4 Take-Aways from Deloitte’s 2020 Global Healthcare Outlook Review

This February, Deloitte published their annual 2020 US AND GLOBAL HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY OUTLOOK PAPER, which uses their research to detail the future of the healthcare community. While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic surely impacts the predictions and focus in healthcare this year, Deloitte’s annual report remains a crucial resource for showing healthcare’s roadmap in the coming year.

Here are our main take-aways from Deloitte’s report:

1. In 2020, the health care sector must restructure care models

“New strategies, capabilities, and technologies are shifting health systems’ focus from providing episodic, acute care to keeping people healthy”

One particular spotlight in care model reform is virtual health, which became invaluable during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Virtual health uses telecommunication and networked technologies to connect clinicians with patients (and with other clinicians and stakeholders) to remotely deliver health care services and support well-being. Virtual health appears to have the capacity to inform, personalize, accelerate, and augment people’s ability to care for one another. Apart from enabling video visits or teleconferencing appointments, virtual health can act as a complement to, or even a substitute for, in-person care delivery based on patient population needs, health organization capabilities, and resource availability. Virtual health helps stakeholders access relevant data easily, improve quality of care, and deliver value”.

"Virtual health appears to have the capacity to inform, personalize, accelerate, and augment people’s ability to care for one another."

2. A focus on Population Health Management

“While just one of many levers to tackle health outcomes, PHM is increasingly viewed as a key to ensuring the affordability and sustainability of care. PHM is the concept of gathering data and insights about population health and well-being across multiple care and service settings, with a view to identify the main health care needs of the community and adapt services accordingly. Today, major advances in data analytics, machine learning, and digital technologies can provide the tools to make PHM a reality, by helping to identify risks and stratify patient populations, improving the speed and accuracy of diagnostics, and designing personalized treatment plans.”

“If PHM is to be embedded throughout the health system, there are numerous barriers to overcome; not the least of which is the challenge of linking previously disparate data sets and developing leadership models that embrace new, integrated, ways of working and a shared culture and mindset. Clinical and care teams also should look to private health insurance for ways to connect with and organize populations in need of care.”

3. The entry of non-traditional players in the healthcare industry

“Digital giants and digital-first health solution disruptors are taking advantage of their large customer base and cloud platforms, demonstrating that there is an easier and more user-friendly way to conduct health care transactions. In response, industry incumbents are thinking differently about their digital front door: Many are starting to build capabilities around the empowered consumer, reshaping their business models, and even partnering with market disruptors to create a seamless, frictionless digital health care experience.”

4. Digital Transformation and interoperability

“Digital transformation is slated to play a major part in laying the foundation for new care delivery models”

Current emerging innovations in digital health include:

• Cloud computing solutions
• 5G technology
• Radical interoperability and open platforms
• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Natural Language Processing (NLP)
• Big Data Analytics
• Data as a Platform (DaaP)
• And more...

To read their full report, you can access it on their website HERE.

Want to read more from the Patient Care Logistics Journal? Check out our guide to Patient Care Logistics: the new frontier of care delivery.

Burrill, Steve “2020 US and Global Health Care Outlook.” Deloitte United States, 24 June 2020, www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/life-sciences-and-health-care/articles/global-health-care-sector-outlook.html.