The 2021 edition of EY’s annual report into healthcare trends argues that the industry has reached a major fork in the road. “In the last 12 months there’s been a step change in how care is delivered, which I’m very optimistic about,” says Pamela Spence, global health sciences and wellness industry leader at EY. As Spence sees it, the industry must now use this opportunity to build a better health experience for clinicians and patients alike.
Where before our interaction with healthcare services normally involved trips to doctors’ surgeries, hospitals and clinics, much of that care can now be delivered remotely. What was embraced as an urgent necessity during a global health emergency will now form part of a smarter, more patient-focused future. “It’s laid the foundations for some exciting innovations,” says Spence. And it’s a future that we can start working towards right now. Here are the major trends that will help us get there.
1. We will enter the era of patient-centred technologies
The technology to enable telehealth has been available for years, but it was the pandemic that made patients and doctors alike realise its potential. “At the moment, patients have to fit themselves into a very static and staid infrastructure,” says Spence. But as more healthcare services move online, the primary care industry can shift to making services work for patients. This focus on improving patient experience will ensure that healthcare systems are made to fit around our lives and needs, not the other way around.
Such changes could be as simple as replacing multiple trips to clinics to give samples and take tests, with someone being sent a special kit so they can perform those tests themselves while at home. “That’s what we mean about putting humans at the centre of care,” says Spence.
2. Healthcare providers will need to make the supply chain work for all of us
That shift to more flexible, patient-focused care will also necessitate changes in how supply chains operate. “Right now, it’s mass-market and shipped in one direction,” says Spence. But as healthcare becomes more personalised and treatment plans are tailored to individual patients, healthcare services and pharmaceutical companies will need to use new sources of data to ensure the right kind of care gets to the right people at the right time.
“The challenge is to develop supply chains that are very agile, flexible and can scale up and down to respond to predicted demand,” says Spence. The future is mass customisation, with tailored treatments delivered to large groups of people. In addition, with the advent of new cell and gene therapies, we now have the ability to customise the actual medicine itself to an individual patient. These will be challenging to deliver at scale, but with the opportunity technology now gives us, it’s entirely possible. For these tailored personalised treatments to be replicated across the whole healthcare industry, all parts of the supply chain will need to work together to exchange complex data at lightning speed – without making mistakes.
3. A move away from fee-for-service care will create better outcomes
The healthcare industry’s fee-for-service model can only get us so far. As patients demand more personalised care, and pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers respond accordingly, the industry will need to adopt commercial models that have a more nuanced understanding of risk and reward.
“We have to drive out inefficiency by only paying for things that work,” says Spence. That doesn’t mean abandoning riskier treatments, but rather ensuring data is captured in such a way that we can thoroughly assess the benefits of new therapies. These benefits won’t just be quantified by survival rates and lab results, but by other things that really matter to people. From quality of life to ensuring people can live and work independently, ascribing value in healthcare needs to move beyond looking only at survival rates and lab results.
4. Accessing data, not owning it, will become the new normal
The healthcare industry generates unprecedented volumes of data every day, but little of it is usable – it sits in silos, while securely sharing such data is commercially and technically complex. What’s more, many healthcare companies see their data as a proprietary asset that is shrouded in secrecy.
To truly unlock its value, the industry must move away from obsessing over owning data and instead focus on accessing and interrogating it. “Why do you need access to the data set?” says Spence. “What is the question that you want to ask?” The true value in data lies in what it can teach you from the insights generated. “It's about access and asking specific questions,” says Spence. “That will really help to drive things.”
5. Sustainability will be the foundation of long-term value
The environmental and economic impact of the companies and products we depend on, in all walks of life, is one of the defining issues of our era. “Let’s take life sciences companies as an example,” says Spence. “They are going to have to start proactively measuring the sustainable practices and long-term value that they as an organisation are giving to society.”
Here, markets, as well as individuals, will apply pressure on companies to demonstrate that their business practices, as well as their products, protect and promote health and wellness. “Capital markets are beginning to ascribe value to sustainable practices,” says Spence. “So organisations need to set themselves up to start measuring it.” And in the fight against climate change, companies that come out top in terms of sustainability will have not just a commercial edge, but also reap the benefits of contributing to a healthier, greener world.
Find out more about the key trends shaping the future of healthcare in EY’s annual trends report
Pamela Spence at WIRED Health 2021
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
