Patients as consumers in a post-pandemic world: How to approach new demands
During an April 27 webinar, top healthcare industry executives — Steve Rusckowski, chairman, president and CEO of Quest Diagnostics; Eric Larsen, president of the Advisory Board Company and Manny Lopes, executive vice president of public markets and government relations for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts — discussed how the shift to value-based care will empower consumers to take control of their health. The executives also shared the changing expectations of patients since COVID-19 and key learnings to date.
1 Financial constraints for providers are worsening
There are several factors contributing to economic distress for hospitals and health systems. The economy is currently experiencing soaring inflation, which is leading to higher prices, including the cost of healthcare. At the same time, the labor market is seeing extreme shortages, especially among nurses. Finally, acuity among patients is worse because of more than two years of deferred care throughout COVID-19. “I am deeply concerned about the sustainability financially of hospitals and health systems moving forward,” Larsen said.
2 The transition to value is a team sport
Value in healthcare is a simple definition that often is made more complicated. Value is great care at lower costs. Throughout the pandemic, providing high-quality care has become even more challenging given all the stressors. To achieve higher quality care, the productivity ofthe system must improve, and that can only be achieved by healthcare stakeholders coming together. “We really have to improve the quality of care at lower cost, and the only way is really focusing on improving the productivity of the system,” Rusckowski said. Without greater collaboration, the transition to value will continue to be slow, with the average hospital and health system currently reporting just 1.6% of its revenue is tied to full capitation.
3 The industry must evolve to whole-person care
During the pandemic, the site of care shifted to the home through the expansion of telehealth and remote patient monitoring. This is a solid starting point to transition to wholeperson care. With more patients receiving services in the convenience of their home, there is an opportunity to provide more holistic services in a team-based format. Whole-person care is the ideal healthcare model because it focuses on providing proactive services to improve the overall health and well-being of the population.
4 More commitment, focus needed to achieve health equity
Thus far, the industry’s commitment to addressing social determinants of health has been largely verbal. More action is needed to close healthcare gaps among black and brown communities. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is an example of meaningful action to address this issue. It is tracking data on maternal mortality and sharing the data publicly to raise awareness and encourage improvement across stakeholders. “We need to continue to put all resources — as limited as they are — towards closing the health equity gap,” Lopes said.
5 Digital health has exploded, but there are concerns
One of the most profound advances in healthcare recently is the explosion of digital health. Over the last two years, there has been about $59 billion invested in digital health startups. The promise of digitization in healthcare is great. Quest Diagnostics, for instance, has seen success with its at-home testing service. But there are signals of fatigue. It takes about 23 months to implement a digital health solution, and many of the public digital health companies have seen declining stock prices. “I love the invention and the energy (to digital health), but I have deep concerns about, are we going to enter into a correction (period) and what are the implications?” Larsen said. The solution to this may be digital health companies focusing on small-scale solutions, rather than large ones.