We’re in the business of supporting the business of healthcare, and along with everyone else, we’ve witnessed severe challenges within the industry over the past two years for both patients and providers. We believe insights and innovation are more critical than ever for the health of healthcare.
These are 6 current challenges we see facing Healthcare in the US today.
Access – Patients are confronted with challenges to accessible quality care and equitable care, amplified by disparities between healthcare systems and the growing gap between urban and rural health outcomes and availability.
Workforce – Always challenging to keep healthcare systems fully staffed with the necessary providers, the impact of COVID on the workforce has increased provider burnout, intensifying pressure on overburdened systems. One example: resources for mental health have dramatically decreased relative to the need.
Agility – Human resources and physical environments have both been bombarded with the need for increased flexibility and agility to meet rapidly changing demands, like assigning providers from specialty areas to COVID care and modifying care environments to manage overflow in quantities never imagined.
Diversity – Healthcare is not immune to social responsibility to their communities, patients and providers, and the need for increased diversity is a challenge faced by all members of the ecosystem.
Technology – Increased need for social distancing during the pandemic encouraged broader use of digital healthcare and exposed the need to embrace and deliver virtual care in a way that supports patients equitably. The effect of insurance coverage on this “new” delivery method is still evolving.
Cost Control – The dramatic impact of COVID, patient level costing, supply chain challenges, disparities between healthcare system costs, profit margins and insurance reimbursement issues are some factors challenging cost control in Healthcare.
If you’d like to unbundle some of these issues with us, please join the State of Seattle Healthcare Executive panel discussion October 13, moderated by OpenSquare Director of Health + Wellness Environments, Rhonda Pollard.
We’ll also follow up with a second blog with the insights shared during that conversation.