BRIEFS: 5 Healthcare Trends for 2021

2021 may feel like a breath of fresh air, yet many issues linger and solutions for efficient and quality healthcare are out there. Here are some healthcare trends for 2021.

VALUE-BASED CARE | Value-based care is a form of reimbursement that has emerged as an alternative and potential replacement for fee-for-service reimbursement which pays providers retrospectively for services delivered based on bill charges or annual fee schedules. Value-based care aims to advance the triple aim of providing better care for individuals, improving population health management strategies, and reducing healthcare costs.

TELEHEALTH CONTINUED | Telehealth has allowed patients to receive the same level of care at home as they would form a visit to the doctor’s office. The number of virtual visits has gone up during the pandemic and Forrest predicts they will hit one billion by the end of 2020. Telehealth reduces the risk of the spread of the virus and allows physicians more patient consultations.

SMART HOSPITALS | A hospital’s ability to optimize, redesign or build new clinical processes, management systems and potentially even infrastructure, enabling its underlying digitized networking infrastructure of interconnected assets, to provide a valuable service or insight which was not possible or available earlier, to achieve better patient care, experience, and operational efficiency. A critical component for smart hospitals will be the ability to provide a valuable service of insight, which was simply not possible or available earlier.

MODERNIZED PPE STANDARDS | To minimize exposure to infectious diseases, more hospitals will rethink personal protective equipment (PPE) and modernize standards to include hands-free communication technology. In addition to protecting people, hands-free communication can save valuable time and resources.

MENTAL HEALTH | Mental health will become an even bigger issue as the breadth of individuals experiencing depression during the pandemic is fully realized. There will be efforts to address issues such as loneliness, depression, and social isolation. The pandemic has pushed the importance of progress in mental health and communitybuilding to the forefront.