5 Takeaways for Healthcare CIOs on IT Integration During a Merger or Acquisition - HealthTech Magazine

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The healthcare manufacture has one of the astir progressive merger and acquisition environments, and portion healthcare merger and acquisition enactment is down successful Q3 2022, it’s improved from the aforesaid clip past year. According to a survey from KPMG, 70 percent of respondents successful healthcare and beingness sciences said they expected to summation their M&A enactment successful 2022, with much than fractional of healthcare and beingness sciences backstage equity investors saying they program to bash astatine slightest 10 percent much deals compared with 2021.

When undergoing a merger oregon acquisition, combining 2 IT environments tin beryllium a analyzable process, particularly successful healthcare, wherever interoperability and integration tin beryllium a challenge. Here are immoderate large takeaways from healthcare leaders connected however to attack an M&A to execute a palmy IT integration.

1. Creating an Early IT Integration Vision Leads to M&A Success

Healthcare IT ecosystems are complex, with a increasing fig of Internet of Medical Things devices being deployed and data postulation and processing pushing organizations to the cloud. As a result, healthcare leaders accidental an aboriginal valuation of existent and imaginable exertion infrastructure wrong some organizations is indispensable to a palmy M&A.

Having IT teams astatine the array before, during and aft the merger oregon acquisition process is indispensable to its success, says Isabelle Bibet-Kalinyak, an lawyer with the instrumentality steadfast Brach Eichler.

“Technology is costly to manage, change, merge, accommodate oregon wholly get escaped of, and that is decidedly portion of the equation,” she says. “If the electronic wellness grounds systems are not compatible, oregon if you don’t person a program connected however to modulation them, past determination could beryllium interruptions of care.”

Having IT leaders progressive successful the M&A process from the opening allows them to place immoderate imaginable issues early, making the integration smoother down the line.

2. Data Integration Should Be an Early Consideration

Patient information could unlock the imaginable of aboriginal diagnostics and preventive attraction utilizing artificial intelligence. However, healthcare information often is siloed and information introduction successful the physics wellness grounds is inconsistent. In healthcare, inaccurate information tin enactment lives astatine risk.

“It has go a large situation for the healthcare industry,” says Venkataraman Chittoor, main merchandise and exertion serviceman astatine Marathon Health. “When migrating 2 systems, we request to program however it is utilized and mapped, and however to admit information issues.”

Healthcare IT leaders should see the impacts and details of data integration aboriginal successful the M&A process.

“It’s not conscionable moving information betwixt columns. It needs to beryllium a broad migration. Data exchanges and retention person been a large situation for healthcare companies, but they are making a batch of advancement successful catching up,” says Chittoor.

3. Partnerships Are Important to Navigating IT Integrations

Healthcare and IT leaders are experts successful their fields, but each merger oregon acquisition comes with its unsocial challenges. Expert guidance from a spouse that has healthcare M&A acquisition tin marque the integration process easier and smoother.

Involving an IT spouse with cognition and acquisition circumstantial to healthcare mergers and acquisitions tin assistance organizations conscionable the request for scale, particularly with larger integrations. An adept partner, for instance, understands that thousands of endpoints are progressive successful objective operations.

It’s important to impact a spouse arsenic aboriginal successful the M&A process arsenic possible, ideally earlier a nationalist announcement has been made, truthful the spouse understands the organizations’ concern and IT integration objectives from the beginning. A spouse that is successful spot earlier time zero tin execute unbiased assessments sooner and marque definite information is central.

4. Cybersecurity Shouldn’t Be an Afterthought successful a Healthcare M&A

Cybersecurity is the apical IT symptom constituent for 38 percent of wellness IT leaders surveyed successful a caller HealthTech Twitter poll. With cyberattacks increasing much blase and healthcare organizations remaining a superior people for atrocious actors, cybersecurity should beryllium apical of caput passim the full merger and acquisition process.

#HealthIT leaders: What is your biggest IT symptom constituent during a #merger oregon #acquisition?

— HealthTech Magazine #BeCyberSmart (@HealthTechMag) July 11, 2022

It’s important for IT leaders to recognize the information infrastructure and gaps of some organizations truthful they tin navigate the integration process without putting either enactment astatine hazard from accrued vulnerabilities.

“We bash a cybersecurity review, measure everything and hole concerns earlier we link the acquired web to ours,” says Lehigh Valley Health Network CIO Mike Minear.

5. Due Diligence Is an Opportunity for IT Information Gathering

During owed diligence, the purchaser conducts a thorough process of investigation, verification and auditing of the people healthcare enactment to place risks and corroborate information. While overmuch of the absorption whitethorn beryllium connected finances, it’s besides important for organizations to see IT environments.

Three things healthcare CIOs and IT leaders should support successful caput during the M&A owed diligence signifier are:

IT leaders request a thorough knowing of some healthcare organizations’ IT environments, including information gaps and method debt.
Stakeholders should align connected the IT integration strategy early, arsenic integrations volition determination rapidly erstwhile the woody is closed.
Organizations should foster collaboration betwixt IT teams and healthcare enactment to guarantee that everyone is aligned and capable to marque decisions with aboriginal efficiencies successful mind.

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