PwC has released its list of the top issues within the healthcare industry for 2015.
As the post-Affordable Care Act healthcare landscape takes shape, the industry will shift toward digitally-enabled, consumer-focused care models, according to PwC. As a result, it says the following trends will dominate the healthcare agenda next year:
- More convenience for less privacy: With the proliferation of digital tools and services that provide treatment options based on data analysis, "privacy will lose ground to convenience in 2015."
- Innovation in response to costly patients: The aging population, comorbidity in patients and the cost of care for "dual eligibles"--patients eligible for coverage under both Medicaid and Medicare--will foster creative care delivery and management systems."
- Expanded scope of practice: "Extenders" of physician care are more important to patients, as indicated by new laws expanding other clinicians' practice authority, as well as risk-based payment models and remote, digital patient monitoring.
- Transparency initiatives: Next year will bring initiatives that aim to shine a light on clinical trial data, outcomes and physician-pharmaceutical financial relationships, according to the report, which will help boost patient care quality.
- Even more emphasis on positive outcomes: As healthcare becomes increasingly outcomes-based, evidence and definitions for high-quality outcomes will be in high demand.
- More approved, portable home medical devices, necessitating strong information security.
- Do-it-yourself (DIY) healthcare, such as smartphone-linked devices and mobile apps.
PwC's Health Research Insitute (HRI) also found increased interest in DIY healthcare technology among healthcare professionals, in some cases more so than patients, according to a statement.
"For example, while about one-third of U.S. consumers said they would use a home urinalysis device, more than one-half of physicians surveyed by HRI this year said [they] would use data from such a device to prescribe medication or decide to see patients," the announcement states.
To learn more:
- here's the complete list