Healthcare Trends Disrupting

Economic sustainability and digital disruption are pretty popular topics as of late. Healthcare spending is on an unsustainable path, thanks to demographic shifts and globalization. But just as health systems need to contain costs, digital health has emerged to enable approaches that are significantly more cost-effective. Developing sustainable approaches will require varied skills, from app development and analytics to customer engagement – attracting entrants from sectors such as technology, telecommunications, and retail. This creates opportunities for cross-sector partnering, but also raises the specter of disruption for mature health care incumbents. Here are some of the healthcare trends that will rule not only this year, but many more years to come!

      1.      Fee paying healthcare is likely to increase

There has been a greater demand on health systems created by ageing, obesity and disease. The rise of new healthcare markets and strategies, and increasing technologies and medications to promote and prolong life, mean that fully funded state-based healthcare is unlikely to be sustainable by 2050. By 2050, some countries will deliver a far greater proportion of their healthcare through the private sector. State-based provision is likely to become increasingly difficult because of the continued evolution of diverse healthcare demands and increasingly complex technical requirements of future treatments. Some states are likely to focus on facilitating access to affordable healthcare and promoting healthier lifestyles.

      2.      Population health progress

In a 2017 survey of health systems about population health, 82 percent of respondents reported they continue to move ahead with their population health strategies despite many uncertainties in healthcare reform. Thirty-seven percent said their primary concern for their strategy was financial implication, and more than 50 percent said they didn’t expect more than 30 percent of their contracted population to have downside risk within the next three years. This will definitely be a much talked about topic in the future.

      3.      Strategic partnerships

A trend that has been occurring in recent years is the establishment of partnerships between tech giants and healthcare startups. For instance, by partnering with Epic Systems in 2014, Apple’s Healthkit platform integrated substantial amounts of patient data to leverage its digital health and tracking technologies. Mergers and acquisitions within the digital health tech area have also been growing over the last few years. In fact, 2016 has been a record-breaking year for digital health tech M&A, with 41 deals in total which is a solid increase over 2015’s total of 36 deals and 2014’s total of 33 deals. Many of these mergers and acquisitions are strategic moves by healthcare retail companies looking to build up their marketing presence and customer interaction platforms.

     4.      Logistics experts fulfill inventory management need

Even companies that don’t specialize in technology are trying to find ways to lend their expertise to the healthcare sector. For instance, supply kits used for surgical procedures must be complete, accurate, and available in time for surgery. This requires precision inventory management and fulfillment, which can be challenging and time consuming for medical device manufacturers. However, major couriers such as FedEx, DHL, and UPS have long proven their ability to manage extensive inventory and deliver items anywhere in the world in a short amount of time. Each of these organizations has made significant investments in healthcare supply chains and will continue to do so in the years to come.

     5.      The use of healthcare data will be important for healthcare treatments

Improvements in sensor technology, data collection and open data will drive metric collection and sophisticated trials and health strategies. Such developments will change many perceptions on the use and protection of health information and patient confidentiality. The use of healthcare data will significantly increase by 2050. It is a certainty that data will be collected and used to improve the quality of every sector of human healthcare.

As technology continues to act as a catalyst for rapidly changing market dynamics within the healthcare industry, it is likely that strategic partnerships, co-investments, and M&A will continue to be key drivers of growth. One thing is certain – technology trends will rule the healthcare system for many years!