Health tech can save lives. An alert from a chronic condition app could mean the difference between a trip to the emergency room and overlooking life-threatening symptoms. In Canadian and US studies, AI tools diagnosed conditions more accurately than physicians and, in Taiwan, have reduced deaths by 31 percent. And when combined with advanced imaging, robotics increase precision, shorten recovery times, and improve patient outcomes.
But implementing health tech is a complex process that requires navigating strict regulations, data privacy issues, budgetary constraints, as well as human health risks and impacts. With its principles of iterative releases and continuous feedback, agile offers a proven framework for streamlining health tech implementation, ensuring patients and professionals access safe, regulation-aligned advanced care solutions.
Healthcare Technology Offers Globally Scalable Solutions for Quality Care
Digital transformation is causing rapid and widespread disruption across industries, and healthcare is no exception. Some tech, including blockchain for securing health data and robotic nursing is still in trial phases. But other solutions like robotic-assisted surgeries and globally applicable AI models for predicting patient outcomes, are already integrated by some institutions around the world.
The earlier organizations can digitize their offerings and processes, the better equipped they’ll be to connect with other service providers’ technology. And — more critically — the better positioned they’ll be to capitalize on market opportunities.
Addressing Challenges to Healthtech Implementation
Regulatory concerns, integration complexity, high costs, and privacy issues have long been barriers to health tech implementation. At the 2024 Mayo Clinic Summit, experts highlighted a promising AI-assisted future involving digital pathology slides and genomics to support patient assessment and predictions. They also cited obstacles including “gaining clinician trust, ensuring reliability through continuous scientific validation, securing payer approval, and meeting regulatory requirements.”
The miniscule margin for error due to the critical health impacts, and resistance to change in a traditionally conservative industry are two more barriers to health tech.
Successfully overcoming these challenges requires the close involvement of stakeholders including medical practitioners, local regulatory experts, developers, sample users, and more.
Approaching Agile Healthtech Implementation as an Experiment
With their emphasis on close communication with stakeholders at every stage of development, agile frameworks are ideally suited to support digital transformation within healthcare settings.
Firstly, doctors — like scientists — already think in terms of experiments. They test hypotheses, analyze data, and refine their processes, all core components of the agile mindset.
Additionally, sprints facilitate frequent releases, resulting in a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that incorporates user testing insights to inform future iterations. In the case of a companion app for drug therapy, for example, stakeholders can gather patient and physician data to inform further development.
This MVP strategy also supports the rapid introduction of critical health tech products and processes that meet the lowest regulatory burden. This means a product can be launched with just its essential features while experts work to gain deeply regulated approval on upcoming versions.
Agile has already been applied as a pathway to support digital transformation within healthcare settings — with great success. At Colorado’s Mount San Rafael Hospital, for instance, stakeholders adopted an agile mindset, drawing on principles of collaboration and continuous improvement to nimbly transition to virtual services and remote work during the pandemic. Post-pandemic, this same mindset supported the graceful integration of advanced analytics and robotic process automation as part of their digital transformation.
And here at Ascendle, our agile coaches led teams at health records company Exym through the development of new patient healthcare records software delivered by scalable architecture, training in-house developers on processes, all while ensuring alignment with regulations.
Overcoming Resistance to Agile Digital Transformation Consulting Services
Despite its proven track record for success, as a CPO, CFO or CTO working in the notoriously traditional health care sector, you might encounter resistance to agile methods for digital transformation.
Consider the following strategies to get buy-in from stakeholders. Start by communicating that the agile framework aligns well with medical professionals’ systemic approach. You can also suggest initiating projects on a small scale, then reassessing periodically: for instance, enlisting an Agile coach for a cloud data storage system implementation-planning workshop, then evaluating the outcome.
Agile Training and Support for Organizations
Ascendle’s agile coaches help organizations navigate the complexities of AI, machine learning, robotics, big data, and other digital health solutions. From strategy to implementation, we’ll guide you in integrating agile processes gradually and sustainably, in a way that supports your business goals while ensuring alignment with regulations and organizational budgets.
To learn more about how our Agile coaches can support your organization’s digital transformation, contact us.
