The modern healthcare system has been evolving with new changes inherent in multiple complications that affect the consumers and producers. These challenges include availability and costs, staff deficit, management of new technologies and financial issues. From a recent talk with several healthcare leaders, we were able to get their perspectives on several questions regarding what they deem to be the greatest issues and how they are trying to deal with them. Now, let’s discover some of the greatest challenges that the healthcare industry is experiencing at the moment, according to the feedback of CEOs and other professionals.
1. Affordability and Rising Healthcare Costs
Healthcare costs are one of the most significant and growing problems facing the healthcare industry. According to Debbie Feldman, the President and CEO of Dayton Children’s Hospital, stress falls on patients that still consider medical bills as one of the common causes of the bankruptcy cases in the United States. Though providers strive to keep the charges affordable the costs of medical services still escalate putting pressure on the patients and hospitals.
Feldman said that change in one camp is met with pushback by the other. A stable point creates an unsatisfactory condition for patient constituencies. Moreover, a rising share of government expenditure in healthcare costs if unsustainable in the long-run option for healthcare spending. Providers are also dealing with competition from the new market entrant who are challenging the going business, especially in the more remunerative sub sectors in the health industry.
2. Workforce Shortages and Employee Well-Being
The outside interests in relation to healthcare reflect one of the major challenges, namely the deficit of qualified workers and the necessity to maintain the existing personnel. Mr. J.P. Gallagher, Former President and CEO of Endeavor Health spoke on the need for sustaining the healthcare workforce. COVID-19 aggravated workforce problems, which caused higher rates of stress and patient care professional exhaustion.
In response to this, the management at Endeavor Health has considered employee feedback and ensured that their needs are met including career progression. The organization nurtures employee health through skills training, professional development, and work-life programs designed to foster belonging and appreciation. Some healthcare facilities also tend towards job marketplaces like SkillGigs to find top healthcare talent to meet their staffing shortages.
3. Challenges with Healthcare Payment Systems
According to Brian Gwyn, the President of Mercy Health – Cincinnati, the single biggest issue that exists today is the broken structure of reimbursement in healthcare. However, the hospitals that are still making their profit in the current situation remain the ones that are closely connected to the community. Mercy Health, for example, is working to address social determinants of health by forming strategic alliances with local community partners. All these efforts are targeting both the cure of diseases as well as the prevention of diseases by offering preventive care and maintenance of an individual’s health in the community level.
Healthcare organizations need to find ways to adapt to the evolving financial landscape by prioritizing community health and addressing the broader social determinants of health. This model of healthcare delivery focuses on the promotion of patient-centered care, disease prevention, and an introduction to some key social determinants of health.
4. Access to Healthcare Services
Access to healthcare services remains a major challenge, particularly for underserved communities. David Banks of Group of AdventHealth as CSO, Group President, and CEO of Primary Health and Multi-State Divisions pointed out affordability, access, and clinical workforce as key challenges. Changes in the population will also have an impact on the payer mix and force organizations to reconsider the existing business strategies and assets.
AdventHealth has handled these challenges by establishing a new primary health division, expanding service lines, and providing financial protection. Hence, its mission is to provide quality and continuous care to patients and communities without considering short-term profitable gains.
5. Integrating New Technologies in Healthcare
Digital technologies in particular are a double-edged sword for the healthcare industry in particular. Use and incorporation of technology on the other hand can make care delivery better and the outcome of patients’ better but it is expensive and needs training. One of the strategies employed by Matt Caldwell, the President of Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, is adopting sophisticated technology and well-trained staff to ensure that quality care is offered close to home. This approach is rather important for enhancing outcomes for patients with certain diseases at a reasonable cost.
However, healthcare leaders also understand that the application of technology is not sufficient in and of itself. It has to fit seamlessly in the provision of care without increasing the costs for the patients. For example, organizations have to embrace the use of technology while on the other side, they have to balance between the costs at which they receive reimbursement from the insurers and the government.
6. Fragmentation of Healthcare Systems
Randy Haffner, Group President and CEO for AdventHealth Florida and AdventHealth Clinical, noted the lack of cohesion and disconnection in several health systems. Several people understand that present care delivery models tend to align with organizational objectives at the expense of the patient experience.
The goal of AdventHealth is to work towards healing patients, which in this case translates into the organisation making healthcare easy to consume. Care continuity and increasing accessibility of care can increase healthy outcomes when patient have the right care in place at the right time.
Conclusion
The problems affecting the healthcare industry are numerous and diverse, calling for creative approaches to addressing them. Whether it’s affordability, workforce, access, or technology, leaders in the healthcare industry are working to overcome challenges and create a stronger healthcare system. However, as this sector develops, the emphasis should be made on maintaining the patient-centered approach to guarantee the quality of services and their affordability while avoiding the emergence of new unsustainable trends.
