‘Tipping Point’ or ‘Tipping Over’ Point for Healthcare?

It’s All About The ‘new New’

There is no such thing as normal, regular or familiar…Not anymore and certainly not as we go forward. At least not for the healthcare industry.

There is no more past that we need to take into account. There is only a ‘new New.’ 

Healthcare is Now All Change

Because of the health crisis, doctors, nurses and hospitals are experiencing an enormous need to manage the ‘volume’ of people who become patients—either with COVID-19 related issues or because of ‘regular’ needs like sprained ankles, diabetes management and other chronic conditions.

And what we are seeing is the plain fact that the current healthcare system—the way it is currently structured—lacks the capacity to care for everyone in a timely manner.

And because of this, the healthcare sector is seeing a radical and abrupt shift in how it ‘does what it does.’ Things that felt optional or like ‘luxury moves’ before are now an absolute ‘must.’

In the past (like, a month ago), the idea of being able to speak with your doctor without leaving your home or, having a nurse check vital signs through wearable sensors and other remote monitoring tools, was just not that wide-spread. Such ‘virtual care’ capabilities seemed to many executives to be an ‘add-on’ to their ‘real business,’ thus viewed as a ‘nice to have one day.’ Oh how wrong they were…

Now Quickly: Pivot to Provide Some Kind of Virtual Capabilities.

But now, in the midst of a pandemic, most health systems and physician groups are pivoting to provide some level of virtual visits. Think about this: Almost all businesses that can move to a virtual or augmented platform, have done so.

In fact, many doctor’s offices and clinics have experienced a 750% increase in telehealth visits. Why such a rapid and huge adoption of an approach that only a month ago was considered optional (even though an overwhelming set of data say patients want some type of telemedicine?). Because the number of patients coming into the doctor’s office has dropped about 75%. Now, for the first time, providing virtualized care is  not ‘luxury move’ executives can consider ‘one day,’ but rather a matter of survival.

Virtual Care Now At Scale

In the face of this pandemic, many federal rules and payment restrictions have been waived, making it easier for doctors to provide remote and virtual care.  So, now it’s easier for physicians to conduct virtual visits and to get paid for them. All of a sudden, the concerns we’ve heard about how ‘virtualizing the patient encounter will degrade the doctor/patient relationship’ has fallen like a sweater to the floor.

Ok, Now What? What’s the reality of today’s healthcare experience?

So now, we know that doctors are adjusting their practices to accommodate the ‘virtualized patient,’ but what about the patient? What’s changed on their end? How are they different than they were 6 weeks ago?

The New Healthcare Consumer is now:

Ø someone who has probably been forced to try a virtual visit,

Ø someone who realizes virtual visits are, actually, not that bad,

Ø someone who worries about ‘catching something’ if they go into the doctor’s office so prefers to do virtual visits, and,

Ø is getting comfortable with sharing medical data that comes from their i-phone or another wearable, or sensoring technology.

As the coronavirus demands more medical resources, many Americans may soon become accustomed to routine interactions with their doctors taking place over text messages, online video or even automated / asynchronys systems.

OK, Back to the Question of Now What?

There is a sort of ‘Blue Sky’ that is coming out of this very (very) grey cloud: the wide-spread use of virtual healthcare and other proven technologies like point-of-care lab testing and remote patient management capabilities.

And while these capabilities are, in-and-of-themselves valuable, the real value is that these capabilities provide is scale—a type of democratic scale which allow many more people to be cared for and treated in a timely and cost-effective manner.  

Think about this: If consumers become comfortable with getting care remotely, and not only from their ‘regular doctor,’ but from any properly licensed and vetted physician, then think about how many specialists become available to a patient? If the whole physician population within the United States is available to a patient, think about how this might improve patient wait times to see specialists and to get a timely diagnosis and treatment.

For no good reason except healthcare politics and industry inertia, these capabilities, in the past, have been under-utilized for too long.

Such a widespread, dramatic shift in the way health care is delivered is likely to have lasting effects for years, if not for ever.

I think therein lies the silver lining to this very ugly storm… widespread access for patients to be seen by a high-quality provider at a reasonable cost.

And the open question is, ‘Does America see this as a ‘tipping point’ for a radical ‘do-over’ of the healthcare system, yielding a ‘new New,’ or, does America (instead) ‘tip over’ with all these new changes and required adjustments.

My bet is that we are at a New Tipping Point, and all for the better.

About the author: Julie Kliger is recognized by LinkedIn as a "Top Voice" in Health Care in 2015 & 2106, & 2107. She is a Healthcare ‘Strategic Realist’ who is passionate about improving health care and improving lives. She specializes in future-oriented healthcare redesign, translating bio/med-tech into legacy industries, implementing new care models and strategic change management. She is an adviser, clinician, health system board member, speaker and author. 

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You can reach her at Julie@thealtosgroup.com