Heading into the backend of 2020, we’re witnessing radical change at each level of the healthcare system. Beyond the dedicated amount of care and attention given to each coronavirus-positive patient, tight budgets and limited resources create new challenges each day.
From the frontline caregivers to CTOs to vendor partners, COVID-19 has forced all parties to reevaluate how to best strategize and deliver world-leading treatments in the face of a global pandemic – not an easy task.
When reflecting on lessons learned from the pandemic (and looking forward) – a major priority that stands out is the need to better organize and unite the different departments, or “personas”, existing in the hospital, namely the C-suite, biomed / clinical engineering and IT.
While these departments are often forced to collaborate by crises, too often does the segmented nature of the health system result in siloed operations, i.e. ones where the departments rarely interact with each other. Each of these departments have their own specific requirements and objectives and, if there is an overlap, then there can be a struggle over whose priority is more essential.
While this hierarchy worked in pre-COVID times, it’s now clear that the challenges of the new healthcare system are too complex and urgent to tackle in a piecemeal fashion. Instead, we must bring together the separate departments and arm them with the technology, data and insights to make joint decisions – whether this is relocating critical medical devices to patients in need, shoring up cybersecurity attack surfaces, or completing asset procurement orders based on urgent demand.
Bridging the Departments
When looking at the responsibilities of the different “personas” in the hospital, it is fairly easy to see why silos occur. At the top, the C-suite is focused on high-level operations and business imperatives, which makes it difficult to gain a granular view of what’s most needed by the different departments. In comparison, the biomed or clinical engineering teams are operating on the ground level and tasked with maintaining all the equipment or services in the hospital – a task made exceedingly difficult by the explosion of medical and IoT devices on a hospital’s network.
IT’s role intersects with all the aforementioned areas – leveraging the C-suite to obtain the funds and approval to advance operating systems needed to keep the hospital on the cutting-edge of medical innovation, as well as collaborating with the biomed team to coordinate security procedures across all the equipment they must maintain.
By Tara Mahoney, head of healthcare practice, Avaya.
Tara Mahoney
COVID-19 has forever changed the U.S. healthcare system with the acceleration of digital transformation and remote collaboration. As 2020 past us now, we’re getting a clearer picture of what post-pandemic healthcare in the U.S. will look like (or rather, require). Based on my industry background at Avaya, here are four predictions as we continue into 2021:
Prediction #1: Telehealth is here to stay and it’s forcing us to reimagine current care models. It must and will evolve.
The pandemic thrusted organizations into the inevitable telehealth revolution, but it’s not likely COVID-19 will push the timetable forward as much as some claim. Telehealth is about much more than “just” video-based physician visits. It will evolve to cover many workflows where patients and care teams cannot be together, including virtual rounding, remote patient monitoring, bedside consultation. It’s about being able to seamlessly coordinate across the entire health organization in a way that positively impacts key measures of clinical quality – all while addressing information security concerns and abiding by HIPAA regulations.
It’s about the use of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) for collecting important healthcare data in real-time to enable proactive, remote care delivery. It’s about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data analytics to make critical predictions about patient diagnoses, treatment side effects, staffing, and expenses. It’s a complex journey, only made more complex by historically slow-to-change industry policies.
Health systems pulled together in 2020, but that’s not enough for sustainable digital transformation. Organizations will take their time navigating the complexities of digitization and remote collaboration as they embrace a new future of operations and patient care. We will see current care models change, albeit incrementally.
Well before the world was forced to go remote, there was a transformation taking place in the medical sphere that held the keys to a whole new way of serving patients. A myriad of connected devices and digital workflows were being developed in healthcare that would streamline manual processes and improve efficiency for both patients and providers alike.
When in-person visits for relatively healthy patients proved too risky beginning in the spring of 2020, Medicare temporarily waived restrictions on certain telehealth initiatives predating the smartphone era, and patients and providers didn’t hesitate to buy in. This transformation has stuck, as providers and patients have largely found a comfortable balance in meeting each other digitally.
Siemens Healthineers, for instance, found that while many of their healthcare provider customers felt strained adapting their services at the beginning of the pandemic, new remote strategies that were put in place as stopgap measures, like having workers who aren’t directly involved with patient care log on remotely, proved to solve a slew of chronic challenges.
