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CHEST Inspiration is a collection of programmatic initiatives developed by the American College of Chest Physicians leadership and aimed at stimulating and encouraging innovation within the association. One of the components of CHEST Inspiration is the Environmental Scan, a series of articles focusing on the internal and external environmental factors that bear on success currently and in the future. See “Envisioning the Future: the CHEST Environmental Scan,” CHEST Physician, June 2019, p. 44, for an introduction to the series.
Chest physicians are witnessing a revolution within the environment in which they practice. Information technology, changing consumer behavior, and the social imperative to contain costs are coming together to transform health care.
Innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of health-related issues is being fueled by the emergence of accessible and affordable technology-based solutions and changes in patient approaches to health care. Consumers and employers are increasingly motivated to look for cost-effective options for health in care delivery and for economical access to innovations.1 Organizations will need to respond with a strategy that aligns with the changing environment and position physicians to lead these trends in the direction of improved patient care.2
Enabling technologies like electronic health records, blockchain, and artificial intelligence will increase connectivity among all the stakeholders in the health-care system. The exponential increase in connectivity means growing engagement of health systems, health plans, patients, and families in all aspects of health care. For health-care providers, these technologies will mean an acceleration of the requirement to generate data in clinical settings and utilize data for clinical decision making. Easily available data on outcomes and, most importantly, cost of treatment will be expected at point of service.3
Access to information will continue to empower consumers to take an active role in their own health care. More patients will be comfortable with delivery of some health care via digital devices, apps, and virtual access to treatment. The market will respond with technology that helps consumers navigate health-care systems, explore options, and communicate directly with providers. The use of apps and virtual encounters is expected to transform the role of primary care providers: patients will increasingly utilize nonphysician resources in outpatient settings, bypassing primary care physicians and reaching out to specialty care as needed.4
David A. Schulman, MD, FCCP, Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, and Editor in Chief of CHEST Physician, has seen the transformation of patient behavior and attitudes in his own practice.
“In general, they have done far more research about their health problems before seeking my counsel than patients did previously. Many use the internet not just to read about their symptoms and diseases, but also to connect with others having similar issues, sharing experiences, treatments, outcomes, and emotions; in some ways, this is the new ‘crowdsourcing’ of medicine.”
Patients who do their own “research” can present a challenge for physicians. Dr. Schulman noted, “I am often surprised about the misconceptions about disease that derive from information gleaned from a web-based source. One need not look any farther than the groundswell of misinformation being spread about vaccinations to see the potential downside of the pervasive availability of medical ‘facts’ online. Since we are unlikely to convince our patients to avoid the online milieu entirely, our role as health-care providers is to help our patients process and appropriately weigh the information that they receive, potentially partnering with our national societies to help curate such information.”
Dr. Schulman’s approach to the potential of patient misinformation is to initiate almost all discussions with patients with the question “Have your read or seen anything about this condition?” He said, “It is rare for patients to answer negatively. And listening to them speak about their understanding of their disease provides me with invaluable information about how the remainder of our visit should be spent. Do we need to correct misunderstandings? Are there gaps in the explanation that I can fill? Can we move directly into a conversation about treatment options? Can I provide you with some additional resources that might help to further your knowledge about the condition?”
Generational factors will play a big role in health-care demand and delivery. Health-care companies are already building lower cost delivery models to capture the millennial market.4 Cost-saving digital tools and virtual contacts are currently most commonly used by younger patients.5 Physicians need to understand and be a part of this trend, Dr. Schulman argued. “We should embrace telemedicine and mobile applications to collect data from the patients in their day-to-day lives. While insurance coverage of telemedicine is far from universal at the moment, and the reliability of mobile applications is highly variable, we know that a growing number of our patients are already relying on their digital devices to manage their health. In much the same way that we will need to help patient evaluate online information, we should work with our national societies to support the creation of tools that will allow us to collect data in the home environment in a more robust and reliable fashion.”
The proportion of the US population over the age of 65 is increasing yearly.6 Six out of 10 Americans live with a chronic illness, such as heart disease or diabetes. These and other chronic diseases are the leading drivers of the $3.3 billion annual health-care costs.7 Cost containment for these older patients and those with chronic illness will involve a focus on quality and outcomes data, a drive to deliver treatment in lower cost outpatient settings, and an acceleration of the adoption of value-based models currently underway.8
Taken together, these trends will mean a growing digital interface between physician and patient, a more active consumer-patient, and the availability of a vast array of new tools to access and manage health-care data.
