יצירת עתיד ממוקד יותר במטופל: לקחים שנלמדו בכנס JP Morgan Health Care לשנת 2021
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בכל ינואר, סן פרנסיסקו מארחת מפגש ייחודי של גורמים משפיעים. כנס JP Morgan Health Care השנתי, המוכרז כסימפוזיון ההשקעות הגדול והאינפורמטיבי ביותר בעולם בתחום הבריאות, מושך אליו שילוב ייחודי של אנשי מקצוע מתחום הבריאות, מגזר הטכנולוגיה והפיננסים. הרקע שלהם אולי שונה, אך הם מתאחדים יחד עם מטרה משותפת: לחקור את המגמות וכוחות השוק שיעצבו את שירותי הבריאות בשנים הבאות.
Not surprisingly, news about vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 dominated the conversation at this year’s virtual conference, which took place January 11-14, 2021. But other themes emerged as industry leaders looked to capitalize on lessons learned during the global pandemic. One message that came through loud and clear was a pressing need to improve the healthcare experience to create a more “patient-centric” future.
Healthcare pricing, for example, is an area typically shrouded in mystery for patients. Finding out beforehand how much a service might cost is rarely straightforward, and often frustrating. New price transparency rules from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services task hospitals and health plans with improving the financial experience for consumers. Future innovations will empower consumers by making it easier to access and understand pricing for common procedures. The healthcare industry will need to develop new ways to integrate information from many different sources – a complex data management challenge that will require cooperation among many departments.
Pricing transparency was but one of many areas identified at the conference as critical for improving the overall patient experience. Additional priorities highlighted by conference analysts included:
Strategies for making care more affordable
The need to focus on health equity, not just healthcare, to better serve all patients and communities
The potential for expanded “virtual healthcare” options for patients and providers in the future
A push for greater consistency and clarity in public health messaging
A shift from budget-based thinking to a performance orientation in the healthcare setting
There may be no silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic, which simultaneously caused a health services crisis, economic devastation, and great human suffering. But as the 39th annual JP Morgan Health Care Conference showed, industry innovators stand ready to apply lessons learned to improve the healthcare experience for everyone.
