Today we have an exciting, dynamic health economy. Rising costs and poor health outcomes are driving the rapid change but these are not the only drivers at work.
Health Care Largest National Expenditure
There is no sector more important than health. In fact, it consumes twenty percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. Health matters to each of us as individuals. It is our most precious asset that connects us all like no other. Health also matters to society. It lies at the heart of our economic, political, social, and environmental prosperity – with a value and cost three times greater than the banking sector.
Medical Breakthroughs
Technological advances, empowered consumers, disruptive innovations, and rising demand by an aging population are ushering in a new era in healthcare. While many of those trends have been evolving over the past few decades, never have they been accompanied by a rapid shift in dollars, triggering major changes in behavior and fundamentally altering the business of care.
Changing Demographics
An aging population will result in greater healthcare expenditure by the elderly. According to the US Census Bureau, 64.7% of the US population is in the working age group of 15-64 years. This is expected to result in a greater demand for quality healthcare services for the elderly. The percentage of people over age 65 is expected to reach seventeen percent, or 88 million people, by 2050.
Consumer Centered Care
In this new health era, patients are consumers, with the freedom that come with making more decisions on their health through a rise in financial incentives. These consumers will demand a continuum of well-being – a series of seamlessly integrated, customized health services aligned to their personal health philosophy. Employers and healthcare organizations eye behavioral healthcare as key to keeping costs down, productivity up and consumers healthy.
Care in the Palm of your Hand
Health consumers will reward trusted service providers that can help achieve this. Additionally, the mere collection of data will be replaced with lightning-fast analysis delivered directly to a care team that anticipates problems before they arise. Data collection and ownership is changing as well. Smart devices collect and transmit important data the same way as clinical labs send blood test results for proactive care management. Thanks to technology and shifts in financial incentives, care will begin to move into the palms of consumers’ hands, providing care anywhere, anytime.
Care Moves to the Community
Today, individuals have many options for making health decisions and are spending more discretionary dollars on tools that help them live well. We are living in this new era where care is everywhere from retail businesses, remote patient monitoring, hospital-at-home, and telehealth. As payment shifts to value-based models, health systems will pursue lower-cost settings more aggressively than before while employing creative approaches to distributing care. Hospitals are redesigning large inpatient units for new technology centers to track and treat consumers where they are. “Hospital” becomes a service, not a destination.
Are you ready for these changes? What strategies and devices do you see as the best options for accurate, insightful data the manage your daily care?
