Bruce Broussard’s Take on Health Crisis as an Inspiration for Healthcare Innovation

Introduction 

As the world braced for a pandemic, we came to the great realization of the meaning of social distancing, quarantines, and remote healthcare. The tide has turned, and technology must get in line. A significant development, during the COVID pandemic, was the sheer scale of acceleration towards healthcare innovation. Ranging from holistic care to overall health accessibility, the global healthcare community has come to recognise the evolving trends of healthcare towards a more advanced virtual environment. Artificial intelligence and predictive analysis will play an increasing role toward this end. Let’s delve further to understand how technology and innovation can change the picture of a health crisis.  

Innovation Toward Holistic Care 

The biggest marker of innovation around holistic care is the increased attention that healthcare organizations are now giving toward behavioural health. Holistic care, now, is a combination of physical and mental health. As mental health across the globe deteriorates, this branch of healthcare will need to evolve and emerge as a cost-effective and accessible alternative to the traditional therapy model and should be embraced by mental health professionals to offer innovative solutions that allow patients to manage their own mental health disorders.  

Social determinants of health have also caught the eye of the healthcare sector. Health interventions are on the rise. For example, the healthcare management of diabetes is not just about the treatment of the disease anymore. There are lifestyle changes, social determinants, population education, and other parameters that are now considered as critical as the treatment itself.  

The key towards improving holistic care and adherence is by applying machine learning to enhance population health management through intuitive workflows, increased involvement, physician engagement, user-friendly IT solutions, and seamless communication tactics. Machine Learning has now gained impetus in the predictive analysis of multiple dimensions of healthcare, such as early identification of disease, tailor-made care management, optimizing electronic health records, etc.  

Engaging patients through virtual care is another important technology growth. Healthcare needs to adapt to virtual and social distancing strategies that can be channeled through virtual healthcare tools that offer remote patient monitoring. This system is the essential accessibility that allows patients to easily engage with their physician and other clinicians through virtual enablement for continual care giving through patient engagement solutions. 

Application of Artificial Intelligence 

Every healthcare industry professional is pondering on whether artificial intelligence is suited for their own personal professional environment. If nothing else, it is a clear indication that the healthcare industry is seeking intelligent solutions to its present problems. However, there is still pervasive confusion on the significance and derivatives of AI in healthcare. Several computer-related solutions that are present in the healthcare industry are not directly related to computer intelligence but are erroneously considered to be part of Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

Intelligent data analysis lies at the crux of the success of AI. When data is collected, churned intelligently through cloud-based computing, and then analyzed meaningfully, this is when there will be maximum benefit. Next in line is the need for predictive analysis to develop patterns within the organization. If the healthcare organization stands to benefit from prediction through the analysis of trends and past patterns, then AI medical applications may be the right direction for business investments.  

An understanding of the patients involved is crucial, in terms of their clinical needs, the interventions involved, and their willingness to engage. A personalized approach towards patient engagement is a significant stride towards healthcare contextualization.  

Reduced Costs 

With automation, the cost of healthcare transactions is likely to reduce. This happens because human intelligence is then only applied to the top of the pyramid. For example, clinicians can accomplish a task in maybe 5 minutes, that would have originally taken them 45 minutes. Healthcare costs reduce, but more importantly, the mundane parts of a clinician’s job are taken away, bringing in higher physician and employee satisfaction. As healthcare outcomes are more effective, patient satisfaction increases as a direct advantage. 

Increased Interoperability 

The FHIR interoperable API shows some promising results. As healthcare organizations, including the payer industry, are being pushed toward advancement, interoperability is emerging as the critical component. Fragmented information can have disastrous outcomes. When payers and providers come together, there is an immediate increase in workflow efficiency and patient satisfaction. An example of this would be for drug orders are incorporated real-time into the workflow, for patients to understand costs at the time of dispensation, as opposed to when the patient is at the drug store. Interoperability here, between the payer and provider, can provide a significant amount of benefit to the patient in such a scenario.  

As information flows seamlessly, it can create value-based payment relationships and minimize risks. Providers can manage risks, through intelligent information management on a cloud-based system and automated workflows. Qualitative health delivery is another advantage of interoperability. Data analysis towards reduced risk and higher patient engagement can be deeply enhanced when interoperability is applied in a mature way. The goal is to create a better patient experience. Currently, value-based relationships with intelligent information perform up to 30% better star scores, with cost of care reducing by up to 15%. From the patient’s perspective, technology can be applied toward using patient information, including their Medicare claims, and running an analysis to conclude the best plan, optimal drug usage, and other parameters, based on the medical history. All this can be executed in seconds.  

Risk Adjustment for Medicare Advantage 

The risk adjuster within Medicare Advantage, is one of its most outstanding features since it allows healthcare organizations to be connected to higher acuity patients. The ability of Medicare insurance to engage where individuals need it the most is a good opportunity. However, it comes with a high error rate, because the risk adjustment in Medicare Fee-for-service is very low. The compliance side has a low error rate, and this disparity has created a noticeable void in the healthcare system.  

Conclusion 

Virtual care and home health are now at the top of the future of healthcare. Healthcare Payment models that encourage quality care and durability, essentially value-based models, that look at the patient as the priority are the need of the hour. Healthcare organizations need to adopt a patient-centric approach that revolves around a cost-of-care point of view. Bundled payments, that prioritize cost and quality of care, and technologies built toward offering patients customized care options are the avenue of the future. Explore more interesting topics and listen to insightful podcasts related to healthcare only on CareTalk.