- Delivery of procedures and services will trend from physicians to other members of the health-care team and to lower cost, outpatient settings.9
- Health-care systems will ramp up investment in products and services that improve outcomes and cost effectiveness.10
- Increased regulatory requirements and new payment models mean an ever-growing utilization of information technology by providers to fulfill data imperatives.11
- Physicians will have an increased need for tools that prioritize costs and outcomes data at the point of care.12
- Integration of data from new technologies will touch every aspect of health-care delivery with the objective of improving outcomes and, in turn, reducing costs.13
- Changing consumer attitudes toward delivery of care will be based on a growing familiarity of patients with a digital or virtual interface with providers, facility with health-care apps, and preference for a menu of options for health-care delivery.14
Dr. Schulman concluded, “We can no more expect our patients to ignore the full panoply of medical information on the internet and digital tools on their mobile devices than we can tell the tide not to come in. The die is cast; this is the world within which we must ply our trade. By identifying best practices and sharing our successes, we can come through this revolution better for the experience.”
References
1. https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20181220/NEWS/181229992/number-of-outpatient-facilities-surges-as-industry-values-more
2. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-tech-vision-2018
3. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-primary-care
4. PcW Health Research Institute: Top health industry issues of 2019
5. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-primary-care
6. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2017/cb17-100.html
7. https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/index.htm
8. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/life-sciences-and-health-care/articles/health-care-current-december4-2018.html
9. PcW Health Research Institute Top health industry issues of 2019: The New Health Economy comes of age
10. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-tech-vision-2018
11. https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/industry/life-sciences/medtech-research-and-development-innovation.html
12. https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/industry/health-care/volume-to-value-based-care.html
13. https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/industry/health-care/volume-to-value-based-care.html
14. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-primary-care
CHEST Inspiration is a collection of programmatic initiatives developed by the American College of Chest Physicians leadership and aimed at stimulating and encouraging innovation within the association. One of the components of CHEST Inspiration is the Environmental Scan, a series of articles focusing on the internal and external environmental factors that bear on success currently and in the future. See “Envisioning the Future: the CHEST Environmental Scan,” CHEST Physician, June 2019, p. 44, for an introduction to the series.
Chest physicians are witnessing a revolution within the environment in which they practice. Information technology, changing consumer behavior, and the social imperative to contain costs are coming together to transform health care.
Innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of health-related issues is being fueled by the emergence of accessible and affordable technology-based solutions and changes in patient approaches to health care. Consumers and employers are increasingly motivated to look for cost-effective options for health in care delivery and for economical access to innovations.1 Organizations will need to respond with a strategy that aligns with the changing environment and position physicians to lead these trends in the direction of improved patient care.2
Enabling technologies like electronic health records, blockchain, and artificial intelligence will increase connectivity among all the stakeholders in the health-care system. The exponential increase in connectivity means growing engagement of health systems, health plans, patients, and families in all aspects of health care. For health-care providers, these technologies will mean an acceleration of the requirement to generate data in clinical settings and utilize data for clinical decision making. Easily available data on outcomes and, most importantly, cost of treatment will be expected at point of service.3
Access to information will continue to empower consumers to take an active role in their own health care. More patients will be comfortable with delivery of some health care via digital devices, apps, and virtual access to treatment. The market will respond with technology that helps consumers navigate health-care systems, explore options, and communicate directly with providers. The use of apps and virtual encounters is expected to transform the role of primary care providers: patients will increasingly utilize nonphysician resources in outpatient settings, bypassing primary care physicians and reaching out to specialty care as needed.4
David A. Schulman, MD, FCCP, Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, and Editor in Chief of CHEST Physician, has seen the transformation of patient behavior and attitudes in his own practice.
“In general, they have done far more research about their health problems before seeking my counsel than patients did previously. Many use the internet not just to read about their symptoms and diseases, but also to connect with others having similar issues, sharing experiences, treatments, outcomes, and emotions; in some ways, this is the new ‘crowdsourcing’ of medicine.”
Patients who do their own “research” can present a challenge for physicians. Dr. Schulman noted, “I am often surprised about the misconceptions about disease that derive from information gleaned from a web-based source. One need not look any farther than the groundswell of misinformation being spread about vaccinations to see the potential downside of the pervasive availability of medical ‘facts’ online. Since we are unlikely to convince our patients to avoid the online milieu entirely, our role as health-care providers is to help our patients process and appropriately weigh the information that they receive, potentially partnering with our national societies to help curate such information.”
Dr. Schulman’s approach to the potential of patient misinformation is to initiate almost all discussions with patients with the question “Have your read or seen anything about this condition?” He said, “It is rare for patients to answer negatively. And listening to them speak about their understanding of their disease provides me with invaluable information about how the remainder of our visit should be spent. Do we need to correct misunderstandings? Are there gaps in the explanation that I can fill? Can we move directly into a conversation about treatment options? Can I provide you with some additional resources that might help to further your knowledge about the condition?”
