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Here are four key takeaways to deal with the outlook on healthcare.
Healthcare leaders maintain positive sentiments for 2020, according to a new report.
The annual North Highland Beacon Industry Trend report, a survey of healthcare executives in organizations with $1 billion plus in revenue, found that 41% of health leaders reported being excited, 36% energized, and 36% inspired.
Report highlights include:
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Healthcare organizations are moving beyond planning and impact analyses and are taking action to execute on value-based care models through risk contracting and collaborations with providers and delivery systems, according to Amy Andersen, healthcare industry lead for North Highland Worldwide Consulting, a change and transformation consultancy headquartered in Atlanta.
“These efforts go beyond the initial ACA-driven initiatives and reflect the increased priorities of patient and consumer experience, operational efficiency, and the importance of prevention, social determinants of health and outcomes-based payment trends,” Andersen says.
Consumerism seen in other industries is increasingly seen as a top priority for healthcare, according to Andersen.
“Healthcare consumers are demanding better access options, service, transparency, and efficiency,” she says. “And, state and federal regulations for price transparency and surprise billing are putting more pressure on healthcare organizations to prioritize consumers and make significant changes to business and clinical systems, processes, and access to data and information.”
Data and analytics in healthcare is not a new priority, however there is low confidence in preparedness for 2020, according to the report.
“There is a lack of clarity on priorities and how to utilize data and analytics solutions,” Andersen says. “Healthcare organizations continue to experience challenges in system integration and fully utilizing existing data and analytics capabilities to derive data-driven insights. In addition, the continued proliferation of digital health startups adds to the confusion of how to apply advanced analytics and technologies to drive value in clinical and business operations.”
The continuing consolidation and M&A activity in healthcare adds to the complexity of system and business operations, hindering operational efficiency, system integration, and workforce effectiveness, according to the report.
“When companies are constantly transforming and integrating, the challenge of managing enterprise-wide optimization across people, process, and technology is complex and we feel this may be a factor in the respondents’ reporting a lack of preparedness,” Andersen says.
“This may be due to the missing application of these technologies to business and clinical value,” Andersen says. “While the technologies promise to offer tremendous innovations in leveraging data for predictive and personalized applications, there is confusion and lack of clarity about how to apply these technologies to drive business and clinical value and support investments in technology. We are seeing strong partnerships between vendors and healthcare organizations in this arena, signaling that vendors understand the need to develop strong use cases that will support broader commercialization in the healthcare sector.”
Based on the report, Andersen offers four takeaways for healthcare executives: