HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS

What the Data Tells Us About Digital Transformation,by Industry

The key ﬁndings for health care providers

With only 16% of health careproviders in the win zone, the sector
lags the cross-industry average
success rate for digitaltransformations by 50%.

The sector’s biggest areas ofweakness are modular tech and data
platforms, agile governance, anddeploying high-caliber talent.

Transformation priorities haveincluded patient centricity andinnovation (speciﬁcally, businessmodel innovation and digitalecosystems).

The priorities going forward, in orderof importance and planned share ofinvestment, are digital care delivery
and medical management, digitalpatient engagement, digital support
functions, and smart operations.

Leaders are prioritizing telemedicine,making health knowledge available
through digital channels, digitizing
accounts receivable, and digitizing
real-time and prescheduled task
alerts for operations.

Health care providers emphasize theS and G in ESG; employee health andsafety and protecting patient andemployee data are the sector’s top
ESG digital priorities.

Source: BCG analysis.

The data in more depth

Rates of successin digitaltransformation

Source: BCG analysis.

Topics of focus
for health careproviders

Top priorities forthe future

The criticalhuman andtech enablers

The role of ESG
in digitaltransformation

RATES OF SUCCESS

Only 16% of health care providers are in the win zone, less than half thecross-industry average, while the worry zone is 1.4 times larger
CASES BELOW SUCCESS SCORE (%)
10080

Health care provider data points
Health care provider

60
Health care provider
sector average: 7.2

40
20

Cross-industry

2021 cross-industry
average: 7.4

Woe zone (success score <6)
Worry zone (success score ≥6–<8)
Win zone (success score ≥8)00246810SUCCESS SCORE1

2021 BCG Global Digital
Transformation Survey overall
Health careprovider sector

13%

52%

35%

13%

71%

16%

Limited value created(<50% of target); no
sustainable change

Value created but total Target value met ortargets not met;
exceeded; sustainable
limited long-term change change created

Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey.
Note: Survey question: “Across the following dimensions, please rate your organization’s digital transformation experience to date on a scale of 1 to 10, using the guidelines in the table below.”1
Success score is calculated from respondents’ answers on six dimensions of transformation: strategy; leadership; talent; agility; monitoring; and tech and data.

RATES OF SUCCESS

Providers struggle most with business-led modular tech and data
platforms, agile governance mindset, and deploying high-caliber talent
DISTRIBUTION OF SUCCESS SCORES ON INDIVIDUAL KEY FACTORS1Integrated strategy with clear transformation goals

2

Leadership commitment from CEO through middle management3

Deployment of high-caliber talent

4

An agile governance mindset that drives broader adoption

5Eﬀective monitoring of progress toward deﬁned outcomes6

Business-led modular technology and data platform
Provider average

123456789107.2

1Lower extreme

08.0
6.5
6.3
6.9
6.2

Upper or lower quartile Upper extremeWoe zone (success score <6)

Worry zone (success score ≥6–<8)

Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey.
Note: Survey question: “Across the following dimensions, please rate your organization’s digital transformation experience to date on a scale of 1 to 10 using the guidelines in the table below.”1
Success score is calculated from respondents’ answers on six dimensions of transformation: strategy; leadership; talent; agility; monitoring; and tech and data.

Win zone (success score ≥8)

TOPICS OF FOCUS

The transformation priorities for providers include patient centricity andinnovation (speciﬁcally, business model innovation and digital ecosystems)
Strategic objectives

Scope of digital transformation1

SHARE OF RESPONDENTS (%)

SHARE OF RESPONDENTS (%)
Customer experience and journeys

30

32

20

19

Improvement incustomer experienceand go-to-marketInnovation and growthin the core and beyond
Performance improvement
through the operational
value chain
Performance improvementin support functions

Source: BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, 2021, n = 45.
1
Respondents were asked to select all priorities that applied.

84
76

Growth and business model innovation
62

Digital ecosystem and partnerships
Digitizing support functions

58

New business venture

49

Building resilience via cybersecurity
and compliance

49

Sales and market acceleration49

Supply chain

49

Marketing and dynamic pricing

38

Digital procurement

33

Digital manufacturing and operations

31

TOP PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE

All providers plan to allocate more than 60% of spending on care delivery
and medical management and on consumer and patient engagement
PLANNED SHARE OF WALLET SPENDING ALLOCATED ACROSS DIGITAL TOPICS IN THE NEXT TWO TO THREE YEARS (%)1100

Care delivery andmedical management

33100

Digital consumer/patient engagement

3096

Digital support functions

Smart operations

2093
17
Share of respondents allocating any investment toward each digital topic

Average share of total investment

Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey.
1For example, the uppermost pair of bars can be read as “100% of health care provider respondents plan to invest in care delivery and medical management, allocating an average 33% of total digital investment.”

