Navigating the healthcare economy | Healthcare Finance News

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COVID-19 revealed our national weaknesses in healthcare – an interconnected reliance on the supply chain, for one. It also showed our individual strengths and resilience. With regulations lifted, providers learned just how quickly they could adapt during surges and treat non-COVID-19 patients virtually. Health equity awareness, staffing burnout and shortages, and mental and behavioral healthcare became issues as never before.

Value-based contracts became more desirable after the pandemic showed the weakness of relying on fee-for-service. What’s followed are more partnerships, investments in AI and machine learning, and the acceleration of the adoption of digital health to attract and retain patients.

While national leaders discuss drug pricing and care models, providers will determine their future in investment decisions.

See our coverage below of these innovations and investment decisions, which we will update throughout the month of October. – Susan Morse, managing editor

Henry Ford Health System taps Contessa for at-home hospital care

The pandemic spurred hospital at home programs but the benefits for providers and patients means their continuation.

Providers struggle to meet rising consumer demand for digital healthcare

There’s plenty of opportunity in the area of real-time appointment availability, which is highly desired by consumers, the report says.

The benefits of using genomic data for health systems and patients

Widespread use requires greater reimbursement and an enterprise-wide strategy.

HIMSSCast: Telehealth and value-based care

UPMC’s Dr. Andrew Watson joins HIMSSCast to discuss two major trends in healthcare and how they intersect.

Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente invest in at-home acute level care

Regulations allowing nonhospital space to be used for patient care during the COVID-19 emergency gave rise to hospital care in the home setting.

How algorithms developed during COVID-19 are expanding the digital strategy at UMass Memorial

The soon-to-launch Hospital at Home uses predictive analytics to determine who can safely go home to remote, acute care.

Executives have yet to fully commit to digital, consumer-centric care, Kaufman Hall finds

Hospitals need to focus on digital investment to compete with other hospitals and retail and technology companies.

Employees increasingly see mental health benefits as essential, but their bosses lag behind

A commissioned survey from Modern Health and Forrester Research shows a disconnect in perceptions of offerings.

Telehealth has grown by leaps at doc practices, with wide variance in usage patterns

More than 70% of physicians surveyed for the new AMA Physician Practice Benchmark Survey work in practices that use video conferencing, with virtual care especially popular among specialists such as dermatologists and urologists.

HIMSSCast: Untangling the complex web of US drug pricing

Capital Rx CEO A.J. Loiacono tells us why drug prices are so complex and opaque, and what can be done about them.

How to create the hospital of the future based on lessons of the past

Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling looks at how health systems and hospitals will change because of the pandemic.