When a national healthcare system undergoes a major disruptive event, such as a pandemic, the experience can catalyze positive, transformative change, especially if the event is severe and persists for years. COVID-19 has been a disruptor like no other. In addition to the misery it has visited upon the world, the pandemic has created a rare opportunity to transform and modernize a sprawling healthcare system that has been stubbornly slow to change.

COVID exposed a healthcare system that was unprepared for a large-scale health crisis. Since the pandemic’s emergence in 2020, the response has often been slow, fragmented, and uncoordinated. The use of data-driven intelligence to guide healthcare decisions and responses has been inadequate. As the third year of the pandemic draws to a close, many experts have concluded that we are unprepared for the next health crisis. That must change.

No panacea or magic pill exists to cure what ails healthcare, yet information technology (IT) and data analytics provide infrastructure, tools, and mechanisms for reimagining delivery of care, whether during a crisis or not. Technology provides an environment for collaboration, cooperation, and coordination among key players in the healthcare system, including government agencies,  private-sector partners, and academia. This collaboration fortifies the health IT ecosystem and makes it more resilient.

Specifically, digital transformation improves healthcare equity. It promotes the use of data as a strategic asset and breaks down silos to improve interoperability among the engaged entities. Advanced health IT also strengthens cybersecurity at a time of troubling attacks on healthcare infrastructure. Most important, at a time when the average life expectancy of Americans has declined for three consecutive years, transforming healthcare means better outcomes and healthier Americans.

For that to happen, we must work together.