How the Health Care Industry Is Moving Toward a New Normal
Realizing the True Impact of the Pandemic
For the past two years, unless you had a crystal ball, predicting trends in the health care industry has been difficult. COVID-19 shifted the priorities of most health care organizations and aligned us all around an urgent goal of promoting vaccination. With a nationwide mass vaccination effort now ongoing, senior care providers like McGregor continue to move toward a new normal. And now more than ever, we are looking for ways to improve our processes and our systems.
As we do so, it will be important to pay attention to the emerging trends in our industry, like those trends highlighted earlier this year by Susan DeVore, President and CEO of Premier Hospitals, in the Health Affairs journal. We also encourage those adults with elderly parents or loved ones to pay close attention to these trends, as they will shape the senior care industry going forward. We have summarized some of Susan’s thoughts below:
Momentum for Health Care Initiatives
Programs with bipartisan support—such as a shift away from fee-for-service reimbursement payment policies—will have momentum going forward, with the goal of driving lower costs and higher quality outcomes for patients.
Vaccination
Mass vaccination against COVID-19 will continue to be a priority as health care providers work toward a shared goal of achieving herd immunity. Rapid testing improvements are also a focus.
Finding US-Based Sources for Critical Health Care Supplies
The pandemic brought to light the risks of relying on overseas markets for critically needed supplies like drugs and equipment. The solution will require a balanced approach between finding more global suppliers as well as US-based sources that are readily available.
Updating Public Health Technology Systems
COVID-19 also exposed how outdated and siloed our public health data systems and technologies are, many of them relying on manual data entry, faxed forms, and other antiquated forms of data collection. Improving access to public health data in particular will be a focus of the technology modernization effort to come.
The Rise of Virtual Care
While before COVID-19 our nation’s telehealth services were largely underutilized, virtual visits have soared during the pandemic. The benefits of telehealth—namely its ability to reach at-risk populations and provide access to quality care for our seniors and patients in rural, low-income areas—will drive providers to offer more comprehensive virtual care options.
McGregor is positioned to meet the trends in our industry with our exceptional staff, dedicated partners in the Greater Cleveland community, and an unwavering commitment to our patients. If you would like to learn more about life at McGregor and our mission, please reach out.