The beginning of a new year is usually a time for optimism. But for a U.S. health system stretched thin by wave after wave of COVID-19 variants, that hope may be hard to come by.
The healthcare workforce is depleted, exhausted, and demoralized. Care quality is often degraded, and patient accessibility is still lacking. Data is everywhere, but not always available or decipherable to help manage myriad challenges. Financial and revenue cycle disruptions are significant. Progress toward accountable care is halting. Relentless cyberattacks are an ongoing threat.
But still, there are reasons to be cheerful. Technology is never a panacea, but tools and strategies are emerging and evolving to meet some of these challenges and to help build a brighter future – one of more robust interoperability, renewed attention to social determinants of health, and carefully deployed telehealth and remote monitoring programs, to name just a few imperatives.
We heard recently from an array of technology leaders, who offered some insights into their expectations for the year ahead. Here’s what they had to say.
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Jerry Shultz, president of Lightbeam Health, whose population health management platform helps risk-bearing organizations manage the cost and quality demands of value-based reimbursement, would like to see a wholesale effort to improve the care delivery system writ large.
“Faced with a once-in-a-century pandemic on top of new digital care-delivery models, clinicians and care managers have been overwhelmed with mountains of data, best-practice advisories and alert fatigue that, while seeking to streamline care management, have only made it harder,” said Shultz.
“As a result of reaching a tipping point on these issues, I believe 2022 will see the beginning of a Peace Corps-type effort to address burnout through a combination of industry innovation and government incentives,” he said.
Source: Healthcareitnews