DB Results welcomes research published by the Aged Care Industry IT Council, which shows increased uptake of innovation and technology by service providers would help deliver more sustainable and high-quality care to older Australians.
The report, titled ‘Innovation driving care systems capability’, surveyed 421 vendors and providers who represent services that care for 661,000 people and a workforce of 100,000.
The results showed there are many opportunities for technology improvement. Currently, only 33% of aged care organisations have integrated consumer records, 19% use data analytics, 51.5% use telehealth, and 59% use electronic clinical systems.
Using technology to streamline data collection and analysis provides benefits throughout the care process, including planning, delivery of care, and monitoring. Not only is digital record keeping more resource-efficient, but it avoids data duplication, supports richer data collection, reduces administrative burden and errors.
“Integrating data from different systems into a single source of truth and providing aggregated views of that information for planning and management resulted in a 30% cost-saving for one of our clients,” explains DB Results Co-CEO Gavin Bunshaw.
A shift to more patient-centred care has been driven over recent years by aged care reforms, and the restrictions that have been imposed on face-to-face contact due to COVID-19 has escalated business transformation so consumers can connect more easily to programs, their loved ones, and care professionals, and have access to information about their care. 62% of organisations using telehealth and telecare technologies at the time of the survey introduced them in response to the pandemic.
“It’s also important to ensure staff are connected,” adds Bunshaw. “The dedicated employee communication platform we developed helps grow a positive culture and drive change faster by ensuring communication shared across thousands of staff in multiple locations is both consistent and personalised.”
Aged care consumers are currently the second-least likely group to have the power to access their own information records, while their families or legal representatives are the least likely. This is due to the fact most organisations have separate systems for the financial, clinical, rostering, and administration teams.
“Ideally, aged care organisations should be utilising technology that supports the integration of different types of records into a single, holistic consumer record.”
“Using a low-code platform and our pre-built accelerators, we can integrate data from different sources and provide easy to use functionality to view, analyse and use this data, in a matter of weeks,” said Bunshaw. “It’s a fast and cost-efficient way to digitise, allowing a quick return on investment and savings to invest in further innovation”
Harnessing innovation and technology is hampered by the fact only one-in-three aged care organisations have a clearly defined digital strategic plan.
Other common barriers included cost and a lack of technology expertise and support.
“DB Results are one of the few organisations who can advise, design, deliver and support,” says Bunshaw. “We pride ourselves in our success at collaborating with our clients and partners to deliver cost-effective results that exceed expectations, improve efficiency and increase effectiveness.”
Today’s highly competitive marketplace calls for solutions that beat the competition and meet customer needs. DB Results is a leading digital business and technology consulting firm, with particular in-depth experience in the area of digital health transformational strategy, projects, and implementation.
Our work in aged care includes digital transformation advisory and planning, evaluation of architecture, software, and organisational requirements, preparation of strategic business cases, process reviews and reporting, data analysis and reporting, solution design and delivery, project management, and uplift of resources.
To find out more about how we can help your aged care organisation, visit our case studies or get in touch.
You can download the full Aged Care Industry IT Council report here.
