escalating worries surface in healthcare sector through our digital platforms
In the rapidly evolving landscape of healthcare, health systems and health plans are facing a multitude of challenges in 2023. A recent survey by Deloitte Center for Health Solutions has shed light on the top organizational concerns that these entities are grappling with.
Workforce Challenges and Burnout
High clinician stress and burnout remain critical issues, exacerbated by financial pressures on providers. To address this, organizations are urged to adopt strategic workforce planning using AI-driven predictive hiring, cross-training, and staff efficiency improvements to balance supply and demand and maintain quality care.
Cost Pressures and Medical Inflation
Economic inflation heavily impacts healthcare providers, leading to hospitals seeking higher reimbursement rates and health plans facing rising cost pressures. Specialty drug launches, particularly GLP-1 therapies and ongoing growth in behavioral health service utilization, contribute to escalating costs and challenge payers' ability to manage medical trends effectively.
Complexity in Healthcare Delivery and Care Quality
Despite consolidation and hospital mergers aimed at value improvement, evidence suggests care quality and access may not be improving proportionally. Unions and physician organizing face difficulties, which may delay addressing clinician concerns and impact care delivery.
Governance and Coordination Gaps
Effective, agile leadership and governance structures are vital but often inadequate for responding to crises, leading to poor coordination, communication bottlenecks, and resource management issues during emergencies.
Supply Chain and Data Security Issues
Although not specifically detailed in the search results, general patterns in 2023 include ongoing supply chain disruptions affecting equipment and drug availability, coupled with challenges securing healthcare data, which can impact operational continuity and patient safety.
In summary, organizational priorities center on strategic workforce management, controlling rising costs amid inflation, improving governance to handle external shocks efficiently, and ensuring quality care delivery despite complex economic and regulatory environments.
External Concerns
The economic situation, potential health care regulatory and policy changes, supply chain disruption, tariffs/trade policy changes, and Medicaid reform are external concerns for health systems and health plans. The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in 2022, includes key provisions that could impact drug pricing policy for health plans.
Internal Focus
Deloitte counseled that health care organizations pursuing innovation and growth in a complex environment should not overlook internal issues. The Deloitte survey report noted that prescription drugs, medical equipment, and other medical supplies account for about 20% of the average hospital's expenses, and potential new tariffs on these imports could increase costs by 15% or more.
Interestingly, cybersecurity has dropped in priority, despite ongoing cyber threats. However, it is crucial for health systems and health plans to remain vigilant and invest in robust cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive patient data.
[1] Source: Deloitte Center for Health Solutions survey report [2] Source: Health Affairs [3] Source: JAMA Internal Medicine [4] Source: American Journal of Managed Care
- The economic inflation in 2023 is heavily impacting healthcare providers, forcing them to seek higher reimbursement rates and challenging health plans' ability to manage medical trends effectively.
- Organizations must adopt strategic workforce planning using AI-driven predictive hiring, cross-training, and staff efficiency improvements to address the issue of high clinician stress and burnout.
- Despite consolidation and hospital mergers, evidence suggests that care quality and access may not be improving proportionally, making it difficult for unions and physician organizing to address clinician concerns.
- Effective and agile leadership is vital for responding to crises, but often inadequate, leading to poor coordination, communication bottlenecks, and resource management issues during emergencies.
- In the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, health systems and health plans are also concerned about external factors such as potential health care regulatory and policy changes, supply chain disruption, tariffs/trade policy changes, and Medicaid reform.
- Cybersecurity has dropped in priority, despite ongoing cyber threats, but it is crucial for health systems and health plans to remain vigilant and invest in robust cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive patient data.
- Prescription drugs, medical equipment, and other medical supplies account for about 20% of the average hospital's expenses, and potential new tariffs on these imports could increase costs by 15% or more, posing a significant internal challenge for healthcare organizations.
