PwC Predicts Top Health Industry Issues Of 2015
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
PwC consumer survey provides interesting comparison to healthcare providers’ perspectives.
PwC's Health Research Institute (HRI) has released its Top health industry issues of 2015 report, one that anticipates the $2.8 trillion U.S. healthcare sector will transform into a true economic market, according to a press release.
Combining insights garnered from a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers and interviews with health industry leaders, Top Health Industry Issues of 2015 demonstrates new trends will range from a rise in “do-it-yourself (DIY) healthcare,” industry adaptation to the newly insured, the continuing need to balance convenience and privacy of consumer data, and putting a price on positive outcomes.
“With consumers leading the way, bearing more costs and making more decisions, change is erupting throughout the health industry,” Kelly Barnes, PwC's U.S. health industries leader, said in the release. “Established healthcare companies and new entrants are rapidly developing cost-efficient products and services tailored directly to consumers.”
Topping PwC’s list is the rise of DIY healthcare with the study finding physicians are perhaps even more interested in DIY healthcare products and services than consumers. According to the survey, while approximately one-third of U.S. consumers said they would use a home urinalysis device, more than one-half of physicians surveyed by HRI this year said would use data from such a device to prescribe medication or decide to see patients.
When it comes to maintaining the fragile balance between privacy and convenience, the study found consumers remain concerned about the privacy of health data, with 68 percent questioning smartphone health app data security and 78 percent questioning general medical data security.
The survey also found consumers are ready for non-physician caregivers to do more, with seventy-five percent open to “extenders,” such as nurse practitioners or pharmacists, performing health services.
And transparency is of growing importance as well with the survey revealing consumers have mixed feelings about pharmaceutical and life sciences companies' payments to clinicians. PwC predicts there will be increasing pressures from regulators and consumers for more transparency on payments.
Health IT Outcomes recently published its2015 Health IT predictions and, based on a random sample reader survey of 179 respondents from IT decision makers from healthcare providers, the survey highlighted three major areas of concern for 2015. The top three issues noted by readers were EHR/Meaningful Use, PHI Security, and ICD-10 Compliance.
Following them by quite a margin was Patient Portals/Engagement, e-Prescribing, Secure/Unified Messaging, MU audits, Clinical Decision Support (CDS)/Evidence-based medicine, Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI), and HIE.
The Health IT Outcomes survey revealed healthcare providers are “continuing to attack IT projects with continued urgency.” It also demonstrated that “health IT leaders are starting to prioritize their efforts more effectively. They realize they can’t tackle everything at once and are scrutinizing their spends and carefully delegating their resources.”