What the Pandemic Means for Health Care’s Digital Transformation

by John Glaser, J. Marc Overhage, Janet Guptill, Chuck Appleby and Donald Trigg

December 4, 2020

Sean Gladwell/Getty Images

Summary.

As health care organizations grapple with responding to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and adapting their operations to continue to fulfill other aspects of their care mission, they must also begin to define and prepare for the future of care amid economic, regulatory, and social uncertainties. What might the post-Covid-19 landscape look like? How can health systems address a range of possible challenges? What are the opportunities to revolutionize care?

John Glaser is an executive in residence at Harvard Medical School. He previously served as the CIO of Partners Healthcare (now Mass General Brigham), a senior vice president at Cerner, and the CEO of Siemens Health Services. He is co-chair of the HL7 Advisory Council and a board member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

J. Marc Overhage , MD, is the chief health informatics lead at Elevance Health. Previously, he was the director of medical informatics and a research scientist at the Regenstrief Institute and the Regenstrief Professor of Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Janet Guptill is president and CEO of the Scottsdale Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping its more than 60 large, integrated health systems leverage information and technology to create effective, affordable, and equitable health care centered on whole person care.

Chuck Appleby is director of publications & communications at the Scottsdale Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting its member health care systems transform the way they work through information technology.