Certainly, the emergence of emergencies is the most natural way of grabbing attention and this can be proved with the prevailing COVID-19 crisis. As the global pandemic continues to disrupt thousands of lives, biz experts are making more use of data and information to smoothly sail through uncertain situations. With the pandemic, several broken aspects of the legacy healthcare system were highlighted, especially the disconnected technology initiatives, which is why employers are embracing digital transformation.
The business leaders are keen to assess the impact of the pandemic and understand how critical it is to streamline the focal point towards stronger employee engagement and better use of digital health technologies for employee health and patient health. Outlining such a strategy requires a significant transformation in several aspects such as healthcare providers, employers, life sciences organizations, and consumer-centric healthcare data platforms.
Prior to discussing how improving care is one of the essential features of the future of healthcare, let is comprehensively discuss how the global pandemic is impacting the transformation of the health care sector.
Closing the loopholes of the health care sector
One good thing that happened with the pandemic is that the inefficiencies in current workflows in the healthcare sector were unveiled. Limited access to authentic data from multiple sources, restricted efficiency & affordable care as examples. With the increasing burden of work, many health care providers were relying on traditional technologies and processes like fax for communicating with physicians and other hospitals.
With the exposure of the broken aspects of the current healthcare system, many opportunities have developed a resilient system, particularly in areas like the collaboration with doctors, employee care delivery, and easy affordability. The employers understand the indication of these broken aspects and put efforts to find out innovative ways to deliver better employee care.
Leveraging the power of data and analytics
Personalization never goes out of fashion. And employers who understand the importance of delivering highly-personalized experiences can make the right use of data and analytics. They need to have valuable and actionable insights by deploying digital technologies. And as a matter of fact, the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of data and technology for those who were reluctant to. Implementing virtual health tools, for example, which otherwise might have taken a long time to break the ice, has accelerated rapidly.
Advanced digital technologies such as digital assistants are an integral part of maintaining the internal processes and support employee health management. Health care experts agree that the only way forward is to focus more on how to deliver the best care, products, and services to more people at an affordable price, and to be more accessible and deliver better value that will give you a differentiation from others.
Now that we have how the global pandemic is impacting the transformation of the health care sector for employee health management, let us discuss the best transformative solutions.
1. Enable employee care
The great innovators of healthcare technology are focusing on creating solutions that will help in both increasing access and convenience. They are also putting efforts into developing powerful financial tools with benefits consultants to deliver affordable financing options to employers.
If the consumers are struggling to pay their personal health care bills especially due to the COVID-19 crisis, health care providers are partnering closely with health systems and insurance companies to offer consumers lower interest rates and longer repayment options for the high expenses.
The main goal of providing so many digital health options is to increase access to high-quality care by reducing financial hindrances and enhancing smooth healthcare navigation. They also simplify the task of the physicians’ jobs by automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks that are equally important tasks like ordering medication, adding diagnoses codes in the documentation, and populating billing templates.
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2. Focus on data and platforms
The health care providers are partnering closely with incumbents to collect data, filter it, and create an infrastructure that can help the consumers make better health decisions at an affordable cost.
The innovators are investing effort to create platforms that make it easier to connect employees to physicians along with specialists. With unprecedented opportunities for employers to set clear expectations for getting the best quality and low-cost care, they should negotiate for health care solutions with the same diligence as their business needs.
Employers can implement a thoughtful approach by partnering with healthcare solutions that emphasizes digital engagement and also helps the employees to stay motivated simultaneously managing healthcare costs.
3. Be consumer-focused
Today the employers, as well as consumers, are more involved in their healthcare choices, it is essential for the industry to deliver an unforgettable experience that is seamless. Having a strategy that starts with acquiring consumer data and maintaining transparency at every stage of decision-making is needed.
One big challenge faced by consumers is to deal with a lack of transparency in health care about the care costs as well as the value of services in improving their health. Without consumer information, they have had difficulty in making more informed decisions that ended up with a waste of time and money, and more importantly, worse health outcomes.
However, with the distribution of data and more exposure to extravagant spending, consumers are demanding more transparency. Hence, employers need to make it a focal point to understand the health care benefits landscape. Structuring the benefits, the consultants can help them expand data at scale and improve their health care purchasing power.
Moving health care industry towards future
The modern health care arrangements are usually more focused on cost reduction as a measure of success, not improving the quality of life. As the health care models develop, all the stakeholders that comprise providers, employers, and consumers will demand the best quality, transparency, and efficiency.
The global pandemic has given a golden chance to employers to partner with health systems to deploy advanced digital technology, data, and automation. With a plethora of digital health innovations and options available, choosing the right health plans that can improve the consumer experience is extremely crucial. It will ensure access and can help maximize clinical results and business value.
About Net Health
Net Health provides software and analytics for specialty medical providers across the continuum of care. Net Health’s interoperable solutions ensure compliance, improve outcomes, empower providers and inspire care. The company serves over 14,000 facilities, including 98 percent of the largest hospital chains, two-thirds of skilled nursing facilities and many leading hospice organizations and private practices. Net Health is a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, Level Equity and Silversmith Capital Partners.
