The crisis in U.S. healthcare isn’t exactly a new development — but it’s getting worse, fast. Annual industry spending has soared to $3.8 trillion, or nearly one-fifth of the nation’s GDP. But for all their investment, healthcare organizations are struggling to deliver improvement for either their patients or their practitioners. U.S. life expectancy actually dropped in 2020, while 80 percent of patients said their clinician was burned out during a recent visit. A recent report by Forrester Research states the situation starkly: “The U.S. healthcare system is broken, and the decisions that healthcare leaders make in the next 10 years will determine the outcomes of the next 50.”
Still, amid the pain, Forrester sees signs of hope for what’s to come. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare organizations have been forced to accelerate their digital transformation timelines dramatically, with new models for care delivery such as telehealth reaching broad adoption. To build on these gains — and address unintended consequences of the rapid shift, such as the proliferation of ineffective or biased analytics tools — healthcare leaders will need to think strategically and act decisively.
For healthcare organizations, the challenge will be to support the ongoing transformation of healthcare while controlling costs, ensuring high-quality experiences, and — of vital importance — maintaining security and compliance. New technologies will be needed to enable the industry paradigm shifts highlighted by Forrester, such as preemptive and prescriptive care, value-based care, and hospital-at-home. Consumers now demand better protection and privacy for their data, even as it’s put to use in new ways to improve outcomes. Healthcare professionals deserve better ways of working to relieve burnout and achieve more for their patients.
With these challenges in mind, Forrester asked healthcare leaders across the industry about the most important considerations for strategic planning and operations today. Their responses show important new priorities for healthcare IT.
Ensuring Cybersecurity and Data Protection at All Costs
As noted in the Forrester report, “A more connected healthcare ecosystem will only raise the threat level for cyberattacks.” This makes it more important than ever for healthcare IT leaders to adopt zero trust across hospital systems, devices, and employee endpoints. Protecting patient data isn’t just about earning customer trust — it’s also critical for ensuring that this data can deliver full value for the business, from analytics to cost management.
Delivering More for Patients — in More Places
Instead of requiring patients to go to their clinicians, emerging patient-centered models bring care wherever patients are, from virtual settings to their own homes. Healthcare IT will need to ensure high-quality experiences for both patients and clinicians wherever and however they interact. As part of this more fluid and flexible approach to the delivery of care, organizations will need to optimize the ways electronic health records (EHRs), consumer apps, devices, and other systems exchange, process, and interpret data.
Redefine Success
To reduce the endemic inequities across our healthcare system, organizations need to find more cost-effective and accessible ways to deliver care. Progress on this front will be an industry-wide effort, encompassing insurance companies and payers as well as healthcare systems. For healthcare IT, the mandate will be to deliver the flexibility and efficiency these changes call for, optimize costs to help improve affordability, and ensure that clinicians are fully empowered to deliver the best possible care in any emerging setting.
The full Forrester report — The Future of Healthcare: Success in 2030 Hinges on Resilience and Agility in 10 Areas — is essential reading for every healthcare IT leader to prepare their organization for success. Get it today!
