Stakeholders from five countries identify critical digital transformation connections in the 2022 HIMSS survey.
"Most providers, payers and clinicians [understand] that traditional healthcare will give way to a different patient experience … When a doctor visit is warranted, they will more likely seek medical centers with digital front doors, retail based urgent care and big tech companies moving into the healthcare arena."
The implications from an August 2022 HIMSS Future of Healthcare report signal just how secondary in-person care could become before decade's end—with trackers and apps driving prevention and wellness, and advanced telehealth and remote monitoring subbing for acute care and preventing hospital readmissions.
Highlights from the HIMSS report follow, with a focus on payers but based on healthcare leader responses from five countries: the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand.
A new confidence in navigating disruption?
"Almost every US and international healthcare system intends to be in some stage of digital transformation by 2026-2027." So begins the HIMSS report, adding: "[R]esponses make clear that a transition toward digitally enabled and personalized care is well underway, even as adoption rates vary."
- Health systems: Roughly 90% are preparing to deliver "digital-first primary care within the next five years." For specialty care, the number is nearly 50%, up 30% from the prior HIMSS report. These numbers—this year and last—are similar for "digitally enabled contact/service centers."
- Clinicians: Some 76% of providers globally and 62% in the U.S. believe patients' willingness to use digital health tools will increase in the next five years.
- Payers: With big gains in their belief that nontraditional approaches will drive personalized care delivery, U.S. health plans are catching up to their global counterparts—with mental/behavioral health, retail clinics, and online-only services leading the way.
There is something about inevitability that breeds confidence.
Look back five years and fewer than half of companies felt ready to respond to digital disruption. Fast forward five years and a similar amount of health systems expect to be implementing "core clinical and enterprise digital initiatives."
While the what and the how of transformation may differ by stakeholder, HIMSS adds: "Every group in the study was encouraged by the potential for digitally transforming health systems to greatly improve current health access disparities, rather than to further isolate patients located in digital deserts."
The Garmin will see you now
The best way to combat digital deserts is to create an oasis of digital doors, consumer-friendly entry points that marry trackers and apps to telehealth and remote monitoring on the care side and to diverse digital communication on the service side.
Despite multiple advances, clinicians are confident of their place in the digital landscape. HIMSS notes: "Fewer than 15% of clinicians across different countries believed they would be working in a fully digital work environment five years from now. This reflects growing understanding that digital transformation is ongoing, and that technology's role is to augment and not fully replace human interaction."
Clinicians are bullish on general tech enablement, including "workflow improvements that free up time to spend on complex cases," as well as better personalized care in three leading areas: cardiovascular disease, mental and behavioral health, and respiratory conditions.
How payers view the path to 2027
Predictably, the HIMSS report notes that "payers are excited by digital transformations' potential cost savings," adding that they "intend to improve incentives to push both plan holders and healthcare partners toward adopting digital tools that keep patients healthy and out of hospitals."
Payers are also confident that, post pandemic, "financial and technical barriers will ease" in the coming years and that "big tech innovation will be a major driver of digital transformations." However, compared to the 75% of U.S. payers that see tech innovation as the driver, only 64% believe tech companies will take command, particularly when it comes to personalized care innovation.
Bigger and techy-er may indeed be better
There is some but not total agreement on who will lead innovation
As noted previously, providers, payers, and clinicians all understand that big tech companies will continue their healthcare power plays. The HIMSS report states that "large national plans are expected to lead the way in supporting nontraditional approaches for care delivery."
Analysis from Tom Kiesau, chief innovation officer for The Chartis Group—a HIMSS Trust Partner—notes: "Given the increased reliance on technology companies, health systems should anticipate big tech companies becoming rivals for patients.
Kiesau adds: "These new market entrants are hyper-focused on meeting consumers' needs, which has effectively raised the level of expectations for how easy and satisfying care should be to access and receive."
“These new market entrants are hyper-focused on meeting consumers' needs, which has effectively raised the level of expectations for how easy and satisfying care should be to access and receive.”
Tom Kiesau, chief innovation officer, The Chartis Group
Laura Beerman is a contributing writer for HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The August 2022 HIMSS Future of Healthcare report sees stakeholders becoming more confident about navigating digital disruption.
Bigger players—inside and outside of healthcare—may have the upper hand.
Why it matters: How likely a healthcare customer is to walk through a provider's brick-and-mortar door will be dictated by its digital one.