🔒Digitization of healthcare services will be key trend in 2022

The healthcare landscape typically changes at a slow pace, but there are a few trends that have accelerated over the last 20 months, and will continue to change the industry in the year ahead.

Telehealth and digital health are among the initiatives that most hospitals — in response to the COVID-19 pandemic — ramped up since March 2020, and that will continue to be a focus this year. In addition, the race to build more ambulatory care centers in the suburbs will gain speed.

Meantime, efforts to promote “value-based care” — an industry buzz term that describes the move away from the traditional but costly fee-for-service model — will advance, but at a slower pace.

The Hartford Business Journal recently asked three top hospital executives what key trends will impact the local healthcare industry in 2022. The CEOs included: Kurt Barwis, president and CEO of Bristol Health, which oversees Bristol Hospital; Jeffrey Flaks, president and chief executive officer of Hartford HealthCare, which includes Hartford Hospital; and Reggy Eadie, president and CEO of Trinity Health of New England, parent of St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center.

Here are the top trends to watch in 2022:

Telehealth and digital health advances

The global health crisis led consumers to embrace new ways of obtaining medical care and top hospital officials said telehealth and digital health are here to stay.

“Virtual visits soared, and patients rightly came to expect the same on-demand access to information and experience they have grown accustomed to in other sectors, like travel,” Flaks said.

Barwis said the pandemic put digital health “into launch mode.”

“Virtual ER visits, for example, came to life for us and worked,” he said. “How we find and access health care, how we make appointments, how we get results and manage our own health are all safer and timelier approaches thanks to the digital healthcare revolution.”

Flaks said Hartford HealthCare will be rolling out new digital features, such as text messages that alert patients to overdue or needed procedures, and easy click-to-call or tap-to-schedule options, with reminders and other information.

Affordability

Healthcare costs are too high. There are few healthcare providers, payers, businesses or consumers who would argue with that.

The harder thing to agree on is how to fix the system. Hospitals are making several efforts, including investing in ambulatory care centers that aim to keep people out of the more costly emergency department setting.

“While high-touch, high-tech, life-saving procedures will never be inexpensive, we must make many forms of care more convenient, less costly and with greater price transparency,” Flaks said. “This is happening now, with our urgent care centers in many neighborhoods; through virtual visits with providers; with more surgical procedures being performed safely outside the hospital setting; more care in underserved areas; and with price transparency tools like cost calculators.”

Eadie said there is demand for specialized healthcare services outside of the hospital. For example, in Rocky Hill, Trinity Health recently opened its first of several ambulatory care centers that offer primary care, lab, radiology, cardiology, pulmonology, OB, urology, rheumatology, orthopedics and physical therapy, all under one roof.

Meantime, hospitals will continue to experiment with value-based care models that generally realign payments and create incentives to keep people healthier and avoid unnecessary procedures.

Eadie said another key to reducing healthcare costs is price transparency, which can help consumers choose the provider with the best outcomes at the lowest price.

Reacting to the pandemic, workforce issues

The pandemic caused anxiety and forced hospital administrators to make tough decisions on issues ranging from furloughs and layoffs to caring for COVID-19 patients and vaccine mandates for staff.

Like many industries, healthcare providers are facing workforce shortages.

“Health care is the largest workforce sector in Connecticut, comprising 270,000 jobs,” Barwis said. “In all my years in health care, I’ve never experienced a workforce shortage of this significance. The magnitude of the pandemic workforce impact, coupled with the cost of fighting for staff with rapidly increasing wages and incentives, and the willingness of staff to travel to other states is resulting in patient access-to-care issues.”

Eadie said the pandemic has greatly reshaped the culture at Trinity Health, particularly the toll it’s taken on staff.

“The year ahead will come with an intense focus on resiliency efforts, addressing burnout, and listening intently to the needs of healthcare workers,” Eadie said.

Flaks said Hartford HealthCare will focus on future-proofing its operations so it can deal with issues around supply chain disruptions, workplace changes and inflationary pressures.

A focus on diversity, equity and inclusion

Top hospital administrators all agreed that the future of health care must include advocating for change to the structural and systemic policies that limit diversity.

They said their institutions have made strides in the area of diversity and inclusion, but much more work remains.

“It is imperative that we all do our part to improve the health of all communities by dismantling barriers to inequities in health care,” Eadie said. “We have developed specific priorities to help eliminate systemic racism in our communities. … Having a workforce that is as diverse as the communities we serve is essential and helps maximize our full potential.”