How Modern Are You?
According to a PWC report, the healthcare industry has been projected to be full of change, growth and innovation. It's now September. Back-to-school physicals for primary care physicians, fresh staff from late-Summer vacation; this might beย the time for a mid-2016 practice audit.
โ2016 will be a year of firsts for players within healthcare as the industry adapts to the main forces driving the new health economy: The rise of consumerism, the focus on value, downward pressure on costs, technological innovation and the impact of new entrants,โ PwC said in their announcement.
How is your practice keeping up?
Check out the below trends adapted from Fierce IT Healthcare to see where your practice stands. Join the momentum into the future of healthcare, or, well, lose out.
The report identifies the following 10 forces that will have the most impact in 2016:
Healthcare Trends
Cybersecurity concerns:
Even โbest in fieldโ hospitals will struggle to attract patients if they are hacked, PwC said, citing research from its Health Research Institute's 2015 consumer survey. Consumers are especially concerned about the vulnerability of connected medical devices to security breaches and cyberattacks. And recent hacks of organizations, including insurance companies like Anthem, show that organizations that are unprepared to deal with breaches can face lawsuits, lost revenue and harm to their reputations, the report states.
HIPAA security concerns are at an all time high with breaches being publicized now more than ever. Have you thought about how secure your current communication system is working?
Technology gives more power to consumers:
Adoption of health-related smartphone apps has doubled in the last two years, from 16 percent of consumers in 2013 to 32 percent this year, according to the report. Both technology and shifts in financial incentives mean โcare will begin to move into the palms of consumers' hands,โ PwC said.
Klara gives power to the consumers through a user-friendly mhealth application. Staff and doctors use the app to triage communication and better prioritize incoming messages from patients and external parties.
Behavioral healthcare moves to the forefront:
After years of being on the backburner, the industry will start to recognize that mental health is important to the well-being of employees and consumers, according to the report. Indeed, PwC notes that one out of five American adults experiences a mental illness every year. These conditions cost businesses more than $440 billion each year. Healthcare organizations and employers will look at behavioral care as โkey to keeping costs down, productivity up and consumers healthy,โ the report said.
The key to a connected healthcare system is collaboration among providers and specialists that previously had little-to-no crossover. Klara allows for behavioral health professionals to coordinate and collaborate with medical professionals providing a clear, transparent healthcare experience for the patient.undefined
High-tech databases:
New database tools and the resulting deep data analysis of information on health consumers will provide valuable insights necessary to improve patient care and consumer health, according to the report.
With Klara, you can create a unique hyperlink hosted in your EMR system. This link will lead to the most updated discourse in the patient's Klara account. No more time-consuming copy and pasting, manual paperwork.
Cost of care:
Healthcare systems seeking value-based care will โdig in to calculate the true cost of services,โ in the process finding ways to improve efficiency as well as care.
With Klara improving the quality of care and in and out-of-office efficiency, practices on average have found the following results:
- 2 hours saved per day per employee
- $17k saved per employee per year
- 10% more patients per year
- $140k more revenue per year
- Higher patient retention
- 50% increase lifetime value of existing patients
- Join The Future
Is your practice keeping up with the cutting-edge of healthcare trends? Prepare for 2017 by jumping on the Klara network. Gain exclusive access to referrals, collaboration and more patients via the Klara messaging system.