TOP PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE

Health care providers’ digital priorities: Care delivery andmedical management
Digital initiatives (bars indicate relative prioritization of initiatives)
Clinical decision support system for physicians and health professionals

1.00

Telemedicine (synchronous and asynchronous)

0.96

Sharing medical documents through digital channels

0.90

Paperless and integrated admission and discharge processes

0.79

Personalized daily health guidance following discharge0.64

Computerized provider order entry (for revenue management)

0.53

Real-time updating of patient’s vital signs in a clinical command center

0.40

Remote patient monitoring (hospital at home, etc.)
Use of Al and robotics in performing surgeries
Relative prioritization for all health care providers
Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, n = 45.

0.38
0.23
Top priorities for win-zone companies

TOP PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE

Health care providers’ digital priorities: Digital consumer andpatient engagement
Digital initiatives (bars indicate relative prioritization of initiatives)
E2E digital platform for patients (e.g., checking health records,physician interaction, document storage)

1.00

Making health knowledge accessible through digital channels

0.81

App-/web-based appointment booking

0.64

Health condition prediction from past medical records

0.53

Personalized outreach (e.g., reminders and alerts based on
smart monitoring and analytics)

0.46

Wellness programs and lifestyle optimization

0.26

Population health management

0.22

Al-enabled automated query handling/help desk
Health risk assessment using wearables and connected devices
Relative prioritization for all health care providersSource: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, n = 45.

0.19
0.15
Top priorities for win-zone companies

TOP PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE

Health care providers’ digital priorities: Digital support functions
Digital initiatives (bars indicate relative prioritization of initiatives)
End-to-end record-to-report digitization of ﬁnance activities

1.00

End-to-end procure-to-pay digitization for procurement

0.99

End-to-end hire-to-retire digitization (including integratedtraining) for HR

0.97

End-to-end source-to-contract digitization for contracting

End-to-end order-to-cash digitization for managementof accounts receivable
Relative prioritization for all health care providers
Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, n = 45.

0.51

0.46
Top priorities for win-zone companies

TOP PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE

Health care providers' digital priorities: Smart operations
Digital initiatives (bars indicate relative prioritization of initiatives)
Automated workﬂow and task management

1.00

Connecting labs, pharmacies, pantries, and administrative units

0.73

Digital record management (e.g., electronic health records)

0.66

Real-time/prescheduled task alerts for operations

0.58

Price transparency tools

0.46Automation and robotics for ancillary services

0.46

Smart material management: planning, purchasing, andtracking inventories of goods (such as medical)

0.39

Digital pathology workﬂow

0.35

Intelligent staﬀ scheduling

0.10
Relative prioritization for all health care providers

Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, n = 45.

Top priorities for win-zone companies

THE CRITICAL ENABLERS

Health care provider companies intend to invest across a broad range oftech and human enablers, with especially strong emphasis on tech
Nine out of ten health care providers plan to invest in infrastructure and cloud enablement, AI and big data, and cybersecurity,
allocating about 50% of total digital enablers spending to these areas
PLANNED SHARE OF WALLET SPENDING ALLOCATED ACROSS ENABLER DIGITAL TOPICS IN THE NEXT TWO TO THREE YEARS (%)1Tech
96

Human97

94

8180

74
17

Infrastructure
and cloudenablement

14

Modernizationof techarchitecture

17

AI and big data

74

71

65
14

Cybersecurity

10

Modernization oftechnology
organization andoperating model

Share of respondents allocating any investment toward digital topic

8
New ways ofworking

67

Continuouslearning

Integratedecosystems

6New talent andleadershipmodelsAverage share of total investment

Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, n = 45.
1For example, the leftmost pair of bars can be read as “96% of health care provider respondents plan to invest in Infrastructure and cloud enablement, allocating an average 17% of their total digital enablers spending.”

ROLE OF ESG IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

About 86% of providers plan toincrease ESG investments, above
the cross-sector average… with greater emphasis on Sand G

Share of respondents planning to increase/decrease/maintain investment toward ESG in coming years

Leading digital initiatives being prioritized
to support E, S, and G goals

18

Moderately
increase

68

Maintain as inprevious year(s)Decrease vs.
previous year(s)25140Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, n = 45.

56

171SocialSigniﬁcantly
increase

CROSS-INDUSTRY AVERAGE (%)

Governance

PROVIDER AVERAGE (%)

Environment

SHARE OF RESPONDENTS PRIORITIZING (%)· Reduction of energy consumption inhospitals, buildings, etc.
· Digital supply chain optimization· Improving employee health and safety
through software solutions, wearables, etc.
· Ensuring protection of employees andpatient data (e.g., through cybersecuritymeasures)· Real-time tracking/monitoring of risk
· Critical risk incident management,
building cyber resilience~38~56~49If you would like to discuss this topic, please contact one of the authors:

JOHANNES THOMSSANJAY SAXENAManaging Director & Partner, London
thoms.johannes@bcg.com+44 207 753 6235

Managing Director & Senior Partner, San Francisco
saxena.sanjay@bcg.com+1 415 732 8090

STEPHEN WADDELLManaging Director & Senior Partner, Austin
waddell.stephen@bcg.com+1 214 468 2310