Healthcare executives are quick to admit that the industry is woefully behind on digital transformation. Industries like banking, retail and travel are decades ahead when it comes to modernizing their technology and meeting consumer expectations.

As hospitals trudge forward in their efforts to create a more seamless, digitized healthcare experience for patients, many health system technology executives have found that these initiatives require sustained cross-department collaboration. Two health system technology leaders discussed this realization during a panel held Monday at ViVE, a healthcare innovation conference in Nashville.

Tressa Springmann, LifeBridge Health’s chief information and digital officer, said that she has grown much closer to her health system’s chief marketing officer and communications team as a result of her work to make digital alternatives available to patients.

“From a digital transformation perspective, I think it was about really solidifying the shared governance and relationship with the marketing team as we crafted our digital front door strategy,” she declared.

During a health system’s digital transformation process, it can be a bit of “an awkward journey” to determine where governance responsibilities lie, Springmann pointed out. But it didn’t take her long to realize that marketing professionals know more about how to offer choice to patients than anyone else in the health system, she said.

In recent years, LifeBridge has rolled out convenient scheduling capabilities, varied telehealth offerings, an updated website and a new app. But those new capabilities aren’t very meaningful unless patients are aware of them and know how to use them — that’s why the marketing department must always be an integral part of digital transformation, Springmann argued.

Chris Carmody, UPMC’s chief technology officer, agreed that cross-department collaboration is one of the most important components of enacting true digital transformation within a health system.

“I think the opportunity that Covid presented us in terms of partnering and working with different areas and different leaders across the institution has enhanced our work. I think we grew together as organizational leaders to solve problems together. It really helped build and establish relationships that quite honestly weren’t there before,” he declared.

At UPMC, some of the most important relationships that Carmody has fostered in the last couple years are with the health system’s data scientists, as well as with Chief Analytics Officer Oscar Marroquin, he explained. Partnering with these colleagues has allowed him to reach a clearer understanding of the areas of care delivery and operations that need the most attention when it comes to digital transformation.

Maintaining closeness with the analytics team has also led to more proactive discussions, Carmody pointed out. These people are constantly examining data to identify pain points and areas for improvement, so consistently involving them in digital strategy conversations helps ensure that UPMC is “skating where the puck is heading” and anticipating patient needs, he said.