Hospitals and health systems across the country are turning their attention to strategic planning for the next 12 months, and CommonSpirit Health Senior Vice President and Chief Strategic Innovation Office Rich Roth is no different.
Here, Mr. Roth discusses three big headwinds for 2020 and the biggest question for the healthcare industry moving forward.
Question: What headwinds are you preparing for in 2020?
Rich Roth: I like to characterize the world system we live in today as a 'blender.' Specifically, the following areas of healthcare are 'blending' together and they will have dramatic impacts on healthcare in 2020 and beyond.
1. The medical system and social services systems are blending together. There is now a greater recognition that health and quality of life are largely influenced by where you live and what support resources you have. To achieve health equity in our communities, we need to create seamless and supportive paths between these historically disparate sectors. Neither will be able to be completely effective without the other.
2. Health system care management and medication fulfillment are blending together due to the importance of ongoing management of limited use drugs in care delivery. As the number of specialty drugs that treat complex diseases increases, specialty pharmacies are becoming a valuable vehicle for patients to access the level of care they need. This will bring down the cost of these limited use drugs for patients and increase the adherence to treatment to improve outcomes.
3. Automation is blending with healthcare workforce processes given the need to continually increase performance, improve patient experience, and reduce the cost of care. Robotic Process Automation is now increasingly prevalent in back office systems (revenue cycle, human resources, etc.) today. These novel technologies are being advanced into the care setting to reduce friction in our caregivers' workday so they can spend more time directly with patients.
The biggest questions for the industry will be, 'exactly what will this blend look like?' and 'who is pushing the button versus being inside the blender?' I spend a lot of time thinking about this question.
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