When it comes to technology, healthcare providers have many options. It can be challenging to determine which will truly help an organization achieve its short- and long-term goals.

Even more, in the last five years alone the industry has faced – and continues to face – increasing regulatory and commercial pressures:

  • The push to improve access to quality of care
  • The critical necessity of reducing cost as part of the Triple Aim
  • The growing trend toward accountability – not only for care providers but for patients themselves

All these are driving healthcare organizations to seek new and different solutions.

With so many conflicting influences, it can be tempting to settle for a “quick win” solution that addresses an immediate need but fails to deliver the desired impact over the long term.

But technology is not the star of the show and only benefits an organization when it is used as an enabler of the process of care. When understood and implemented thoughtfully, technology can streamline and improve clinical and operational processes, allowing clinicians to be better informed, to be more efficient, and to be able to take full advantage of the enormous volume of data available about their patients and the care they need to provide.

Healthcare is very urgency-driven, with a strong emphasis on patient touch. We are now in a position where we can utilize a wide variety of technologies to gather and analyze data, better informing the work that we do and leading to better outcomes and reduced costs.

Cleveland, in particular, has a high concentration of healthcare organizations that are nationally known for innovation and forward thinking. The presence of the Health Information and Management Systems Society’s (HIMSS) Global Center for Healthcare Innovation in the city attracts established technology giants and entrepreneurial firms alike, making the city a leader in imagining the future of healthcare and the development of new healthcare technology.

In recognition of the importance of healthcare in this city and of the vast amount of work that lies ahead, Centric convened its first Annual Cleveland Healthcare Summit on August 24 and 25.

The team held a full day of internal discussions focusing on our approach, services and contributions in healthcare, and explored critical issues in both acute and long term care.

We discussed the value of our core competencies and how they can benefit healthcare organizations:

The team met with thought leaders at key local centers of healthcare innovation, such as Explorys and Cleveland Clinic, and took the opportunity to attend a Healthcare Information Security event hosted by Juniper Networks at the HIMSS Global Center for Innovation.

These discussions reignited our passion for improving the processes of care and gave a renewed sense of commitment to taking on the challenges of the industry with efficient, relevant action. Seeing so much of Cleveland engaged in these efforts and sensing the powerful concentration of thought and energy being applied to the industry’s toughest problems left us all with a deeper understanding of what makes Cleveland such a special place in the geography of Healthcare.

“Centric’s Healthcare Summit was an exciting opportunity to not only collaborate together as a company, but to share ideas and goals with some of the nation’s leading healthcare organizations,” said Joe Smucny, Centric Cleveland’s Practice Lead. “The energy and momentum around healthcare in Cleveland is incredibly inspiring.”

Looking ahead, Centric Cleveland and members of Centric’s National Healthcare Practice will showcase its talents at the Cleveland Healthcare Hackathon, Sept. 26-27 at the HIMSS Global Center for Health Innovation.

In addition, a webinar hosted in conjunction with partner K2, entitled, “Maximize Admissions Processes to Drive Bottom-Line Results,” will be held Sept. 23.

At the epicenter of healthcare innovation, Centric Cleveland will continue to pave the way forward in the healthcare space and Centric is proud to be a part of this journey.