The COVID-19 pandemic generated uneven experiences for millions as physicians and patients shifted to telehealth and remote trials. For many, the pandemic was an introduction to telehealth, and with varying levels of telehealth experiences. Caregivers had to suddenly meet patients where they were with virtual visits happening on non-traditional platforms such as mobile phones and SaaS-based applications. The healthcare industry throughout the world is presenting a contrasting landscape as at one end, there are advanced medical devices in the US and other European countries, on the other hand, there is the rising cost of medicare, inadequate infrastructure and an underprivileged population trying to access healthcare facilities.
Some virtual visits have also happened on non-traditional mobile platforms and through messaging and cloud-based platforms that were earlier frequently used for sharing family photos and internet memes. The shift to more decentralized and virtual studies has received a push during the pandemic. The advent of telehealth in a more virtual world is expected to drive many of the healthcare services. Effective treatment of chronic conditions needs to be continuous across settings for consistent results. In the changed settings, clinicians can collaborate with each other and patients to develop joint care plans that support patient self-management.
However, healthcare industry all over the world is facing the below 09 big challenges:
- Resizing after the telehealth explosion
- Encouraging digital relationships to provide convenience to physicians and patients
- Reshaping health portfolios for growth
- Interoperability of consumer data access
- Adjusting to changing clinical trials methodologies
- Delivery system transformation
- Holistic individual health
- Building a resilient and responsive supply chain, and
- Forecasting for an uncertain 2022
Healthcare organizations can achieve efficiency by addressing these issues that will result in better digital relationships . Healthcare organizations can invest in cloud-based technologies and analytics to pull patient data from multiple devices and sources that can be accessed in real-time.
Moving from the retrospective view to AI-driven perspectives
The pandemic experience has brought forward the need for healthcare industry to move from retrospective view fed by the traditional methods that use historical data and past claims, to an AI-driven prospective view based on real-time information from multi-local sites, often remotely. Telehealth claims data accumulated during the pandemic can be used to target investments in the areas where it is most likely to lower healthcare costs. Reducing costs means reducing the revenue for healthcare providers as patients are empowered to improve their health and drive down their personal costs.
There has been increasing emphasize on the inclusion and diversity in health outcomes. Racial disparities in healthcare can manifest in different ways. Patients of color may experience a lower quality of care, resulting in a lack of trust. Institutional racism also leads to the exclusion of community perspectives and decision-making. There is a pressing need for real-time insights that can help healthcare industry to create their own forecasting system. Stronger forecasting would help healthcare services providers predict volumes by site of service.
Technology at work to transform the healthcare industry
To harness the potential of healthcare technology to transform the health system, healthcare leaders need to develop a connected healthcare environment. The use of connected devices and AI-integrated applications can provide a massive amount of patient data that healthcare providers can use to generate information and extract valuable insights. Healthcare providers can use the data to plan for operational, tactical and strategic management for a mature service management process.
For more information on the issues related to healthcare, the challenges faced by the providers and patients, and details of health insurance plans that you should go for, visit a trusted source, such as PrudentRx. You can get answers to most of your questions in PrudentRx FAQs, which have been answered by the industry experts.