The only constant in healthcare is change. Today’s medical practices must keep pace with evolving consumer preferences and regulations all while managing ongoing healthcare staffing shortages and continuing on their journey toward value-based care. The good news is that technology can ease the burden. Here are the top five healthcare trends for 2023 and how technology can help.
- More downside risk in value-based contracts.
As the healthcare industry continues to shift from fee-for-service to value-based care, payors will increasingly pay providers for keeping patients healthy. They’ll also increasingly hold them financially responsible for negative outcomes and/or costs that exceed benchmarks. For example, did you know that 46% of Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) already have some downside risk? It’s not a matter of whether the industry will make this shift more profoundly—it’s when.
How technology helps: Technology helps providers stratify patients according to risk so they can prioritize efforts, proactively address patients’ highest needs, and better manage high-cost chronic conditions. The result? A more targeted approach to population health management ultimately improves outcomes and lowers costs.
- Renewed focus on chronic disease management.
Keeping patients with chronic conditions engaged in their health will become paramount as the industry strives to lower healthcare costs. Why? Chronic conditions are the leading drivers of $4.1 trillion in annual healthcare costs. What will a renewed focus look like? Proactive outreach, ongoing support, and personalized patient education.
How technology helps: Chronic disease management software not only helps providers easily identify the prevalence of specific chronic conditions in their unique patient population, it also promotes monthly touchpoints with the highest-risk patients. For example, care managers can quickly identify patients who are eligible for preventive health screenings, chronic care management, or the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit. For patients receiving, technology can seamlessly identify and display open gaps in care, elements of highest-risk patients, and patient timelines to identify trends in care.
- Greater emphasis on health equity and social determinants of health.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a Framework for Health Equity and continues to promote health equity through its ACO REACH model. In addition, The Joint Commission recently elevated health equity to a National Patient Safety Goal. The takeaway? It’s more important than ever before to ensure all patients have equal access to care when and where they need it. This requires a concerted effort to identify and address social determinants of health—the nonmedical factors that affect health outcomes.
How technology helps: Technology enables providers to geolocate patients and identify socio-economic needs based on zip code, thereby helping them pinpoint population health initiatives. For example, providers can easily spot health trends and address housing, food deserts, environmental factors, and more.
- Focus on addressing the root causes of provider burnout.
Provider burnout reached an all-time high during the COVID-19 pandemic with many physicians, care managers, and others continuing to bear the brunt of longer hours and more complex patients. Sixty-three percent of physicians surveyed reported at least one symptom of burnout at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022. This is an increase from 44% in 2017 and 46% in 2011.
How technology helps: Automated, integrated workflows remove administrative burdens, enabling physicians to focus on what they do best, providing high-quality patient care. They don’t need to spend time digging in the electronic health record to find important details or toggle between systems and screens to pull in complementary data. Automation and integration are key.
- The movement to patient-centered care.
The patient experience continues to play an important role in healthcare as patients demand a seamless encounter that rivals their experiences with Amazon, Uber, and other consumer-centric companies. This means they expect their providers to be ready and able to make informed decisions and partner with them on their journey toward optimal health and wellness.
How technology helps: Technology gives providers and care managers the information they need to ensure patients—particularly those with complex chronic conditions—get the personalized care needed . This often leads to a more convenient and valuable appointment in less time. .
Conclusion
Today’s healthcare trends lend themselves well to technology and automated workflows that prioritize patient experience and outcomes. Healthcare providers that explore how they can leverage various technologies to stay relevant and competitive will reap the benefits in terms of value-based revenue as well as patient satisfaction and retention. Learn how DignifiHealth can help.
