By Linda Finkel, CEO, AVIA
LinkedIn: Linda Finkel
LinkedIn: AVIA
The Growing Challenges in Healthcare
The United States healthcare system is at a crossroads.
One in five Americans will be 65 or older by 2030, while Gen Z is reshaping expectations for healthcare access. The U.S. is projected to face a shortage of 86,000 physicians by 2036, alongside a decline in nurses, home health aides, and other essential care providers. Additionally, the financial pressures for both the health system and consumers are growing, with the expected cost of healthcare in the US to surpass $370 billion by 2027.
These challenges underline the critical need for health systems to rethink their operations and revenue strategies. Embracing the need for a radical reinvention is not just possible but necessary. Consumers are demanding it, the workforce needs it, technology is ready to scale up, and most importantly, patients and their caregivers deserve it.
Health Systems Need Radical Reinvention
With all the tasks health systems currently face, the idea of radically reinventing can be daunting. But it doesn’t have to be. To bring real change in a healthcare system, it’s necessary to think boldly and transform the way things are done. While all health systems have digital assets, there is a $400 million annual value gap between simply ‘doing digital’ and truly ‘being digital’.
Harnessing digital assets is critical to unlocking the true potential of radical reinvention. With new tools, workflows, AI models, and much more, health systems can now use digital for new business models, alleviate workforce pressures, redefine care delivery, and engage patients and healthcare professionals in new ways.
Five Pillars of Future Healthcare
1. Digital-First Consumer Experience
To meet consumer needs, health systems must adopt the “always on” model, providing 24/7 access to care, advice, and information across multiple channels. For example, health systems can now provide a digitally enabled navigation guide. Intelligent navigation puts physicians and patients at ease by providing a predictive and supportive framework created by health systems. This framework will demystify healthcare, making it more accessible and less intimidating for patients, increasing the likelihood of retention for health systems.
Health systems using intelligent navigation, or the “always on” model will generate more data, which will benefit them. They will be able to understand their consumers and improve the consumer experience.
2. AI-Powered Connected Care
The future of healthcare is connected care. Connected care will be a seamless integration of virtual and in-person care. There are two branches within connected care: AI-enhanced healthcare and connected care anywhere.
Using AI in healthcare is here. AI-enhanced healthcare will revolutionize care delivery, from diagnosis and treatment planning to patient self-management, significantly improving care quality and operational efficiency.
Connected care anywhere can democratize access to care. It’s creating an integrated ecosystem that’ll breakdown barriers and allow for a holistic, patient-centered approach to health management.
3. Next Gen Workforce
Health systems simply can’t hire a workforce large enough to meet the needs of an aging workforce; they are struggling to simply staff today’s needs as providers struggle with burnout and overwhelm. Further, their current workforce will need a new set of skills to meet the growing demands of consumers and the evolving technologies available to improve care delivery.
Using digital and AI-powered tools doesn’t necessarily mean reducing staff. It means enabling the workforce for today and the future.
4. Intelligent & Agile Enterprise
Health systems that neglect to “shore up their core” with data, interoperability, and automation foundations will find themselves outpaced, unable to leverage the benefits offered by emerging technologies.
Central to this transformation is a vision for an agile enterprise. This is the integration of intelligent automation across the whole health system, from operations to patient interactions. With the growing development of smart workspaces and hospitals, blending digital and physical environments will redefine healthcare delivery, enhancing efficiency, responsiveness, and personalization.
5. Resilient Business Models
To stay competitive, health systems need to embrace new business models and forge innovative partnerships. Health systems can do this by addressing four key areas: partnerships as the new competitive currency, embracing the platform model, innovating in care delivery models, and revenue diversification to remain innovative in the care delivery space.
An example of an industry that has recently had to undergo radical reinvention is the financial industry. Platforms such as Robinhood and Venmo have shifted access and empowered consumers to act in their best interest. Similarly, the needs of patients have evolved, and health systems need to evolve with their patients.
Future-Proofing Health Systems
The path forward for health systems is clear, radical reinvention is not just a choice but essential. To achieve meaningful transformation which will improve the patient experience and increase revenue, health systems must embrace the new reality.
Radical reinvention will take a collaborative effort across the entire health system, with the adoption of digital-first consumer experience, AI-powered connected care, next gen workforce, intelligent and agile enterprise, and resilient business models. This will allow health systems to thrive, and shift demands from reactionary to proactive as the healthcare landscape evolves.