at leaders in your organization’s industry or community — what are they doing that you can emulate or improve upon? You may be able to measure the success of your own digital transformation by comparing your organization to others that are more or less digitally mature. Organizations that have a higher digital maturity, for example, are likely to have higher revenue growth than organizations with low digital maturity.

3. Talk to the End-User

Talk to your target end-user, whether that’s donors, clients, customers, or patients, to learn where you can improve. If you notice that the end-user is not engaging the way you hoped, this could be because the technology is not useful enough. When you gain insights from the end-user on what features and functions are popular, you can identify ways digital transformation could help meet these expectations for a better patient experience.

Measure Your Digital Maturity

The digital maturity scale measures an organization’s digital capabilities, including:

• Technology
• IT infrastructure
• Digital integration
• Use of existing technology
• Employee training and skills

You can use multiple models to gauge your organization’s digital maturity, and these models are typically built on a simple scale.

Organizations that are the least digitally mature have few or no digital capabilities. These organizations may lack the proper tools, and the existing tools are poorly implemented and integrated. Employees may also lack the necessary skills to operate these tools. On the other hand, digitally mature organizations have a digitally savvy workforce and leverage the capabilities of technology to further the organization’s strategic aims. When an organization becomes digitally mature, it can improve the customer experience and increase the efficiency of operations.

Chapter 4: The Process of Digital Transformation

Your digital transformation process should begin with a problem statement, opportunity, or goal — the “why” behind the transformation. Look at your goals to determine your “why.” Digital transformation of business processes isn’t a “fight for survival” — it’s a way to help your organization be the best it can be. Some key factors for success include:

• Upgrading day-to-day tools.
• Having the right leadership team.
• Empowering the team toward innovation.
• Building a workforce that’s ready for the future.
• Increasing communication frequency both digitally and traditionally.

Build Your Leadership Team

You might want to bring on new leaders who are more familiar with the digital changes you’re implementing or have specialized experience applicable to your goals. Maintain leadership commitment by involving all stakeholders and leaders in the transformation process. You may want to assign a chief digital officer (CDO) to spearhead and facilitate the transformation. Consider the “Six Thinking Hats” methodology:

• The white hat focuses on facts, information, and what is already known. They are neutral.
• The red hat represents feelings, emotions, and opinions. They facilitate discussion with the team.
• The green hat covers creativity and thinks outside the box, asking “what if” or “what could be.”
• The black hat represents negative elements and risk analysis. They consider the possible problems and negative facets of these changes.
• The yellow hat looks at the positives, considering the benefits and value of these changes.
• The blue hat synthesizes and processes. Considering all other hats, they summarize and document.

Analyze Your Current Situation

Examine your organization’s entire situation, including your mission, the services you’re offering, and your team structure. Look back at any former goals and determine why they did or did not succeed. Identify current needs by conducting end-user surveys and employee interviews and examining where processes could be improved or overhauled.

Employee pain points are an excellent place to start improving internal processes because improvements boost morale, simplify operations, save time, and reduce the risk for error. Leverage existing talents, skills, and resources, and look at your organization’s four “inter-related domains” — technology, data, process, and capability for organizational change.

Another way to look at your current situation more closely is by auditing your finances. Consider working with an outside expert to help you identify the best areas for digital transformation.

Set Goals for the Digital Transformation Process

Use the goals you created in the section above to create measurable key performance indicators (KPIs). Where do you want to be in six months? One year? Five years? Ten? Create a method of tracking and measuring the efforts of each change. Goals should be a combination of short-term and long-term.

Particularly, focus on developing SMART goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. Create a “map” of the customer, patient, or donor journey — what does the funnel look like for them, and where can you improve it? After establishing your goals, use them to create a strategy for moving forward.

Digital transformation requires an “end-to-end” mindset. Operational digital transformation involves automating core processes to eliminate tedious or dangerous work, connecting products with networks to optimize function, and integrating real-time data to make better decisions.

Adapt the Workplace

Forty percent of Nonprofit Leadership Center respondents report adaptability as the leading trait they needed to remain successful in 2020. Consider which upgrades your organization needs and which ones are a top priority. These upgrades might require a shift in attitude. As a result, you may want to hire new talent or conduct team training. A successful digital transformation requires leaders who are digital-savvy and a workforce capable of implementing the necessary changes.

Mitigate the Risks

Add or enhance existing digital security for software, online accounts, and equipment. The right technology can mitigate the risks your organization faces and allow audits to go more smoothly. During an audit, auditors want to see that your organization has strong internal controls and reports demonstrating how you use your funds.

Measure Ongoing Success

Return to your KPIs and transformation timeline and check on progress. Some goals like volunteer hours and fundraising are simple to track, but other goals may rely on softer metrics, such as measuring an increase in brand awareness with anecdotal feedback or brand impressions. Remember that your SMART goals should be measurable, so you can measure the ongoing success of the steps your organization has taken. Set milestone reviews to revisit goals, such as weekly or monthly check-ins, quarterly progress analysis, and yearly reviews.