Digitally-delivered remote care can also have a substantial impact on patient experience even when caregivers and patients are in the same building. Just as non-critical-care health professionals (ie. Patient Administration) can access office work from home, nurses and doctors who may be in the same building as those in their care can treat patients at a safe distance by leveraging a bevy of remote working tools.
The three primary benefits of remote care and telehealth on the short and long term include:
Ensuring patient and worker safety: While limiting human exposure to viral infection is an immediate concern that telehealth addresses, we’re learning lessons today that we’ll apply across the board when it comes to patient and provider safety via telemedicine. For instance, providing care becomes less hazardous at a distance when doctors and nurses aren’t exposed to radiation during cardiovascular treatments. Telehealth also limits the need for time-consuming hygiene protocols when there’s less physical interaction between patients and caregivers.
Solving resource and capacity limitations: While there were many reports about a lack of ventilators during the first peak of the pandemic in the US, there was also a dearth of professionals available to actually operate this machinery. Remote healthcare solutions can be implemented in times like this to connect experienced operators with staff-strapped hospitals to share their expertise, all while monitoring a patient’s vital signs from afar. Many patients also find it more convenient to schedule telehealth appointments with their providers as this offers more schedule flexibility since travel requirements hinders their ability to visit the provider’s office.
Improving efficiency and care quality: When non-critical workers in the healthcare field don’t have to worry about exposure to the stresses (and viruses) of the doctor’s office or hospital, there’s a significantly lower risk of burnout. This has the potential to, in turn, lower the incident of treatment errors, while increasing productivity and morale.
However, the rush to remote care and away from the doctor’s office isn’t going to represent a total reversal overnight on how the industry operates, even though it succeeded in times of stress. For many healthcare providers centered in more ISP-rich population hubs, reaching rural communities involves ensuring the delivery of traffic across a bevy of stakeholders (local ISPs, transit networks, etc.).
COVID-19 has disrupted industries, and nowhere is it more apparent than in healthcare. Given the urgency of addressing the pandemic – from ensuring new protocols are in place amidst the pandemic, prioritizing capacity and delivering healthcare services in new manners – the concept of the “patient experience” may have been put on the backburner for many in the industry. That is a mistake.
Now, moreso than ever, is the time to put the patient experience front and center. People are re-evaluating how they consume healthcare: asking themselves – is this the safest way for me to handle my medical care? Is it the best way? Can we leverage more virtual and digital solutions for care?
Indeed, a new report found those health systems that evolve to meet patient needs, amidst the pandemic, are best poised to not only retain their current patient base but also increase it. Healthcare providers could potentially increase their revenues by 5% to 10% of their pre-COVID levels within 12 months. For a $5 billion health system, this equals between $250 million and $500 million in additional annual revenues. Think about it – people have put off many non-urgent medical issues that they will eventually need to address. But it doesn’t mean that they will naturally return to their previous healthcare provider.
According to this report, two out of three patients are likely to switch to a new provider if their expectations for how the healthcare provider manages COVID-19 are not met. To avoid losses and position for growth, providers should take the following approach to improve patient experience.
Embrace change
Providers should listen to a patient’s unique concerns to better understand their communities. This allows real-time response to fears and confusion or reinforcement of actionable information. For example, if there is a need for additional counsel—such as symptoms of COVID-19 compared to symptoms of other illnesses—listening will present an opportunity to quickly provide necessary information. Alternatively, if something is not going as planned, community feedback gives healthcare providers an advantage to get ahead of potential problems (and their solutions). Leveraging digital tools to stay connected will not only help healthcare providers during this pandemic crisis, but could be used in a post-COVID world as a way to stay connected.
In no small part to the fact that we live within a decidedly digital society, it only stands to reason that securing personal and private information is now one of the most pertinent concerns. This is also why the European Union created the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) protocol to mitigate the chances of private material falling into the wrong hands. Of course, some sectors tend to be more vulnerable than others. One striking example involves the e-health community. This article highlights the steps firms can take to better protect their clients and remain in full compliance with GDPR guidelines.
