How the COVID crisis can spark positive healthcare reform?

Healthcare systems have adopted telehealth because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital technology can help people manage their health better before they become sick.

COVID-19 has an incredible impact on the entire world, as we have all seen. It is causing a lot of harm to patients and healthcare systems. However, I see a window for opportunity. Can we all collectively seize the moment to accelerate and spark the fundamental changes required in healthcare? Can we disrupt how healthcare is organized, distributed, and delivered?

Before the crisis, pressures on global health systems, providers, and staff were already unsustainable. Here’s how.

Philips has been actively involved in the COVID-19 crisis since its inception. We have mobilized worldwide our resources to increase our global production of ventilators and other medical equipment used to treat and diagnose COVID-19 sufferers. The shift to telehealth solutions has been accelerated, and it is now at the top of almost every agenda.

Virtual Care does not mean that you can move care delivery outside the hospital. It is about realizing that the way we look at our health before, during, and after hospital visits can significantly impact it. Remote digital health technology can help foster a holistic approach to health and other health concerns. A system that prioritizes ongoing management of chronic conditions and preventative health strategies.

Virtual Care has risen under COVID-19

It’s amazing how much has happened in a matter of months. The Future Health Index report revealed that telehealth was not yet a part of healthcare professionals’ daily work. 39% said they didn’t use telehealth at their hospital or practice.

Telehealth seems to be a necessity today rather than a “nice to have”. According to Frost & Sullivan, we are experiencing a “radical telehealth growth”. The pre-COVID-19 compound annual growth rate for the US was just over 28%. Now, it’s almost 40%. Remote patient monitoring is projected to grow by 150% this year.

The complexity of investing in the digitization of healthcare used to be a problem. These large initial investments weren’t likely to yield immediate results, so budget holders, payers, and healthcare institutions often didn’t have the financial incentive to make them. We see widespread reimbursement models today for telehealth services. Virtual Care is now available to virtually everyone. Business model development has become proactive and reactive.

Technology is not the only solution to healthcare problems. Healthcare transformation must go far beyond just digital health technology. To transform healthcare, all stakeholders must work together and be focused on the following:

• Building the regulatory infrastructure required for healthcare: The pace of transformation in an industry such as healthcare has been slow due to heavy regulation, complex governance structures and slow adoption of disruptive tools. It is not surprising that big topics like interoperability, secure data exchange, and other important industry topics – crucial for widespread telehealth adoption – are difficult to achieve. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a forced trial of many of these issues. We saw a loosening in regulation, such as a waiver of restrictions at originating sites and federated exchanging of health information among systems.
• One example is the launch of the national portal to exchange COVID-19 patient information in the Netherlands. Major health institutions, government, and industry created an online portal to allow Dutch hospitals to share COVID-19 patient data in weeks. Since its launch, 95% of Dutch hospitals have signed up for this portal. These kinds of crucial public-private partnerships are essential for the future.
• Training and education of end-users are essential to ensure these technologies are fully understood and integrated into daily practice. The Future Health Index 2020 report was created shortly before the COVID-19 crisis. It revealed that younger healthcare professionals are experiencing significant skill shortages in key areas like handling stress, implementing new technology, and driving efficiency. Younger healthcare professionals also cite telehealth (23%) from a healthcare professional to health professionals (20%) and patients (20%) as the best digital technology to improve their work satisfaction. These two technologies are also considered the best digital health technology for improving patient Care in the next five years. This crisis has made me certain that telehealth must be a part of medical training to ensure the safety and well-being of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals during times like this.
• Lowering healthcare costs. Before COVID-19, healthcare spending in the US was projected to increase at 5.4% per year and reach $6.2 trillion by 2028. This is almost 20% of the GDP. It is likely that once we return to a “new normal” in healthcare, healthcare payers (governments, private payers, and employers) will continue to reduce healthcare spending, emphasizing innovative payment methods aggressively. These problems have been addressed by value-based care models (VBC). These models allow providers to be reimbursed based on quality (or value) rather than the number or volume of services provided. VBC models will be slower to deal with the crisis in the short term. But the long-term outlook is brighter as the current crisis accelerates the acceptance of telehealth services and connected Care.
• Attracting, retaining and motivating healthcare professionals. In recent months, there have been many instances of healthcare workers going above and beyond to help their patients during times of crisis. The healthcare community’s critical role in fighting the pandemic has also been recognized more widely by the public. One possible outcome of the COVID-19 disaster is that more physicians may feel frustrated by overworked health systems and decide to leave medicine. Although this may occur, I believe many people, perhaps the younger generation of healthcare professionals, will feel inspired to make a difference in society by choosing medicine as a career. They are needed. According to a recent World Health Organization report, nearly 6 million nurses have a global shortage. However, we must recognize and face the untold harm that systematic burnout is causing to the profession.
• We must get elective Care back on track as soon as possible. We need to stop the COVID-19 pandemic from affecting patients with other diseases like stroke, cancer, heart disease and cancer. Many elective procedures will become more important in the future. Patients suffering from early-stage cancer and aneurysms in the aorta should not wait to be treated. These patients owe us a duty to reschedule planned procedures as soon as possible.