5 factors influencing transformative change in healthcare 

1. Workforce pressures are tipping the supply and demand scale of care delivery. 

The shortage of healthcare workers—a crisis only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic—is reaching critical levels. Approximately 83 million people live in areas with insufficient access to primary care, yet there is a projected 100,000 provider shortfall in the next decade.  

Hospitals and health systems across the country need a solution for current and projected workforce challenges in order to deliver quality patient care.  

Ann Mond Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of the American Telemedicine Association, highlighted the need to remodel the care delivery approach, given these workforce pressures:

2. AI is steadily reshaping the world of work, including the work of healthcare. 

Verstraete highlighted the potential savings that can result from the adoption of artificial intelligence, quoting a recent study from Deloitte that estimates $360 billion in annual potential savings from AI for the U.S. healthcare system over the next five years. 

While the panel of experts agreed that AI has tremendous potential for healthcare, leaders will need to address issues including responsible use, bias and scalability to realize these savings. 

Chief Digital Health Officer of Yale New Haven Health, Dr. Lee Schwamm, shared cautious optimism for scaling AI in healthcare: “AI models bring systematic bias. Our job is to make sure we understand and have a mechanism for breaking up the bias, measuring and monitoring.” 

Dr. Schwamm also sees benefits in the accessibility of AI across a diverse workforce. “We can start making the technology adapt to the workflows of the existing workforce, not the other way around.” 

Naveen Valluri of Microsoft discussed how the speed at which AI is evolving will have transformative impact: “Over the past 20 or 30 years, you were able to double capacity of work every 18 months. But now with AI, we reach an inflection point every six months. New models can achieve behaviors that weren’t possible six months prior. This is a revolutionary moment for the way we work.” 

3. Fragmented treatment of chronic conditions leads to insufficient care, adverse outcomes and higher costs.

Related to the AI discussion, our panelists discussed the challenges that come with scaling technology and systems to treat the whole person. In his work with health systems, Valluri identified issues scaling programs when data is in different formats, requiring thousands of AI models for different tasks or areas within the health system. While work is progressing to address these challenges, it’s not solved yet. This is especially important as fragmented treatment of chronic conditions drives up healthcare costs and results in poor patient care. 

According to the World Health Organization, more than 84% of all hospital stays involve people with one or more comorbidities. Of this group, 50% have at least three comorbidities. Technology and solutions that treat the whole person will be critical to address fragmented treatment and improve outcomes for patients.  

4. Consumers have been clear—personalization is a requirement, not an elective. 

While healthcare is extremely complex, patients demand an experience that is similar to how they utilize services in other parts of their lives. Johnson highlighted the need to make it simple for patients without taking additional steps, just like they would expect when setting up a new device.  

A study from McKinsey found 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions. Even more—76%—get frustrated when this doesn’t happen. 

Personalized health support is not only the preferred experience for patients, but it also results in higher engagement and better health outcomes.  

5. Healthcare economics: The only constant is change. 

As decision makers evaluate new technology and solutions, it’s no longer just by measuring ROI, but a broader set of “value of investment” metrics. Value can be found in a variety of factors including member engagement, retention, equitable care, clinical outcomes and health cost savings. 

For example, the total estimated cost of diagnosed diabetes is more than $327 billion, which includes $237 billion in direct medical costs and $90 billion in reduced productivity. In this case, a program to reduce the prevalence of diabetes can bring exponential cost savings.  

Additionally, Valluri discussed how an AI solution reduced the administrative burden on physicians, leaving them more time to engage with patients. This was extremely valuable for health systems often struggling with provider burnout, retention and recruitment.  

With tremendous opportunity to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes, our panel of experts believe transformation will take resolve, ingenuity and responsibility. Our collective ability to innovate can shape a future that results in better health for all.