Four ways the healthcare industry can manage cost in 2023
The US spends more on health care as a share of the economy than any other country. In fact, 2021 saw a total spend of $4.3 trillion alone. But in response to the current economic downturn, hospitals and other care organizations aim to reduce costs without sacrificing patient outcomes. Addressing unnecessary healthcare spending is crucial to the shift to value-based care, yet significant industry changes must occur to achieve these goals. If cost reduction goals remain unmet, equity in health care is harder to achieve, and individual financial security is threatened.
Here are four ways healthcare organizations can better manage costs in 2023:
1. Increase access to preventative treatment
Think of preventative care as the first step to overall health and wellness. Early intervention helps patients avoid chronic conditions and manages these conditions when they emerge. Prevention and disease management decreases the likelihood of complications for patients down the road. Once prevention is no longer possible or manageable conditions worsen and reach a crisis point, emergency department (ED) visits increase. Uncontrolled chronic conditions and elevated ED usage drive up costs for patients, health plans, and accountable care organizations (ACOs), mainly because hospital care makes up nearly one-third of health care spending in the United States. Scalable digital health tools increase access to preventative care, which has been definitively linked to improved patient outcomes.
Eric Urquiza
Sr. Vice President of Operations & Client Experience
Eric Urquiza, Sr. Vice President of Operations & Client Experience, has close to 20 years of experience driving transformational healthcare IT programs, advancing patient care, improving access and outcomes for patients through technological solutions. He has been successful in leading many strategic client relationships and increasing provider adoption of telehealth solutions, ultimately leading to strong efficacy for the underserved populations throughout the country. Eric holds Master of Business Administration from the University of Redlands.
Eric lives in Southern California with his wife and two children, both currently studying in college.
2023 Healthcare Industry Trends: Reduced Manual Processes & Retail Expansion
Our predictions for 2023 healthcare trends focus on reducing manual processes to improve staff retention and patient satisfaction. In addition, we also expect a greater expansion of retail primary care, which will require greater coordination of data. This year may finally deliver interoperability as retail clinics and patients demand less bureaucracy and faster diagnosis and treatment.
Focus on data and efficiency to reduce patient and staff burdens
As we discussed in our last blog, Referral strategies for specialty care clinics that reduce administrative work and medical practices do not have the staff to support inefficient processes that create more work for the practice and the patient. Moves toward greater efficiency will take the lead in 2023. Healthcare organizations will:
1. Increase patient engagement and improve the patient experience by adding more tools that reduce the need to verify insurance coverage, copays and prior authorization requirements.
- The AristaMD platform already offers insurance verification to those practices using its referral management service. The solution also indicates whether a specialist is in-network and nearby.
- eConsults services will continue to improve patient satisfaction by eliminating the need to visit a specialist to receive specialized diagnosis and treatment advice. eConsults allow PCPs to access recommendations from specialists in more than 70 specialties and sub-specialties within hours.
2. Lower the cost of specialty care by deploying technology. Since more offices are now paid using value-based care risk sharing, physicians are incentivized to improve outcomes while controlling for cost. At the same time, access to specialists is declining due to the physician shortage.