How composable technology improves experiences in healthcare

The healthcare sector is in a period of rapid transformation, and many healthcare organizations have struggled to keep pace. This is understandable; healthcare organizations are governed by strict regulatory and patient safety guidelines, and they are cautious about adopting new technology. However, an inability to adapt doesn’t just make it harder to effectively leverage patient data; it can also lead to a poor patient experience and even jeopardize care delivery. 

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how composable digital experience platforms (DXPs) can benefit patients, providers and staff in healthcare organizations.

What is a composable DXP?

Most healthcare software — such as Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Electronic Health Records (EHR), E-Prescribing, Hospital Management Systems and Healthcare CRMs — is built using monolithic or legacy architecture. With a monolithic architecture, applications are designed as a single unit: Functions are packaged as a suite and they’re all handled by one codebase. 

Take, for example, EHRs. Most EHRs offer a variety of features and functions, so in theory, healthcare organizations can leverage all those in-built features to handle all their patient care needs, from patient portals to ordering labs. Unfortunately, each function is designed to be used in a very specific way, and there isn’t much room for flexibility. Updating one function requires changes to the codebase, which is usually a resource-intensive effort that involves system downtime. And if those changes are not made properly, it can affect how the rest of the EHR functions. That can lead to lower-quality care and even pose a risk to patient safety.

Composable architecture, on the other hand, takes those large and complex functions and breaks them down into smaller pieces that are easier to manage and update depending on the organization’s needs. Each function is its own self-contained unit; APIs connect all these smaller pieces, allowing them to communicate and transfer information more efficiently. And with composable architecture, the front-end — i.e., what the provider, staff member or patient sees — and back-end layers are decoupled, so changes can be made to the front end without involving the back end. 

When all these best-of-breed functions are combined, the result is a composable digital experience platform (DXP). 

Benefits of going composable for providers and staff 

One of the main benefits of composable architecture is flexibility. With legacy architecture, organizations in the healthcare industry have to adjust their operations based on their software’s capabilities. Composable DXPs allow organizations to find the best application or function for their unique needs, so they can put patients, providers and staff first.

Many healthcare organizations resist updating or tweaking their technology because there is just too much at stake: One coding error can cause cascading issues across the system that can make it difficult to effectively deliver patient care, and finding and fixing that error can take days or weeks. For healthcare organizations, improving the digital experience is simply not worth the risk, so providers and staff are often asked to incorporate clunky workarounds and inefficient processes into their workflows. Individually, these issues might not seem like much, but together they can slow down the patient care process — or, worse, increase burnout rates among providers and staff.

With a composable architecture, a healthcare organization can easily swap a function that isn’t the right fit for one that is, without the risk of the whole system going offline. Organizations can feel more empowered to update their software, which allows them to be more responsive to the needs of providers and staff. Over time, these improvements add up to a better digital experience for users, and that means happier staff and providers. 

How composable DXPs can improve the patient experience

Patient satisfaction is at the core of all healthcare services, and patient engagement is a key driver of patient satisfaction. Composable DXPs can play a major role in reshaping how patients interact with healthcare organizations. 

Improving digital patient engagement

During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth and virtual patient visits became a key focus for healthcare organizations. The worst of the pandemic is behind us, but that shift in the way patient care is delivered is here to stay. Patients expect a convenient and accessible way to stay in touch with their healthcare providers, and a robust digital patient engagement program is crucial to meeting those expectations. 

With a composable DXP, a healthcare organization can supercharge its digital experience and go above and beyond for their patients. AI-powered chatbots can be incorporated into patient portals to answer general questions about care facilities and appointments. As “smart” medical equipment like inhalers, glucometers, thermometers and scales become more widely used, healthcare organizations can also utilize APIs to incorporate data from these devices into patient charts and medical records. This leads to more robust patient health data and it can also be used to enhance the quality of providers’ patient education and outreach efforts. 

Enhancing data security

Ensuring data security is essential for healthcare organizations. A data breach that leads to patient information being exposed can have major regulatory and financial repercussions for healthcare organizations — and the damage to their reputation can be even worse. 

Healthcare organizations are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks. Researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health recently found that the frequency of cyberattacks more than doubled between 2016 and 2021, with more than 44% of those attacks leading to disruptions in care delivery. In addition, the Protected Health Information (PHI) of nearly 42 million patients has been exposed as a result of security breaches. 

Legacy healthcare platforms offer security that meets industry standards, but monolithic architecture is not nearly as agile as composable. The process of updating the security protocols for monolithic DXPs can be lengthy, and with new threats constantly arising, that’s a lot of time the system is vulnerable to cyberattacks. In some cases, vendors update the protocols and push updates to clients, but installing the updates doesn’t always happen right away, especially in large organizations with multiple locations and a high patient volume. 

With a composable DXP, it’s easier to implement and roll out important security updates quickly, efficiently and with minimal disruption to providers, staff and patients.

Streamlining complex processes

Composable DXPs are built by assembling the best and most efficient individual components. That means healthcare organizations don’t have to be stuck with a legacy system that does a few things well at the expense of other processes. Healthcare processes like eligibility verification and health insurance billing reconciliation are complex enough on their own. With a composable DXP, healthcare organizations can find the right programs for each workflow and minimize unnecessary complexity.  

Improving clinical workflows and minimizing burnout

Healthcare providers strive to deliver positive patient outcomes. Unfortunately, clinical workflows have become increasingly complex over the years, and technology plays a major role in the increased workload for providers. A recent study found that 50% of physicians work at least 60 hours a week, which is a recipe for provider burnout and poor patient outcomes. 

Composable architecture can go a long way toward improving operational efficiency, particularly when it comes to clinical workflows for providers and staff. With a composable DXP, healthcare organizations can integrate multiple systems to simplify workflows, so staff and providers can spend less time wrestling with outdated technology and more time focusing on patients. The agility and flexibility of composable DXPs can be used to create smoother clinical workflows, which reduces the tech burden on providers and staff and helps minimize the potential for adverse events or poor patient outcomes. 

Creating an engaging patient portal

The patient experience can be a deciding factor in the overall success of a healthcare organization. It’s easier than ever for patients to receive healthcare services at an organization that meets their expectations — which also means it’s easier than ever for patients to move their care elsewhere if they feel their needs aren’t being met.

Nearly all major healthcare organizations use some type of patient portal, but few (if any) of those portals deliver what could be considered a cutting-edge user experience. A robust digital experience is a great way for healthcare organizations to demonstrate their value to their patients, and a composable approach helps simplify the process of designing patient portals. 

A composable DXP allows healthcare organizations to build patient portals that go beyond a simple web app or mobile-optimized site. Composable DXPs can be configured to work with all digital channels, from desktop to social media, so patients can access healthcare services and interact with organizations in a way that best suits them. Not only does that flexibility improve the overall patient experience, it also helps healthcare organizations reach their patient satisfaction objectives. 

Learn more

Learn more about the advantages of composable DXPs over monolithic systems in our article, “Composable vs. monolithic: Which is right for you?”

Schedule a free demo to see how Contentstack’s composable digital experience platform can help your organization transform the patient experience.