3 Lessons on the State of Healthcare in 2023, and What to Look Forward to in 2024
As we kick off 2024, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on how the healthcare industry has shifted in the past year, and what it might mean for the future.
After attending conferences and many discussions with industry leaders, I’ve had three big “aha” moments on the state of healthcare transformation that will define my priorities for the new year:
1. AI — Hope Vs. Hype
Everyone is talking about artificial intelligence and how it will transform how we think and work. But when it comes to clinical support, especially nuanced areas like oncology, we’re nowhere near this technology making decisions for physicians.
At a recent digital innovation session I attended at a premier cancer center, the head of radiology raised the question of whether radiologists will be out of a job in five years. In response he said, “They’re prematurely predicting my death.” His argument was that while AI might help him sift through the 100+ reports received in a day — and even go as far as to synthesize this information into suggestions — it will still be up to him to make the final call. A June headline from the New York Times sums this up well: “A.I. May Someday Work Medical Miracles. For Now, It Helps Do Paperwork.”
We should be excited that AI will free up physicians’ time and maximize their time with patients, but we need to manage expectations and tread cautiously as it plays a role in clinical decision making. As we adopt AI, we must adjust for biases, ensure models don’t drift, educate patients on the role AI plays in their care to combat skepticism and fear, and build the correct ethical and legal standards for how these models are used. In other words, we should focus on leveraging the immediate, backdoor business opportunities before hyping up future advancements as there’s still work to be done.
2. Value-Based Care Isn’t Dead
We’ve been talking about value-based for over a decade, and adoption in the commercial space has been slow. It’s easy to think we’ve made little progress.
A recent conversation by former HHS and CMS administrators at HLTH challenged this notion and highlighted many advancements made in the public sector. They argued that value-based care is far from dead and noted the fact that enrollment in Medicare Advantage surpassed traditional Medicare in 2023. This growth in the public sector shows that we’re making strides in improving outcomes and reducing costs for patients, even if we’re not talking about it as much as we’re talking about, say, AI. Continued self-reflection and a willingness for stakeholders to compromise in the private sector will be crucial, along with educating patients — many of whom aren’t even aware of their options — on the benefits of value-based care.
3. Real Innovative Transformation Requires Partnerships
True innovation in any field, including healthcare, takes collaboration. Every company wants to race to surpass its peers, but there’s plenty of opportunity. More importantly, it’s becoming more and more clear that it’s in the best interest of patients to work together.
CancerX — a private-public partnership to improve care for cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers — is a great example of this. For its first initiative, the organization completed a data sprint in coordination with the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Stakeholders were surveyed on additional data elements to include as part of a broader effort to enhance oncology care. Ensuring we collect the right data in a standardized way will enhance treatment selection and oncology care delivery for patients. Opportunities like this support the notion that if we want reduce cancer deaths by 50% within the next 25 years, it’s going to take a collective community to make it happen.
AI, value-based care, and partnerships — these aren’t new trends, but ones that are consistently mentioned in the context of healthcare transformation. So, consider this a look forward as much as a look back on last year. With incremental investment in these three key areas, I’m confident we’ll continue to see important advancements in patient care in 2024 and beyond.
My final takeaway from the last year is that you can’t keep a pulse on the industry by sitting at your desk or reading syndicated reports. Healthcare is rapidly changing. Go to that demo or conference. Get out there and talk to the people on the ground leveraging new approaches and technology to deliver better care for patients. Hearing from leaders across sectors and communities will help us build solutions that truly meet the needs of patients.
