The healthcare environment has never been more complex. One of the paradoxes today’s healthcare organizations (HCOs) face is that the digitization of patient records and workflows was designed to increase operational efficiency; yet, in many ways, digitization has led to more friction, not less, in the lives of clinicians and staff. For example:

• Clinical staff can be frustrated by continually signing in to different devices and different applications as they deliver patient care. A nurse might toggle back and forth between the electronic health record (EHR), a patient monitoring system, medication dispensing software and more in a single shift.
• The internal IT helpdesk — designed to support clinical and other staff — can be a major point of vulnerability for cyberattacks
• The organization’s EHR, optimized for patient care, may be
  less efficient at tasks such as revenue cycle management,
  human resource management and security. That, in turn,
  necessitates integration with other applications, resulting in
  an even more complex digital environment and multiplying
  network vulnerabilities.