Status quo under attack from all corners
The year began with a resounding sentiment that set the tone for 2018: “We’re tired of the current healthcare system, so rather than wait for someone to change it, we’ll do it ourselves.” Ascension, Intermountain Healthcare, SSM Health and Trinity Health kicked things off by pledging to create a generic drug company, Civica Rx. The providers spoke on behalf of nearly every health system that faces daily shortages of critical drugs and unexpected price hikes.
Several New Jersey health systems, including Atlantic Health and CentraState Healthcare System, took their own swipe at costs and affordability by forming the Healthcare Transformation Consortium, an effort to deliver a better insurance product to their roughly 75,000 employees.
Industry outsiders were not deterred and themselves made big moves to attack the status quo. Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase joined together to cut out the middlemen in pursuit of more affordable and efficient healthcare coverage for their 1 million-plus employees. They hired renowned author/ speaker/surgeon Dr. Atul Gawande to lead the charge.
Venture capitalists too saw an industry that was ripe for attention. Venture capital funding for digital health startups is projected to top $6.9 billion in 2018, an increase of 230% from five years ago, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Meanwhile, the value of private equity deals in healthcare around the globe reached $42.6 billion in 2017, up 17% from $36.4 billion in 2016, according to a report by Bain & Co.