Adjust as Needed

Digital transformation is not a one-time process. Technology, society, and the end-users themselves change frequently, so it’s essential to adjust your organization as technology, society, and end-user expectations change. Digital transformation encourages organizations to reconsider everything, so be sure to reflect on the changing needs of your leadership, employees, and end-users to make a successful digital transformation.

Chapter 5: The Most Important Elements to Modernize in Your Healthcare Organization

Your goals and available resources are two things to consider as you prioritize digitalization and pursue the modernization of technology in your organization. Consider how you want to approach training, meetings, data, online presence, and communication throughout the organization.

Digitize Training and Meetings

Video conferences support a more distributed workforce and reduce travel expenses. With video chat platforms, you can create a reliable and unified experience in your organization with screen sharing, group meetings, and other features. Video meetings and conferences are typically easier to plan and less costly since you don’t have to accommodate space, refreshments, equipment, travel, set up and tear down, or seating.

Leverage Your Online Presence

If your nonprofit healthcare organization shares facts or important information, having an online presence is one effective way to combat misinformation on the web. Social media is a powerful tool for nonprofits. According to the Global Trends in Giving Report, 29% of online donors cite social media as what inspires them to give. This is closely followed by email. Follow the tips below to leverage your online presence most effectively:

• Choose the right social platforms for your organization: Pick the social platform or platforms that work best for your organization. After you choose, create a strategy for using the platforms to engage with potential donors.
• Consider utilizing experts: IT and marketing experts can help you leverage your online presence most effectively.
• Use your website and social media accounts to answer common questions: By addressing frequently asked questions on social media and your website, you can simplify the process for donating, volunteering, finding employment, or shopping. Keep this information up-to-date.
• Optimize your website for mobile users: Mobile visits make up 60% of interested or browsing donors, so it’s essential to optimize your website for these users.
• Hold live stream events: Live stream events like webinars, speakers, and information sessions can mitigate costs. Sixty-three percent of people between the ages of 18 and 34 watch live-streamed content regularly.

Streamline Communication and Collaboration

Streamline communication among the team, among leadership, and between your organization and customers, donors, or patients. Consider moving to cloud-based systems to grant remote access. Eighty-one percent of McKinsey survey respondents report cloud-based services as a critical tool for their successful digital transformation.

Consider a project management system, ideally a cloud-based system, to integrate core resources, like the event calendar, email, and conferencing system. Adopt cloud technologies, like cloud-based fund accounting from MIP®. With MIP®, your organization can move away from single-channel communication, like emails and newsletters, and focus on creating a more collaborative environment. A cloud-based system can make it easy for staff to access files, documents, and email while remote.

Make Data Accessible

Another benefit of modern technology in healthcare is the increased accessibility of data. You can make data more accessible by digitizing how you collect, access, analyze, and track it. This is one of the most effective ways to measure your transformation’s success and note significant patterns.

Standardize how you collect and label data, including the format for labeling and where to store files, so it’s easier to find and stay organized. To determine how you can most effectively manage your data, consider the following:

• How you want or need to use the data.
• The data that is most important to your organization.
• How you collect the data and whether you should improve this process.
• The tools that work well for collecting and using data and those that do not.

Keep in mind that you must also abide by all data compliance requirements in your country and region. Combine these steps into a cohesive digital strategy to modernize your healthcare organization. Regularly evaluate how your digital efforts combine to ensure your strategy complements your offline efforts.

Learn More About Fund Accounting for Healthcare Nonprofits at MIP®

If you manage a healthcare nonprofit, modernization of technology and processes is critical for success. As the digital age evolves, so do consumer expectations. Face these changes head-on by fostering an innovative, adaptable, and highly efficient organization. Setting and monitoring digital transformation goals will help you combat common healthcare and nonprofit pitfalls and stay relevant in a tech-driven world.

MIP Fund Accounting®, we can provide your organization with a scalable and comprehensive system that helps you make informed decisions and manage finances. We designed our purpose-built technology with nonprofits and their unique financial management complexities in mind. Nonprofit organizations can take charge of the financial management by:

• Tracking each donated dollar.
• Balancing different funding sources.
• Compensating employees effectively.
• Scaling with the organization’s needs.
• Adapting to changes in custom reporting.
• Allocating money efficiently for fundraising.
• Streamlining human resource (HR) management.
• Expanding financial operations as the organization grows.
• Maintaining a reserve for program opportunities or unexpected costs.
• Staying compliant by tracking all cash flow and keeping sensitive information safe.

Make accounting in healthcare easy with MIP®, your organization can track your fundraising and spending all in one place. Configurable, built-in reports and dashboards let you customize your financial management and stay informed about each dollar. The features and functions of our fund accounting software include the following:

• Payroll
• Budgeting
• Dashboards
• General ledger
• Forms designer
• Human resources
• Advanced security
• Bank reconciliation
• Electronic requisitions
• Accounts payable and receivable

Our true fund accounting system enables financial transparency, supports multi-dimensional charts, and easily integrates with mission-critical systems. It also provides fraud protection, FASB- and GASB-compliant reports, and a clear audit trail. Contact MIP Fund Accounting® to learn how our fund accounting software and services can help you achieve your digital transformation goals, or request a demo today.