Healthcare Predictions - The Leading Physicians of the World

As 2017 is almost halfway over, many predictions have come forth of what is expected to change in the healthcare industry come 2018. Some of these changes are based on the advancements made in the healthcare industry. Such advancements have come due to government laws to ensure there is reduced medical cost, improved consumer’s taste, convenience of health care, personalized health care and quality of health care. By looking at healthcare for 2017, below are the top 5 predictions of what to expect in 2018 and the coming years:

1.       Digital health in Full Action

After the introduction of digital technologies in almost all industries, you will expect to see the same in healthcare. Digital technologies are enabled by proliferation of cloud computing, sensors, mobile applications, tablets and smartphones. As digital technologies are the enablers of healthcare transformation, many businesses under healthcare industry are looking to deliver new digitalized healthcare solutions that will boost the growing market opportunities.

Over the past 10 years, many healthcare industries have adopted digital solutions in boosting health care. This move is expected to continue in the field of healthcare. As it stands, many healthcare industries in the US are trying to meet the demand of more efficient, centralized care and clinically integrated systems that is purposed to meet the needs of technology-minded consumers who value personalization and convenience.Digital products needed in healthcare industries include financial, clinical and administrative IT products and also services offered by hospitals, manufacturers of pharmaceutical products, life sciences, physicians, medical device products and healthcare payers among other entities.

As the healthcare industry try to deliver lower cost, greater access and improved quality of care, growth opportunities have emerged across wide range of digitalized healthcare product segments. Areas of digital healthcare that expect such growth include:

·         Telemedicine

·         Cyber security

·         Revenue cycle management

·         Remote patient monitoring

·         Consumer engagement

·         Cloud platforms

·         Operations optimization

It is predicted that digital healthcare will cut the medical cost, give personalized health care and offer a more convenient care and quality of care that will lead to full patient satisfaction. Digital health will also give room for time shifting in hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

2.       Hard work for Digital Health startups

In the field of digital health, there is expectation of high standard, more consolidated and longer sales cycle. Insurers and employers are likely to face hard time trying to spend their limited cash. Other people who will be hit hard by the changes in Medicare and Medicaid are healthcare providers who are the leading buyers of health IT. As digital healthcare continue to flood around the globe, we expect some facilities to close rather than grow. The facilities include hospitals, urgent care and emergency centers that are unable to purchase digital products due to their high cost.

3.       Increased Consumer Cost Sharing

It’s all about the consumer! As in 2016 and 2017, the drive to consumer cost sharing will still continue to shape the market. Consumers usually ask themselves many questions when there is high cost sharing for medical services due to their chosen insurance plans. Such questions include:

·         Is that cancer screening valuable?

·         Was that extra imaging for my cancer necessary?

·         Was the surgery worth the pay?

For now many healthcare providers have reacted toward the high-deductible and less generous insurance offerings. Increased consumer cost sharing is usually tempered by valuable health care in the new health economy. According to recent research, medical cost trend, 2018 and years to follow are years of equilibrium for medical cost. The cost trend is predicted to be the same as that of current year. That represents a 6.5% growth rate. As everything targets consumer satisfaction, healthcare organizations are predicted to provide consumer friendly medical services while decreasing unit cost.

Empowerment of the consumer will not lower the cost of healthcare at all. Empowering the patients will mean holding healthcare providers responsible and they will be compromised when patients spend more than they can bear. This means that consumer empowerment will have many consequences on healthcare systems. Such consequences include:

·         When patients’ medical expenses rise beyond their means, they become bankrupt and healthcare providers will not be paid.

·         If the expenses rise and the insurance coverage are lost, the patients will not seek medical attention until they are very sick. This will cost them more cash and also cause more losses for healthcare providers.

Either way, both healthcare providers and patients will lose.

4.      No more business for pharma

While trying to make health care more affordable there is expected to be no more business as usual for pharma. Many countries around the world are focusing to change the way government purchase drugs with the aim of reducing drug cost to make health care affordable for everyone.This therefore calls for better innovations and alternative production methods to achieve the demand and supply of drugs at lower cost.

The increased focus for the price of drugs means there will be no more business for pharma. This means that smart pharma companies will make innovations not only in their pipelines, but also in commercial models. The reimbursement of value-based drugs will eventually go from concept to reality. Pharma companies having no business, they will try and formulate other treatment pathways such as gene therapy to cure some diseases.

5.       Hospital stays will reduce

This has been predicted due to the success of the new payment methods such as ACOs. The new payment will benefit the health plans and employers leading to increase of capitated primary care groups. These groups are likely to lower the cost of Medicare as they accept the budget for each patient and even manage risks if the costs exceed the patients’ budget. This will result in home care for patients and same-day appointments which are cheaper and more effective compared to hospital stays.These delivery care systems will tell you that hospital bed-days will reduce as many will go for same-day appointments while others will consider home care.