The Role of ITAD for Health Organizations
First and foremost, the notion of IT Asset Distribution (ITAD) is critical to address before moving on. The main concern involves the fact that important patient information (such as names, email addresses and financial details) may be inadvertently stored within end-of-life devices such as computers and mobile phones. If they are not disposed of properly, there is always a risk that this data can be subsequently accessed by a (potentially nefarious) third party. ITAD provides start-up healthcare organisations with a handful of options including:
Overwriting the existing information.
Magnetically erasing the data; rendering it completely inaccessible.
Physically destroying the device(s) in question.
As these processes are not normally able to be accomplished through the use of in-house techniques, it is better to outsource such solutions to third-party vendors with a proven track record.
A Disturbing Trend Within the Healthcare Sector
Another issue which start-up online healthcare providers must overcome involves online security in relation to current GDRP regulations. This has been highlighted by a handful of stark facts; perhaps the most worrisome is that 66 percent of firms still do not utilise a secure HTTPS server. Not only will this place the data of patients at risk, but it also augments the chances that the website in question could fall victim to hacking and similar activities. Thus, it is crucial that all e-health portals adopt the appropriate SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) systems to avert any possible breaches sooner as opposed to later.
Automation has become increasingly popular in business over the past few years. By automating business processes, you can reduce errors, save time, and save your business a lot of money.
It can seem like a daunting prospect, though. How on earth do you go about automating a complex process? Especially one as complex as a medical claims audit?
By breaking your process down and working with experts in the field, you’ll find that your processes can be automated, and you can start enjoying the benefits.
Work with experts in your field
When looking for your claims audit software, it’s important that you work with a provider who understands your industry and who has worked on automation projects in your industry before.
If your software provider is experienced in your field, they will be able to give you great insight on how to go about the automation process, as well as having experience of where these projects have been successful (or not so successful) for other companies in your industry.
They should also be able to make suggestions on how to improve your business processes, as a lot of automation is around making the processes themselves as streamlined as possible, rather than simply just asking a computer to do the process that is already in place.
By Rachele Elasky, product manager, and Sarah Chien, analytics solutions manager, Carrot Health.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in recent months predicted both lower premiums and richer benefits for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans in 2021. Specifically, CMS anticipated a decrease in average premiums of more than 34% from 2017 levels while plan choice, benefits, and enrollment increased—making the average monthly premium the lowest in 14 years.
But while CMS accurately depicted the indisputable trend of moving toward lower costs and higher value in MA offerings, it did not tell the whole story. To do that, we consolidated and reported on all Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) benefit data nationwide released by CMS. This provides a much clearer picture on how these trends impact individual members vs. across member populations.
Following are the highlights of that analysis.
More Plans Offered Than Ever Before
There will be a 13% increase over 2020 in the number of MA plans available nationwide for individual enrollment in 2021. At 3,545, this is the most plans ever offered and includes 665 new plans—a nearly 4% increase from the 642 new plans offered in 2020.
While MA enrollment is rapidly increasing, the competition is growing even faster. In 2021, there will be 21.5 MA plans in the country for every 100,000 beneficiaries. That compares to 16.8 plans per 100,000 in 2018, which is an increase of more than 53% in just four years.
This growth is not uniform across the country, however. Densely populated markets in the Northeast such as metropolitan geographies typically have the most plans to choose from although enrollment growth rates have been higher in more rural areas of the country in recent years.
New Plans, More Value
New MA plans being introduced into the market for 2021 generally offer more value than existing plans through lower premiums and richer benefits. Among new plans, premiums are one-fifth of those for existing plans ($9 vs. $42), anticipated out-of-pocket costs are lower, and nearly every supplement benefit is offered at a higher rate.
It’s no secret that healthcare businesses face some unique challenges, especially in this unstable economy. And with so many regulations and rules on the books, it can be challenging to make changes that result in long-term success. That’s why these five proven tips can help you make big changes that can have a real impact:
Form a strong base on social media
We often feel that Facebook, YouTube, etc. These social sites are just for the youths, and that nothing significant can occur here. But let me tell you are gone are the days when these statements were considered trustworthy, how nearly everybody is socially very successfully promoting their businesses. Social media has a great reach and network.
You can share any sensitive information about any patients online. But you can use it carefully and follow it up on Facebook or any other platform. You can also write a blog about common health issues and tips to cure them so that more and more people come to know about you. This way, you can uplift the graph of your patients. Continue Reading
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