The sudden rise of the COVID-19 crisis in late 2019 has greatly impacted the healthcare industry worldwide. Not only has it shaken and tested the healthcare system itself, but it also has posed some major challenges among all stakeholders involved. Whether healthcare practitioners, primary care doctors, specialists, clinics, hospitals, and other medical facilities, all departments have had to adjust quickly and adapt to the current circumstances.
As we expect the global pandemic to end soon, thanks to vaccines’ announcements, healthcare professionals and key personnel need to reevaluate the healthcare system in their management approach and care delivery.
In this article, we’ll discuss five healthcare areas to focus on during the post-pandemic period based on the healthcare research conducted by Gallup, regarding the forces that will reshape the healthcare future:
1. Provide value-based care
When it comes to the delivery of healthcare services, providing value to patients is the ultimate goal. This goes beyond treating diseases and saving lives but offering care and support they need during a treatment. As the global pandemic is expected to end soon, healthcare professionals and facilities need to reassess and improve their value-based care models. Their focus should no longer be on boosting profit but on what they are truly called to do – providing value-based care!
2. Embrace virtual healthcare
We’re now living in a digital era where people live and breathe online and where most interactions and transactions are pursued in the digital space. Various sectors, such as the healthcare industry, must consider the digital approach in delivering care. During the COVID-19 outbreak, we’ve seen how health professionals and facilities worldwide heavily relied on virtual healthcare to care and treat their patients. For instance, the use of telehealth services has tripled among American patients in the last six months.
3. Prepare for constant disruption
The COVID-19 crisis is indeed a major disruption among many individuals and businesses globally, particularly in the healthcare sector. As the crisis is foreseen to end soon, expect to have constant disruptions during the post-pandemic period. For this reason, health professionals and medical facilities need to come in prepared for what lies ahead by implementing and adopting new care delivery formats, such as the use of virtual healthcare.
4. Managing mergers effectively
The hospital merger and acquisition (M&A) activity has significantly increased in the past decade. In fact, about 100 healthcare mergers were announced last year just before the global pandemic. During the post-pandemic period, expect the healthcare industry to consolidate to come to terms with sustained losses. However, they must reevaluate their M&A strategies leaned towards more innovative approaches.
5. Maximizing the ecosystem value
The healthcare system is a complex sector with interconnected stakeholders. During the post-pandemic period, expect some major changes in its ecosystem. Apart from traditional key players in the industry, you can also expect new players to emerge. While health leaders must embrace this change, all stakeholders involved must initiate proactive collaboration to have a diverse yet improved ecosystem.
Conclusion
At this point, we’ve covered five areas that Gallup has identified as the forces that will reshape the future healthcare—value-based care, virtual healthcare, constant disruption, merger management, and ecosystem value. To that end, Gallup underscored the need for collaboration and synergy among all stakeholders involved in the health industry. Ultimately, the goal is to improve healthcare quality and reduce costs for everyone’s benefit!
There’s no denying the impact of the COVID-19 crisis across the globe. As such, we provide the latest health and medical news in the healthcare industry. If you’re looking for more information about the healthcare ins and outs soon after the global pandemic, subscribe to our newsletter at Dose of Healthcare today!
