Value for Hospital Organizations

All areas of both the patient pathway and health care management have been, or are being, digitized. Encompassing aspects such as education, disease diagnosis and management, training, HCP (Health Care Professionals) collaboration and management of appointments, digitalization brings many benefits, but also some considerations such as data security.

The concept of value-based healthcare (VBHC) has become widely accepted to increase patient health and satisfaction with care, while helping to control and reduce costs. Implementing VBHC is not without its challenges, but the COVID-19 crisis has given additional momentum to this approach to healthcare provision.

Considering the patient’s as a “customer” is designed to improve the overall result of healthcare provision from both the patient and healthcare provider’s perspective. Patients benefit from increased communication and greater engagement in their preventative care; providers, working with reliable suppliers, can offer a better focus on service delivery.

Modern healthcare budgets are impacted by many factors including the fast pace of developments in healthcare provision, increasing patient expectations, and economic influences. Consolidation offers healthcare managers the opportunity to reduce expenditure and increase budget efficiency. At a regional level this has seen the merging of administrative functions of local and regional hospitals, and there is an increasing drive to “benchmark” performance against other providers.

The internationalization of healthcare continues to become more widespread. As hospitals explore new sources of revenue and patients cross borders to seek medical treatment, cooperation between healthcare teams is key. Internationalization offers opportunities to expand patient treatments and standards but also involves risk in terms of personnel and services that may move overseas.

COVID-19 has had an unprecedented effect on the provision of healthcare services, with staff, budget and facilities all being directed toward managing the crisis. As such, healthcare managers are struggling to provide “normal” healthcare services against a backdrop of reduced state investment in public health systems, low insurance fees, higher demand for services with a backlog of elective procedures, and the increasing costs of equipment, consumables and services.

Innovations in the digitalization of healthcare and medical treatments and the reengineering of patient pathways are going to be key factors in the drive for more efficient healthcare systems. They are also vital when it comes to increasing the hospital’s reputation and protecting the employer’s attractiveness. New state-of-the-art and disruptive technologies may thus help to provide an edge over other hospital organizations.

As one of the largest producers of greenhouse gases, the healthcare sector is one of those most affected by continuous changes to sustainability regulations and guidelines. By working closely together with healthcare providers, as well as government and regulatory agencies, suppliers can help navigate the complexities of new and changing sustainability regulations.

With ever-increasing pressures on healthcare budgets further exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis, cost management is more important than ever. Healthcare providers face a balancing act to provide optimal care at acceptable costs, while navigating the complexities and challenges of reimbursement. Successful industry/healthcare partnerships can help healthcare organizations optimize reimbursement decision-making processes to benefit budgets, as well as patient outcomes.

As life in general moves more and more online, cybersecurity becomes an ever-increasing consideration. In the healthcare environment, this issue is intensified by the requirement for absolute protection of patient and personal data, and the need to ensure hospitals run as smoothly as possible. As digitalization increases throughout the healthcare environment, leading to enhanced efficiencies, so too must the efforts to ensure data and processes are secure.