It’s almost impossible to imagine the modern healthcare industry without innovations that continue to change the accessibility and quality of medical services. Tech startups, advanced medical devices, and SaaS platforms are part of our daily lives, but only healthcare providers know the effort required to implement these solutions.
According to a global HIMSS survey, around 73% of healthcare organizations still rely on legacy systems. This greatly complicates the process of adopting HealthTech innovations.
In this article, we’ll talk about the strategies for bridging the gap between HealthTech and legacy systems. Whether you are a healthcare provider looking to innovate or a startup trying to make its product more compatible with existing healthcare systems, here you will find ideas on how you can achieve your goals.
Common Challenges in Integrating HealthTech with Legacy Systems
As we can see, most healthcare technology trends revolve around AI, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things. So, it’s not surprising that healthcare providers pay great attention to these technologies. However, not all of them dare to implement projects in practice due to the numerous challenges that arise along the way.
You should understand the risks and create effective plans to mitigate them to adopt new technologies successfully. So, let’s dive into the main challenges.
Compatibility Issues
Technologies tend to become obsolete, and organizations often fail to keep up with updates. As a result, your existing system may be incompatible with the new technology. Reasons may include outdated technology stacks, unsupported packages, etc. Such issues lead to operational errors and integration failures.
Solution: Every integration of new tech should start with a thorough analysis of your existing IT infrastructure and current technology stack. This helps you to identify potential problem areas and prepare your systems for innovation.
You may need to upgrade some parts of your system before moving forward with new technologies. Create a detailed technology integration plan with prioritization of tasks to make sure you will be able to innovate without significant disruption to the system.
Data Interoperability
Most modern HealthTech solutions are data-driven. That means they compile information from different systems, such as EHRs, patient portals, wearables, etc. The problem is that these data may have different formats and are hard to transfer between new and old systems. Usually, it happens due to the lack of commonly accepted data exchange standards.
Solution: If your organization doesn’t already have a well-defined data management strategy, it’s time to establish one. A data management framework ensures consistency and compatibility across different systems. Having a data management framework will save you from many problems in the future.
You can also use data integration tools and platforms to simplify the data management process. However, it’s important to make sure that any tools you choose meet industry security standards.
Security & Compliance Risks
Healthcare systems deal with highly sensitive patient data. Moreover, healthcare software products are subject to industry regulations such as HIPAA. This imposes stricter security requirements for both the storage and transmission of data. According to the HIPAA Journal, 2024 was the worst year on record for medical record breaches. This forced healthcare organizations to review their security policies, and you should follow their example.
Solution: You should always keep up to date with the latest regulatory updates. Before implementing any changes to your system, work with IT specialists and auditors to conduct a thorough cybersecurity assessment. This helps you to identify potential risks and implement robust security measures to mitigate them. Also, check that all solutions you adopt comply with regulatory requirements.
Best Practices for implementing innovative solutions in healthcare
As you can see, innovation comes with risks, but they should never stop you. Being prepared for possible challenges and applying industry best practices will help you effectively and safely implement HealthTech solutions into your system.
Start with turning your vision into an actionable plan
Once you have determined what goals you want to achieve with the implementation of new technologies (for example, reducing operational costs or expanding access to healthcare for your patients), you need to translate your vision into a clear technical plan. The assessment of your existing infrastructure will make adjustments, and the final project may look slightly different from what you initially imagined.
However, having a clear roadmap for implementing technical solutions will help you avoid unforeseen situations and better optimize resources and budgets. So, remember to plan for success.
Opt for a phased integration approach
Integrating all new components at once is a bad strategy in software development, associated with a higher risk of failure. Prioritize key areas of HealthTech implementation, starting with high-performing features. Then, incrementally implement innovations according to plan to minimize disruption and ensure each new element of the system works properly.
Ensure data interoperability
Don’t repeat the mistakes of the old system. Create a robust data governance framework to ensure that data exchange meets regulatory standards, minimizes errors, and is processed consistently across all systems.
Use APIs to Streamline Processes
Using APIs is a common way to ensure your new and old software systems communicate with one another and share critical information. In healthcare, FHIR-based APIs are a common solution, as they allow organizations to access specific health data without requiring full access to entire records. This provides increased security during the digital transformation process and mitigates the risks of data leaks.
Focus on cybersecurity
Spend as much time on security as you need to ensure that every technology solution has robust security measures in place. Work closely with IT professionals and external consultants, if necessary, to avoid costly mistakes.
Educate your employees
Provide ongoing support, training, and resources for healthcare specialists to ensure that they can fully leverage the potential of integrated systems. Specialists can often experience resistance to change and need additional training.
Final Thoughts
Effective implementation of HealthTech solutions is the only way to update outdated healthcare systems, but the process of implementing innovation must be balanced with the involvement of experienced specialists. Ensure you work with highly qualified technical consultants and engineers who understand all the challenges and know how to overcome them.