The hidden costs of multiple point solutions

The healthcare industry is brimming with specialized technology solutions, custom fit to a narrow task or to a specific clinical specialty. In the pre-EHR era, hospitals often had dozens, if not hundreds, of different IT vendors, each for a particular task like provider order entry, PACS for imaging, LIS for lab, nursing documentation, provider documentation, and many more. 

These were known as “best of breed” technology implementations, which ultimately yielded to EHRs that offered the benefits of integrated modules enabling more seamless workflows and data and analytics. In recent years, hospitals and health systems have often implemented various point solutions to help fill gaps in EHR capabilities. Examples include multiple vendors to collect payments, a solution to send text messages to patients, a solution to capture patient-reported symptoms for oncology patients, a solution to capture patient-reported symptoms for gastrointestinal conditions, and on and on.  

According to a recent survey, 60 percent of respondents use 50+ unique point solutions, 35 percent use 51-150, and 24 percent use 151-500 solutions to manage health system operations.

Dr. Aaron Neinstein, Chief Medical Officer at Notable, shared, “We audited one health system to see how many different applications were sending out messages to patients, and it was upwards of 25.” 

While point solutions can provide immediate value to hospitals, health systems, and payers by addressing specific and unique needs, there are hidden costs that can impact productivity, efficiency, and patient care.

Here’s a look at five hidden costs:

1. Data silos

Each point solution operates in its own isolated ecosystem, creating fragmented data. This makes gaining a comprehensive view of the patient journey incredibly difficult. Staff and clinicians must spend valuable time searching across multiple systems, hindering effective care coordination and impacting decision-making. 

2. Integration complexity

Connecting disparate systems requires custom integrations, often requiring significant IT investment and ongoing maintenance. These integration projects are costly, time-consuming, and prone to errors. The ongoing management of these connections—ensuring data flows smoothly and remains secure—further burdens the IT department. 

3. Workflow efficiency

Healthcare professionals must navigate numerous interfaces, learn different systems, and constantly switch between applications, disrupting their workflow and increasing the risk of errors. This fragmented workflow reduces efficiency and productivity at a time when healthcare is facing a significant workforce burnout problem. Toggling between interfaces and apps also increases the potential for medical errors, which can lead to adverse patient outcomes.

4. Staff training and support

Each new system requires dedicated staff training, increasing overall operational costs. 

5. Vendor overhead

Each new system means new procurement, contracting, billing and payments, negotiations, and project plans. And it means setting up meetings and project management with new customer success and technical teams.

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Organizations should assess whether platform solutions are available that better address the specialized use case while complementing the broader organizational strategy and needs. With platform solutions, there are economies of scale. A use case - like a collection of patient-reported outcomes - can be solved not just for one service line but across an enterprise. 

Notable Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Aaron Neinstein, recounts his prior experience at UCSF Health, where “I was approached by 5-10 different clinical service lines, each wanting to purchase their own patient-reported outcome collection tool. Imagine trying to purchase and implement one for Oncology, one for GI, one for Cardiology, one for Transplant, etc. Instead, I worked to align all of their needs and purchase one PRO platform aimed at leveraging enterprise-wide across all service lines for this use case.”  

That’s why it’s critical to ask the right questions to ensure you’re buying a solution designed for efficiency and integration – before committing to a fragmented, costly approach. Here are some questions to ask:

• Is the solution able to solve problems at enterprise scale, across service lines, across operational areas?
• Does the solution solve problems across more than one narrow use case? 
• What is the solution's core functionality, and are the key features truly unique?
• How does it fit into our current workflows?
• Does it use automation to enhance efficiency or does implementation require significant user training and operational change?
• Does this solution integrate seamlessly via FHIR APIs or other standards?
• Can the solution scale as our organization grows or as our needs evolve?
• How quickly will I achieve value? Weeks? Months? Years?

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