Top 5 Trends in Healthcare

Healthcare stimulates its IT journey

Technology usage is picking up in healthcare, with AI, telehealth, cloud, and smart home technologies making the next wave of innovation. With a shortage of physicians and nursing staff and a rapidly aging baby boomer population is generating demand for telehealth options and in-home health tech.

Technology is slated to act more of a helping role, not a replacement role, in healthcare delivery. With the use of AI solutions, healthcare experts will see improved performances in their workflow. Any tools that doctors can utilize to ease staffing shortages, decrease cognitive overload, and better optimize workflows will be important to doctors.

Rising Stress - Data Accessibility vs Data Protection

Healthcare wearables, smart home technologies, and even at-home tests are generating huge piles of data to be synthesized, and everyone needs to access that data. Patients are demanding easy access to their medical records to assist them in making better decisions about their care. Providers want to share that data with other facilities to provide coordinated care. Researchers want access to aggregated data for medical research and identifying trends. And, sadly, the growing demand for this data is bringing cyber-criminals.

Data breaks, a problem prevalent across industries, is especially acute in healthcare. 2019 was the biggest year ever for data breaches, with 500 healthcare data breaches hitting over 41 million personal records last year - a raise of 123 data breaches from 2018.

Consumerization 2.0 - The patient enters the care team

Gone are the "doctor knows best" days. Patients now have access to readily available online medical information and want to participate in their care. And now - with the recent boom in at-home genetic testing - patients are better able to understand which conditions they might be at risk for, and how they might prevent condition or disease progression down the road.

The at-home genetic testing market is exploding. At the start of 2019, more than 26 million consumers had added their DNA to four leading commercial ancestry and health databases. While there are still concerns about the accuracy and privacy of these genetic tests, ultimately, patients could decrease overall healthcare costs by changing their behavior, adopting prevention strategies, detecting health risks, and seeking early intervention.

Physicians recognize the call to become Data-Driven

Data is becoming a vital asset for physicians to provide quality care to their patients. With access to more patient health data, physicians can make healthier, more informed care choices and possibly lower healthcare costs. 50% of doctors think their patient data access could be improved, with many doctors pointing toward improved access to medication adherence, prescription costs, and clinical records data as top priorities. Where a patient stays, employment, family situation, etc. all influence an individual's health, and clinicians and their multidisciplinary teams are utilizing this socioeconomic data in delivering care. As technologies continue to mature and doctors have access to new data analytics tools, powered by technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, etc, data will be key in providing care.

Cost clarity will make the next stage of Value-Based Care

Value-based care (VBC) is not a new idea. Years ago, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented incentives and penalty programs to lower readmission rates and enhanced patient satisfaction between hospitals and caregivers.

Value-based care fines (readmission fines and hospital-acquired condition (HAC) fines) have significantly affected revenue streams of hospitals. Consequently, readmission prices have diminished and the zero-tolerance HAC penalties are beginning to change the way hospitals operate as well. Now, price clarity initiatives are shaping the future of value-based care delivery models. Patients want to know the price tags connected with their operations, with quality as an essential factor in their healthcare decision.