Generational factors will play a big role in health-care demand and delivery. Health-care companies are already building lower cost delivery models to capture the millennial market.4 Cost-saving digital tools and virtual contacts are currently most commonly used by younger patients.5 Physicians need to understand and be a part of this trend, Dr. Schulman argued. “We should embrace telemedicine and mobile applications to collect data from the patients in their day-to-day lives. While insurance coverage of telemedicine is far from universal at the moment, and the reliability of mobile applications is highly variable, we know that a growing number of our patients are already relying on their digital devices to manage their health. In much the same way that we will need to help patient evaluate online information, we should work with our national societies to support the creation of tools that will allow us to collect data in the home environment in a more robust and reliable fashion.”
The proportion of the US population over the age of 65 is increasing yearly.6 Six out of 10 Americans live with a chronic illness, such as heart disease or diabetes. These and other chronic diseases are the leading drivers of the $3.3 billion annual health-care costs.7 Cost containment for these older patients and those with chronic illness will involve a focus on quality and outcomes data, a drive to deliver treatment in lower cost outpatient settings, and an acceleration of the adoption of value-based models currently underway.8
Taken together, these trends will mean a growing digital interface between physician and patient, a more active consumer-patient, and the availability of a vast array of new tools to access and manage health-care data.
- Delivery of procedures and services will trend from physicians to other members of the health-care team and to lower cost, outpatient settings.9
- Health-care systems will ramp up investment in products and services that improve outcomes and cost effectiveness.10
- Increased regulatory requirements and new payment models mean an ever-growing utilization of information technology by providers to fulfill data imperatives.11
- Physicians will have an increased need for tools that prioritize costs and outcomes data at the point of care.12
- Integration of data from new technologies will touch every aspect of health-care delivery with the objective of improving outcomes and, in turn, reducing costs.13
- Changing consumer attitudes toward delivery of care will be based on a growing familiarity of patients with a digital or virtual interface with providers, facility with health-care apps, and preference for a menu of options for health-care delivery.14
Dr. Schulman concluded, “We can no more expect our patients to ignore the full panoply of medical information on the internet and digital tools on their mobile devices than we can tell the tide not to come in. The die is cast; this is the world within which we must ply our trade. By identifying best practices and sharing our successes, we can come through this revolution better for the experience.”
References
1. https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20181220/NEWS/181229992/number-of-outpatient-facilities-surges-as-industry-values-more
2. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-tech-vision-2018
3. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-primary-care
4. PcW Health Research Institute: Top health industry issues of 2019
5. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-primary-care
6. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2017/cb17-100.html
7. https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/index.htm
8. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/life-sciences-and-health-care/articles/health-care-current-december4-2018.html
9. PcW Health Research Institute Top health industry issues of 2019: The New Health Economy comes of age
10. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-tech-vision-2018
11. https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/industry/life-sciences/medtech-research-and-development-innovation.html
12. https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/industry/health-care/volume-to-value-based-care.html
13. https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/industry/health-care/volume-to-value-based-care.html
14. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-primary-care
CHEST Inspiration is a collection of programmatic initiatives developed by the American College of Chest Physicians leadership and aimed at stimulating and encouraging innovation within the association. One of the components of CHEST Inspiration is the Environmental Scan, a series of articles focusing on the internal and external environmental factors that bear on success currently and in the future. See “Envisioning the Future: the CHEST Environmental Scan,” CHEST Physician, June 2019, p. 44, for an introduction to the series.
Chest physicians are witnessing a revolution within the environment in which they practice. Information technology, changing consumer behavior, and the social imperative to contain costs are coming together to transform health care.
Innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of health-related issues is being fueled by the emergence of accessible and affordable technology-based solutions and changes in patient approaches to health care. Consumers and employers are increasingly motivated to look for cost-effective options for health in care delivery and for economical access to innovations.1 Organizations will need to respond with a strategy that aligns with the changing environment and position physicians to lead these trends in the direction of improved patient care.2
Enabling technologies like electronic health records, blockchain, and artificial intelligence will increase connectivity among all the stakeholders in the health-care system. The exponential increase in connectivity means growing engagement of health systems, health plans, patients, and families in all aspects of health care. For health-care providers, these technologies will mean an acceleration of the requirement to generate data in clinical settings and utilize data for clinical decision making. Easily available data on outcomes and, most importantly, cost of treatment will be expected at point of service.3
Access to information will continue to empower consumers to take an active role in their own health care. More patients will be comfortable with delivery of some health care via digital devices, apps, and virtual access to treatment. The market will respond with technology that helps consumers navigate health-care systems, explore options, and communicate directly with providers. The use of apps and virtual encounters is expected to transform the role of primary care providers: patients will increasingly utilize nonphysician resources in outpatient settings, bypassing primary care physicians and reaching out to specialty care as needed.4
David A. Schulman, MD, FCCP, Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, and Editor in Chief of CHEST Physician, has seen the transformation of patient behavior and attitudes in his own practice.
