Three Focus Areas for Healthcare Leaders in 2023: Lower Costs, Better Access, Collaboration for a Simpler System

I just returned from the 41st annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, where companies and leaders from across the health care industry came together to discuss strategies to address some of the most pressing issues facing the health care industry and to identify emerging opportunities.

As part of the conference, I met with Echo Health Ventures and leaders within their portfolio companies, discussing a variety of topics impacting our industry, including macroeconomic trends and new models for care delivery and payment. Blue Cross NC collaborates with Echo, a strategic investing engine that connects market-driven innovations with the scale of forward-thinking health care enterprises. 

At the conference, discussions focused on the need to measure the impact of value-based payment models across the major areas of cost, access to care, and health outcomes. Alternative payment models like Blue Cross NC’s Blue Premier framework are generating significant savings; the next frontier is to quantify progress on things like system efficiency and on creating a fuller picture of results across a portfolio of disparate solutions.

Integration of data – meaningful, actionable data – among payers, providers, and patients is not only crucial to achieving affordability, it’s also essential to creating a system that’s easier to navigate for consumers. There are vast stores of information scattered across myriad players in health care, much of it essentially inaccessible because of records systems that can’t communicate with one another or because of needed collaborations that haven’t been established. There is great potential for investment in startups that can enable these technological and interpersonal connections.

Admittedly, it’s a challenging time in our industry – and of course, there are plenty who would rightly ask, “When have there not been challenges?” But I was encouraged by the urgency of our discussions. Our conversations quickly turned to some of the most immediate challenges for the health care industry. Costs – including the increasingly steep rise in the price tags on prescription drugs – are a serious barrier to accessing care, particularly in areas without an adequate number of providers to meet the needs of our communities. As we’re working to expand access to care, we must be intentional about making that access equitable. This is a major focus of Blue Cross NC’s community investments and the work of the Blue Cross North Carolina Foundation, a separate nonprofit organization.  

Inflation – of prices and wages – was another topic of discussion in the meetings. The growing demand for health professionals is driving up wages, which will in turn drive up the cost of care. How can we ease some of the increasing pressures put on front-line caregivers like nurses, addressing their needs while drawing the next generation of students into health care careers?

Another recurring theme throughout the conference was the need to fully integrate mental and behavioral health services into primary care. This integration can make health care easier to navigate for both patients and providers. One in five Americans experiences a behavioral health disorder in a given year, lending greater urgency to establish collaborations and make investments that can expand access to mental health care and eliminate the social stigma associated with seeking treatment.

The leaders I spoke with at the conference share a commitment to using investments to produce timely, tangible reductions in cost for health care consumers. Collectively, we agreed it is critical to shorten the time frame for demonstrating sustainable returns on these investments in the form of better health care that’s more affordable and easier to access. The goal over the past few years has clearly moved beyond growth for its own sake; taking actions that drive near-term, even immediate affordability, and that keep us financially strong, are essential to achieving a health care system that delivers sustainable value for our customers.  

I am bullish on investment opportunities in health care in the coming year, with enormous potential to find – and fund – solutions to address the challenges of unaffordable care, inequitable access, and confusing systems of care and payment.