Friday, October 16, 2015

Six Forecasts on the Health Care Landscape That Lies Ahead


As the ‘Boomer cataclysm’ hits - and I do mean cataclysm- there will six major changes:


1.       The very number of Boomers that hit the retirement path will bring new and increased attention to the state of and the processes of our health care system. Until now the issues have been in a bit of a back seat as Boomers continued in the workforce. That will change exponentially going forward. And, just like every other social issue that the Boomer generation addressed along their way, they will re-write it. They will change the paradigm. They will force a new dialogue and wrest control from the hands of Congress, Government Administrators, Insurance companies and Drug companies. They will force a re-write of the ACA and the health care business model to make sense to them and their new found circumstance. Their numbers will overwhelm current ‘policy’ – at the rate of 10,000 joining their ranks every day, and they will do it quicker than we think.

2.       States and local towns and communities will be overwhelmed with the demands on first responders, EMTs, Fire departments and emergency rooms. Establishing strategic programs to aggressively manage preventable admissions and reduce re-admissions will be a necessity. This will require a cost effective method –a system- to maintain electronic oversight on the elderly who are aging at home. Enhanced communications that monitors well-being will be mandated.

3.       Telecom companies will be required to up their game in offering rural communications. No longer will they be able to or permitted to ‘cherry pick’ service only the lucrative population centers they wish to serve. What good are technologies like telehealth and telepresence if you don’t have a connection?

4.       The attitude towards the use of technology in health care – especially home care services- will change from one of ‘well, not really’ to that of a ‘must have’. If labor costs and models are going to become more productive than technology will be the productivity lever as it has in every industry.

5.       Corporations will need to develop an enlightened and engaged dialogue with employees that are ‘sandwiched’ between their jobs and caring for aging parents. The answer will be found in providing technology driven connectivity - provided as a benefit - that reduces absenteeism and unexpected work interruptions as employees struggle with the demands of their jobs and the demands of their aging parents.

6.       The full and free exchange of health records will be torn out of the commercial arena and taken over totally by the government. Count on it! Commercial gamesmanship with health care records will be eliminated.