“In general, they have done far more research about their health problems before seeking my counsel than patients did previously. Many use the internet not just to read about their symptoms and diseases, but also to connect with others having similar issues, sharing experiences, treatments, outcomes, and emotions; in some ways, this is the new ‘crowdsourcing’ of medicine.”
Patients who do their own “research” can present a challenge for physicians. Dr. Schulman noted, “I am often surprised about the misconceptions about disease that derive from information gleaned from a web-based source. One need not look any farther than the groundswell of misinformation being spread about vaccinations to see the potential downside of the pervasive availability of medical ‘facts’ online. Since we are unlikely to convince our patients to avoid the online milieu entirely, our role as health-care providers is to help our patients process and appropriately weigh the information that they receive, potentially partnering with our national societies to help curate such information.”
Dr. Schulman’s approach to the potential of patient misinformation is to initiate almost all discussions with patients with the question “Have your read or seen anything about this condition?” He said, “It is rare for patients to answer negatively. And listening to them speak about their understanding of their disease provides me with invaluable information about how the remainder of our visit should be spent. Do we need to correct misunderstandings? Are there gaps in the explanation that I can fill? Can we move directly into a conversation about treatment options? Can I provide you with some additional resources that might help to further your knowledge about the condition?”
Generational factors will play a big role in health-care demand and delivery. Health-care companies are already building lower cost delivery models to capture the millennial market.4 Cost-saving digital tools and virtual contacts are currently most commonly used by younger patients.5 Physicians need to understand and be a part of this trend, Dr. Schulman argued. “We should embrace telemedicine and mobile applications to collect data from the patients in their day-to-day lives. While insurance coverage of telemedicine is far from universal at the moment, and the reliability of mobile applications is highly variable, we know that a growing number of our patients are already relying on their digital devices to manage their health. In much the same way that we will need to help patient evaluate online information, we should work with our national societies to support the creation of tools that will allow us to collect data in the home environment in a more robust and reliable fashion.”
The proportion of the US population over the age of 65 is increasing yearly.6 Six out of 10 Americans live with a chronic illness, such as heart disease or diabetes. These and other chronic diseases are the leading drivers of the $3.3 billion annual health-care costs.7 Cost containment for these older patients and those with chronic illness will involve a focus on quality and outcomes data, a drive to deliver treatment in lower cost outpatient settings, and an acceleration of the adoption of value-based models currently underway.8
Taken together, these trends will mean a growing digital interface between physician and patient, a more active consumer-patient, and the availability of a vast array of new tools to access and manage health-care data.
- Delivery of procedures and services will trend from physicians to other members of the health-care team and to lower cost, outpatient settings.9
- Health-care systems will ramp up investment in products and services that improve outcomes and cost effectiveness.10
- Increased regulatory requirements and new payment models mean an ever-growing utilization of information technology by providers to fulfill data imperatives.11
- Physicians will have an increased need for tools that prioritize costs and outcomes data at the point of care.12
- Integration of data from new technologies will touch every aspect of health-care delivery with the objective of improving outcomes and, in turn, reducing costs.13
- Changing consumer attitudes toward delivery of care will be based on a growing familiarity of patients with a digital or virtual interface with providers, facility with health-care apps, and preference for a menu of options for health-care delivery.14
Dr. Schulman concluded, “We can no more expect our patients to ignore the full panoply of medical information on the internet and digital tools on their mobile devices than we can tell the tide not to come in. The die is cast; this is the world within which we must ply our trade. By identifying best practices and sharing our successes, we can come through this revolution better for the experience.”
References
1. https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20181220/NEWS/181229992/number-of-outpatient-facilities-surges-as-industry-values-more
2. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-tech-vision-2018
3. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-primary-care
4. PcW Health Research Institute: Top health industry issues of 2019
5. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-primary-care
6. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2017/cb17-100.html
7. https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/index.htm
8. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/life-sciences-and-health-care/articles/health-care-current-december4-2018.html
9. PcW Health Research Institute Top health industry issues of 2019: The New Health Economy comes of age
10. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-tech-vision-2018
11. https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/industry/life-sciences/medtech-research-and-development-innovation.html
12. https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/industry/health-care/volume-to-value-based-care.html
13. https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/industry/health-care/volume-to-value-based-care.html
14. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/digital-health-primary-care