HEALTHCARE IT
of many IT/IS department’s portfolios for implementation. These functionalities are actively prioritised and budgeted for – outside a construction framework. So, as technology and healthcare continue converging and more emerging technologies become known- becoming more intense and more sophisticated - the required ‘lift’ from the IT/IS department will get bigger and bigger at a yet-to-be- experienced breakneck pace.
Modern technologies threats Malicious attacks on healthcare have grown exponentially in recent years. According to the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), large breaches increased by 93 per cent between 2018 and 2022. Additionally, large breaches involving ransomware increased by 278 per cent.12 Hospitals undergoing construction are not immune to these threats. The proliferation of connected devices and the increasing complexity of medical IT environments are just two drivers that introduce new cybersecurity challenges. This phenomenon is relatively unidentified or unheeded by healthcare construction teams. Given the dated approach to technology and the lack of proper health IT support on projects, there is arguably added and avoidable security risk. Mistakes and oversights will not only increase in frequency and cost, but new liability questions will also arise.
The growing import of portfolio management From previous experience as both an IT PMO (Project Management Office) director and a vice president of an EPMO (Enterprise PMO), IT/IS and digital services leaders are constantly challenged with balancing operational stability while driving innovation, always with the experiences of patients and clinicians in mind. Portfolio management becomes paramount as the costs of unachieved missed opportunities could make an organisational strategic or viability difference. Only 3-9 per cent of a healthcare system’s IT/IS project portfolio is typically categorised as ‘new construction’. Healthcare construction projects vary in type and size. Straight-forward efforts involving shell space build-out, space modifications associated with moves/adds/changes, and small to medium-sized renovations will most likely be items that IT/IS continues to support. However, new hospital builds need and deserve specialised external IT/IS expertise. Construction is its own industry. That
industry has its own language, regulations, standards, and expertise required. Considering the vast and rapidly growing demands of the IT/IS department, does it make sense to deny themselves external
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expert resources with fresh vernacular, construction experience, and tools to automate their workflow and processes for new hospital builds? Organisations benefit from outsourcing aspects to specialist firms that can deliver better, faster, and cheaper services, allowing CIOs or CIDOs to focus their energies and their most valued internal resources on future- state initiatives.13
Considering the advice
and warnings coming from healthcare digital transformation experts, enhanced portfolio management and partnership engagement are paramount. CIDOs or CIOs often cite difficulty defining the IT/IS portion of ROI contribution to new functionality or efficiencies achieved. Although it is difficult for internal IT/IS teams to forecast, construction is the one space where external HIT (Health Information Technology) experts can accurately estimate ROI challenges through specialised systems inventories and resource identification and management. Opting to resource new hospital builds with external HIT experts also supports departmental workload balancing and staff burnout avoidance, as broken processes waste resources and create burnout. Additionally, construction projects with these experts enjoy inherent risk mitigation for ‘known unknowns’ such as the recent CrowdStrike event or COVID-19 pandemic that pulled IT/IS from normal operations and projects to focus on supporting the new emergent community, customers, and patients’ critical needs. The shift to an integrated digital IT
operating model will involve significant changes to the project and portfolio management funding and processes. This focus will inherently challenge the old ways of prioritising and resourcing
Construction and construction teams The technology approach utilised in hospital construction projects has remained unchanged since the 1990s. That statement alone should give any reader pause. How can this be? That said, every hospital construction team consists of ‘default’ players: The following use their own
customised workflows and automated tools: l Architects. l General contractors (GCs). l Medical equipment planners support clinical engineering and supply chain management.
l Transition and activation planners support administrative and clinical.
l Planning, design, and construction (PDC) departments, depending on their size and makeup, are often supported by owner’s representatives.
l Technology design firms consist of engineers who are responsible for design. They report to the owners, owner’s representatives, or architects. They rarely have experience navigating within a modern IT/IS department. Their scope of responsibility does not include implementing IT/IS capabilities.
l The healthcare IT/IS department becomes, by default, responsible for the technology work required post- design to plan, implement, deploy, test, and integrate.
IFHE DIGEST 2025
projects. This shift creates the perfect opportunity to reimagine and modernise the approach to technology on healthcare construction projects. Finally, think about it: we are consumers of healthcare in our communities. Surely you want healthcare experts to focus on life-changing technologies for your life or the lives of your loved ones?
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