We are living through a truly transformative period in health — for both consumers and the organizations who serve those consumers.
Unsustainable levels of spending are driving the shift to value-based care and the search for more effective and more affordable solutions. New technologies are empowering patients, shifting control away from health care professionals and innovating the delivery of care. In addition, across the world people are viewing access to health care as a right, and governments are recognizing that societal wellness is an economic asset. Finally, the past year saw organizations learning how to balance adapting to new regulation while simultaneously sustaining quality, positive patient experience and profitability.
The confluence of these changes – in mindset, technology, spending, and adaptation to regulation -- is dramatically disrupting how healthcare is designed and delivered. And in the U.S., with a new presidential administration in place and the process to repeal the Affordable Care Act underway, the transition is presenting organizations with an uncertain future; one where a shift to a changing and potentially less regulated healthcare policy environment is expected, but the precise nature, process and timetable for change remain uncertain.
With change as a certainty, watch for the following five trends to accelerate in 2017. Our teams at EY are focused on helping our clients navigate the potential effects of these trends, and prepare for continued disruption.
1. Health care shifts to total health.
The very definition of the word “health” is changing. Health is no longer merely something of concern when someone is sick. Now, health is viewed as a holistic pursuit — a daily, lifelong, all-encompassing engagement with wellness. Early intervention is being recognized as essential to preventing disease. New technologies are helping people make smarter, more proactive wellness choices. Insurance companies, worksites and others are using data-driven, evidence-based incentives to encourage healthy behaviors among populations. This trend is turning the health industry on its head, transforming the industry from one that treats illness to one that promotes total health and focuses on improving quality while reducing cost.
2. Participatory health flourishes.
Traditional care delivery models are being upended by technology, consumerism and greater access to information. Patients are taking on greater responsibility for their health, curating and navigating their care in partnership with their health care provider. Mobile and web tools are encouraging active, daily patient participation. At the same time, individuals are shifting their focus from reactive “sick” care to preventative care and wellness promotion. As a result, as detailed in Health reimagined: a new participatory health paradigm, the successful health system of tomorrow will embrace participatory health by being on-demand, connected and data-driven.
3. The M&A market stays hot.
Rapid shifts in delivery and payment models will continue to force health care organizations to rethink their business models, structures and operations. In particular, new reimbursement models based on outcomes are forcing providers to broaden their scope of care, while continuing to pursue efficiencies. As a result, the health care industry is engaged in a record level of M&A activity as organizations choose to merge, acquire or partner with other organizations that can help them provide and control patient care along the entire health care continuum — from initial treatment through all the stages of recovery. With mega deals under scrutiny, expect an increase in smaller strategic tuck-ins; as opposed to a slowdown in deal activity.
4. Cybersecurity expands in scope.
As data becomes more useful in health care, protecting that data becomes more important. Medical records have always been a high-value target for identity thieves because they contain a large amount of personally identifiable information that is difficult to change. But now, the rise of consumer-friendly digital and mobile health technology is fueling the cybersecurity threat by creating additional access points for sensitive medical information, including medical devices themselves. Health care organizations are scrambling to detect and prevent cyber-attacks, but many lack comprehensive, enterprise-wide plans to identify and secure high-risk data. Look for health care entities to get even more serious about cybersecurity. In traditional environments as well as within the growing biome of connected devices, watch as health care entities adopt the leading practice approaches from other high-risk industries, such as banking and utilities.
5. Big data, paired with human experts, provides better insights.
How do you make big data better? By adding people power. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are growing more advanced, and health care organizations are rapidly adopting AI as a way to quickly analyze large swaths of patient data and to glean insights about patient populations. But to really maximize those insights, interaction is needed between data, technology and people. The true power of AI is unleashed when computer-generated analytics is augmented by human decision-making and when algorithms are well-informed by medical experts. Assuring the data is clean, accurate, properly indexed, de-fragmented and interoperable is critical to produce insights that can arm leaders to make better decisions.
Kristen Vennum is the Americas Advisory Health Sector Leader at Ernst & Young LLP. She is based in Washington, DC, and can be reached at Kristen.Vennum@ey.com.
The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ernst & Young LLP.
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