Care Model Innovation, Regulation and Governance

The healthcare industry is experiencing its most difficult challenge in nearly a century – a fact that has become increasingly difficult to ignore as 2020 has progressed. With the onset of Covid-19, entire countries, governments, and hospitals have been brought to their knees, unable to effectively fight back against the ‘invisible enemy’.

It’s led to unique changes in the day-to-day and although innovation and technologies have cushioned us from the potential social and economic impact of the virus, it’s still a problem growing further and further out of control. As of November 17^th, 2020, and based on the data received by the World Health Organization (WHO), globally there were a total of 53.7m confirmed cases and 1.3m deaths related to the virus.

No doubt the news of successful vaccines and their roll out will ease the tension currently being felt by healthcare executives worldwide, but the industry is not out of the woods yet. To this end, healthcare executives must look to the implementation of disruptive processes and technologies to ensure that Covid-19 cannot continue the firm stranglehold that it currently has on health services worldwide.

Care Model 

Healthcare systems worldwide are still in the midst of managing Covid-19, but when looking to the future, how serious will the financial impact of the pandemic be for hospitals, insurers and patients?

For years we have seen steady, progressive alterations reshape the healthcare ecosystem. However, Covid-19 has subjected the care system to new and immense pressures, but what are these issues and how are they effecting our systems?

What are the factors driving innovation in healthcare delivery?

No healthcare system is without issue. Globally speaking, there is no perfect example and mostly, this is due to the same external and internal pressures. According to Deloitte these include:

• Cost – It is difficult to remove the impact of cost from the traditional care model
• Variable Operational Aims – Healthcare systems have shifted to focus on prevention & wellbeing
• Demand – Consumers heightened demand for transparency, convenience, access, and personalized products and services which keep up with modern innovation are ever-growing and show no signs of easing
• Consumer Access – Consumers have increased access to and control over their personal data
• Covid-19 – This is an obvious one, but Covid-19 has stress tested healthcare providers to the extreme, showing the flaws inherent within the system and raising cost in the meantime

Next Steps

The healthcare industry must aggressively pursue innovation projects should it wish to keep its head above water in the current climate. As we’ve discussed, Covid-19 has effectively brought the industry to a standstill and the clear pathway out of the current situation is to change the model to meet a new kind of healthcare crisis. This work will pay dividends when moving towards the future and heaven forbid, another pandemic of Covid-19’s nature and aggression. To this end, these should be the next steps for all healthcare providers:

• Collaboration – Technologically speaking, leaps and bounds have been made in the 21^st century across many industries, and healthcare providers cannot afford to be left out of the conversation, as a result, it must collaborate with other industries to realize maximum impact.
• Inequal Access – Healthcare providers must work to address the issue of inequal access, particularly in the US. Healthcare inequality is correlated to income inequality and providers should look to bolster access, capacity, capability, and affordability (ACCA) to aid the individuals that are struggling.
• Aftercare Services – Executives should look to boost their aftercare potential, providing things like inpatient services, and help beyond hospital walls.
• Virtual Healthcare – The technology is available for leaders to leverage digital experiences for their patients. During a time at which viral transmission is of great concern, virtual experiences will prove essential to the more vulnerable.

The conventional care model is in dire need of a cure and innovation is the means by which this can be best administered, it is up to executives to determine the extent to which change is necessary but one thing is for sure, they don’t have a great deal of time to drag their feet on the matter.

To learn more, download the full report here or continue the debate at the NG Healthcare Digital Summit NA, a GDS Summit, where we bring together senior Banking executives who are actively seeking to share, learn, engage, and find the best technology solutions.

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