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Everyone is talking about the disaster that happened when the pandemic struck the world. Lives were lost, businesses fell, and the impact was even more severe with the economic recession. But this event didn't only cause a ruckus. It was instrumental in accelerating the adoption of digital technologies and new innovations. It brought about a change that was anticipated over the next few years. It won't be wrong to say that it concentrated the transformation within months.

But despite the growth, there is a transition from virtual care options to in-person options again as well. Admittedly, many Medtech companies haven't prepared well for the new digital world of healthcare. According to research, digital maturity is still at the lower end compared to other industries. 

Hence, this is the best time to leverage the opportunities to drive new revenue streams and improve patient care. It's right to say that much ground needs to be covered to shape the healthcare industry and capture value. 

How? In this article, we will talk about different actions that can help turn ambitions into reality. 

Turning digital aspirations into reality: Understanding the Framework

A survey found that if you want to stay ahead of the digital transformation, you must follow the below steps.

To excel, it's time to have some bold aspirations

You won't drive significant value if you are stuck on making small changes or tweaks to your existing system. Therefore, companies need to make some bold moves. If you can set ambitious business goals and KPIs, you can achieve bigger goals by integrating many innovative technologies. Remember, don't just delegate the work. You must create some steps that will hold everyone accountable every step of the way. 

Think about "patient-centric" opportunities

Digital health has opened up a lot of new opportunities. The Medtech companies must include options allowing them to use digital technologies at every step of the patient pathway. Whether it's primary prevention, screening through diagnosis or staging to treatment, or management of a condition, you must understand the pain points for everyone and how digital solutions can help you address them.

For example, in oncology, the time between diagnosis and treatment is crucial for better patient outcomes. Using different platforms and tools that provide a comprehensive view of each patient will allow everyone to be better informed. Thus, there will be quick decisions, which will help improve patient outcomes. Medtech companies understand their growth opportunities and can use them to build a roadmap for integrated solutions that can result in high-growth opportunities. For instance, RedMed and Medtronic are developing new remote management solutions so that clinicians can improve health outcomes for patients with diabetes and hypertension amidst the covid pandemic crisis.

Embrace new culture or operating model

Medtech companies are already using different options to quick-start their physical products. They have a plan ready for developing, launching, and selling such products. But the digital side often goes missing. 

Data analytics, AI, ML, and other innovations must be integrated to succeed in the new digital environment. Here's how you can achieve it:

1. Understand the patient journey, capture the gaps, and see if technology can personalize this offering.
2. Use data from different digital touchpoints and drive new sources to build flexible infrastructure even in the siloed framework. 
3. Build tools that help you access the data to address different individual cases, reducing turnaround cycles and allowing you to adapt new models quickly.
4. Provide value assurance and see if you can tie it to the key metrics. New digital tools can help you roll out options that were earlier not available. 

Consider the broader ecosystem

Irrespective of the sector, if you want to survive the evolving digital landscape, you must shape the ecosystem to protect your revenue while helping your patients get better deals and offers. It's time that you integrate systems like cybersecurity. But some concerns are specific to Medtech companies. For instance, you need to create an ecosystem on services like patient outcomes, secure reimbursement, and manage privacy and consent. You need to have the following enablers for a flourishing ecosystem. 

1. Financial enablers 
2. Technological enablers
3. Policy and guideline enablers 
4. Social and legal enablers 

This way, every aspect of your system will be covered, which will help you grow your business while providing affordable solutions to the patients, starting to finish. Clearly, the pandemic has spurred a quick development in terms of digital solutions. With so many changes happening quickly, risk must be a part of the decisions. 

If the MedTech companies come together with the help of regulators, it will help providers to engage with many digital solutions and get the required assistance on time. 

Further, by introducing digital transformation, MedTech companies can improve supply chain visibility, reducing research and development costs and resulting in patient experiences.

In short, these companies must train their workforces and leverage new technology to further their potential. The more you are tech-savvy, the more you can adapt to the evolving needs of digital transformation.

So, will you be including this framework? If not, what are your reasons for stepping back?

Final Takeaways: The Change is the Necessity for digital transformation

A range of forces increased the need for digital transformation- pricing pressures, stringent regulations, operational inefficiencies, or consolidation as a general trend. Digital transformation is quite the need of the hour. Clearly, the Medtech industry is taking notice. 

The change might be because of the pandemic. But it does not detract that it was indeed important. It is the foundation to be a part of the next normal. Medtech companies must therefore consider that if they embark on this without delay, it will be a driver of significant growth, improve patient care, and build more sustainable healthcare systems for the future.

So, have you started changing the dynamics around the digital ecosystem? If not, the time is now. Let it drive you towards your success. Otherwise, you won’t be able to survive in the future. Digital transformation is the key to better solutions. And it's time you adopt one for your business.