“Digital transformation” used to be a helpful rallying cry. Now it’s a fog machine. I retired the phrase after sitting through one too many slide decks that treated software as salvation while clinicians begged for simpler workflows. In 2025, the measure isn’t whether you digitized the mess; it’s whether you redesigned the job.
The numbers show why language matters. U.S. health spending grew 7.5% in 2023 to $4.9 trillion, yet much of our “digital” spend didn’t bend the curve because it memorialized old processes. When home health spending jumped 10.8% the same year, it wasn’t because someone replatformed a database; it’s because care moved to a cheaper, more humane setting where tech could support—not smother—the work. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services+1
The term also hides risk. You can “transform” yourself straight into a breach if identity and access aren’t modernized. HHS’ breach tallies show an industry trendline that keeps climbing—hundreds of large breaches annually, with 2023 shattering records. If the transformation plan doesn’t start with zero-trust and incident response, it’s just a procurement plan with glitter. The HIPAA Journal
What do I say instead? I talk about job design. When I rode along with a Hallmark Homecare scheduler, she showed me the difference between digitized and redesigned: the old system had 23 clicks to match a caregiver; the new flow used constraints (skills, distance, languages) to generate three options and one tap to notify families. No “transformation” fanfare—just fewer steps and happier humans. CareFortis did something similar for wound-care: replace generic telehealth with a protocol-driven visit that auto-documents against payor rules. Denials dropped, nurses smiled, patients healed.
I also talk about care unbundling. CMS’ Acute Hospital Care at Home isn’t a shiny app; it’s a reconfiguration of assets—remote monitoring, logistics, clinical escalation—into a safe alternative for certain DRGs. As of late 2024, 366 hospitals had approval to do it. That’s not transformation; that’s re-architecture. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
And I talk about language debt. “Digital transformation” excuses complexity because it promises a payoff later. Clinicians have heard that for 15 years. The payoff they recognize is when the 10-hour day becomes 9, when prior auth happens in the background, when a tablet never asks for the same information twice. Killing the phrase is my way of killing the alibi.
If we must keep a mantra, make it this: simpler work, safer care, better places. Build for those outcomes and you’ll transform more than your tech stack. You’ll transform Tuesdays—the day-to-day that staff and patients actually live.
