2017 will be remembered as a year of sweeping changes in healthcare. By the end of this year chances are that you would have probably experienced your first video consult. You would have in all probability be prescribed a health app and start using your smartphone as a diagnostic tool for the first time since years. Also you’ll start to manage your medical expenses using innovative tools offered by various healthcare service providers.
What else can you expect in the healthcare industry this year? Well, here is a brief overview of top six trends that will shape the healthcare industry in 2017.
Cyber-security Concerns take Center Stage:
For the first time since decades, medical devices such as insulin pumps are under real threats from hackers. As a result of this medical device providers and other healthcare companies will have to be proactive and do the needful to maintain trust in medical equipment.
Behavioral Healthcare Will No Longer Take Back Seat:
At a time when one in every five American adults are experiencing mental illness of one kind or the other, behavioral health has unsurprisingly grown to become a key driver in 2017 and beyond. And if employers and healthcare organizations want to avoid the loss of over $440 billion every year as a result of these complications, they should put forward a guanine effort to address this issue.
Care in the Palm of Your Hand:
People were using smart devices such as smartphones and tablets to monitor health until now. But this is going to change drastically over the course of next few years. Thanks to the advancements in technology these devices will be extensively used by people to avail anytime, anywhere diagnosis and treatment in the very near future. What’s more, from smartphone medicine to ‘bed-less’ hospitals, healthcare industry will move towards remote delivery, reveals recent reports.
The Rise of Money Managers in Healthcare:
As per a recent survey, consumers have started managing their health spending just like they manage their savings and retirement funds. And if this trend continuous, companies will have to start linking healthcare payments and billing with broader consumer experience, or bundle financing with other offerings to solve payment problems, and provide greater convenience and value to the customers.
New Databases Give a Much Needed Boost to Improve Healthcare:
The hype surrounding big data and its potential in converting raw data-sets into practical insights may have been unrealistic in the past. But this could all change with the emergence of “non-relational” databases, and finally healthcare systems can unlock the true potential of data.
The Shift to Low-cost Community Care:
Mounting budgetary constraints and other pressures are pushing healthcare settings to the breaking point. This is forcing them come out of their shell and more aggressively embrace lower-cost care settings more than ever before. This is vindicated by the fact that many of the leading academic medical centers in the US have moved towards acquiring community hospitals in the past two years.
So there you have it folks, these are some of the most influential trends that will drive healthcare industry in 2017. Practices that are proactive and embrace these new trends will stay relevant down the line, while those that are ignorant will be sidelined and struggle to stay afloat in the industry.
