“The wind of change blows straight into the face of time like a storm wind that will ring the freedom bell for peace of mind let your balalaika sing what my guitar wants to say”-The Scorpions (Author’s note: I don’t know what a balalaika is either.)
Based on the amount of change the healthcare industry has seen in the past 18 months alone, the winds appear to be blowing at the magnitude of a category 5 cyclone. Non-traditional healthcare players are entering thespace, tech continues to advance, and mergers andacquisitions abound. The healthcare market is, seemingly, becoming more dynamic by the moment and everyone is trying to predict the future. As such, Reaction Data asked nearly 100 hospital decision makers what things are going to have the biggest disruptive impact on their organizations and the results ended up being pretty clear – the continued M&A consolidation push, major non-traditional companies entering the market, and new rapidly emerging technologies.
While Amazon has the most mindshare, with almost two-thirds of providers indicating they will make the biggest splash, it’s unclear what direction the Amazon-JP Morgan-Berskhire venture will take beyond Amazon’s distribution sweet spot. That said, Amazon recently acquired the virtual pharmacy PillPack and have partnered on a blockchain solution. Providers also believe Apple, Google, Microsoft and IBM (among others) will have an impact but the mystique surrounding Amazon is eclipsing everyone else by an order of magnitude
Which new company is going to have the biggest impact in healthcare?
Which partnered on a blockchain solution. Providers also believe Apple, Google, Microsoft and IBM (among others) will have an impact but the mystique surrounding Amazon is eclipsing everyone else by an order of magnitude.
Providers indicated that they think the biggest areas telemedicine will have an impact are reaching patients in rural areas and follow-up care. A whopping 73% indicated they currently have a telemedicine solution. In terms of AI, biggest impact areas are by far and away clinical decision support and preventative medicine. In order to gain acceptance, those we asked indicated that vendors will have to deliver cutting edge solutions that make their job’s easier and integrate with their existing systems.
Which emerging technologies will impact healthcare the most?
While the majority indicated they are staying independent, there have been dozens of health organization M&As in the past 18 months alone. These include provider mergers, vendor/payer relationships being formed, and even providers banding together to form a generic drug company. While this is a relatively small sample set, if we extrapolate the data, particularly based on recent history, consolidation does not appear to be a trend that will disappear any time soon.
Are provider organizations going to change their ownership structure?
Ah, the winds of change. New companies continue to enter the space, including giants who are non-traditional healthcare players creating opportunities that didn’t exist for providers previously. As technology continues to move forward, expect new entrants to emerge.
Providers see advances in telehealth and AI as the biggest tech opportunities, allowing convenience to patients in remote areas, increasing communication, and automating and improving the accuracy and quality of care. While over half of the respondents indicated that they are planning on staying independent, one-third said that they are looking to acquire, be acquired, or merge with another organization. Based on what we have seen in the past year, M&As appear to be the new normal.
Radiology is the early adopter of technology of healthcare. Need proof? The majority (73%) of holdouts in adopting speech recognition have plans to finally take the plunge.
We received a tremendous response from physicians in a wide variety of specialties. Regardless of their discipline, all are frustrated to one extent or another. Here are the top reasons physicians are reaching the end of their tethers.
In concert with BYU’s Department of Public Health we conducted in-depth research with provider organizations across the country on social determinants of health (SDoH).
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