Question

Research current healthcare trends. Explain two healthcare trends that can provide opportunities or threats to the finances of healthcare organizations. Be sure to note how the trends fit into the SWOT framework. Cite your sources.

Answer 1

Two recent healthcare trends that can impact health plans, health systems, and patients as well as provides opportunities or threats to the finances of healthcare organizations are-

1)Currently, healthcare systems are gradually moving to a prepaid, value-based medicine model, as opposed to the common fee-for-service model. Value-based medicine moves the payment from patients increasing, and makes an obligation to the providers to focus on maintaining patient health rather than just prescribing medicine . Decreasing the amount of care needed to keep patients healthy has a direct impact on the size of an organization’s margins and that acts a financial strength to the healthcare organizations.

For this keeping medical history in electronic form becomes an integral part. Moving to advanced electronic medical records (EMRs) can improve treatment decisions and continuity of care, leading to decreased admissions, better cost effectiveness and obviously a greater profit margin.

2)As health systems targeting for increased efficiency, lower costs and better margins, digital innovations to support healthcare investment, strategy and operation are being developed. Some digital innovations can be the following-

a)Technology is being integrated with machine learning. The increasing auto-posting rate allows hospitals and health systems to redeploy assets to other revenue-generating sectors like denial management. Thus technology up-gradation has also saved three to four days in clients’ working capital by saving the staying cost of patients to diagnose health issues.

b)The need for hospitals and health care systems to collect an increasing amount of money directly from patients creates a problem for the accounts payable departments of healthcare institutions, which were not designed to issue thousands of small checks to patients. so, Corporate Quick Pay solution allows health systems to send payments directly to a patient’s bank account using email or text message.

These innovations in artificial intelligence and machine learning drive efficiency across a range of areas.This is the strength to finances to healthcare organizations and at the same time it is also a threat because if electronic system fails due to server networking problem or system crash then whole system will not operate and that will be a case of financial loss.