What’s Expected From the Healthcare Industry Post COVID-19

The temporary relaxation of restrictions on data privacy, instate licensure for providers, telehealth offerings, and local regulations simultaneously demonstrated benefits derived from such unrestricted access while illuminating the need for controls (albeit maybe less restrictive than pre-pandemic). The easing of HIPPA restrictions sent IT staffs across the country racing to keep pace with the flood of requests and pent up demand for solutions that only the day before had been heavily regulated with administrative overhead and financial penalties.

The good news is that we have proven we can rise to the occasion in a crisis regardless of the historical restrictions on our heavily regulated industry. The bad news is that we now face months, possibly years of new debate on the mechanics and merits of a healthcare delivery system that meets us where we are, when we need it.

Many practical applications of telehealth were prevalent in the healthcare industry pre-COVID-19 – remote monitoring of ICU patients, remote radiology reads, and language interpreters for non-English speaking patients represent a few examples. Managing COVID-19 transmission exposure conditions precipitated the need for tele-triage to reduce direct contact between healthcare staff and patients in emergency settings and with physician and nurse rounding in acute care settings.

The debate over telehealth is not whether we can do it, or if it has practical application, or even if the technology is available to support it. Each of these instances prove it is possible. But in each of these instances the financing mechanism involves contracts between two organizations rather than physician to patient. Tackling the direct physician-to-patient telehealth encounter is a different story that involves Medicare, state, and private payers and where money is involved the opportunities for fraud, malpractice, and other abuses exist.

Getting back to some definition of normal for most healthcare delivery systems is critical to survival. Staff layoffs and furloughs, reduced IP admissions, reduced diagnostic outpatient tests, cancelled elective surgeries, increased expenses for protective gear and ventilators have dominated the conversation. Daily clinical huddles became COVID-19 update sessions. Studies indicate patients stayed home frequently ignoring and exacerbating chronic conditions for fear of exposure to COVID-19.

So, what’s next?

How do organizations convince physicians it is safe to schedule elective patient surgeries? When will patients feel confident to schedule elective procedures? How do organizations alleviate fears of COVID-19 exposure?

These and many more questions are being answered by a new wave of emerging companies offering data insight and marketing solutions designed to build consumer
confidence. LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter are becoming vital elements of a healthcare organization’s marketing strategy.

As we grapple with a new normal in healthcare, an age-old debate gains a new stronghold. It is no secret that current EHRs are both lauded and denigrated in almost the same sentence. The access to patient information is great in episodic care but otherwise limited due to interoperability issues. We can’t live without it but argue the user interface is not intuitive and doesn’t promote usability. It records details but doesn’t tell a story. Industry veteran John Glaser, in the June 12 Harvard Business Review, outlines the shortfalls of current EHRs to adequately support the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The overhaul must also support the ability of providers to adopt the new value-based-care business model of health care — one that rewards providers for outcomes rather than the volume of services and that shifts their focus from reactive sick care to the proactive management of health.”

EHRs, once implemented, are entrenched and expensive to replace. In many ways they are considered a necessary evil that consumes far too much of the IT and operations budget. Industry experts suggest bolt on applications can enhance current record keeping, transaction based EHRs. We can’t keep starting over. We must grow from where we are. That opens opportunities for new, nimble, and modern solutions to be developed to meet current challenges.

Business continuity reared its head during COVID-19 exposing many vulnerabilities that are not seen during times of business as usual. The mandate for non-essential workers to shelter in place drove healthcare leaders to send scores of staff home to work remotely. This action immediately tested an organization’s ability to monitor staff time productivity, support remote work with secure remote access to systems, insufficient network speeds, and device availability — not to mention the ability of the staff to stand up an efficient home office environment.

Computing devices such as laptops, monitors, and tablets were in immediate short supply from vendors with weeks to months lead time before receipt, VPN connections were saturated, and communication via web and video conferencing became the vogue.

What is most clear is that our industry was ill-equipped to be successful in a remote work setting. Considering the hard learnings of the COVID-19 experience, it is time the healthcare industry takes a page from future of work experts like Paul Estes to focus on creation of an agile workforce that is fully equipped and ready to work where and when needed.