PLEASANT BREAKFAST, COVID-19 AND HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY

On last Sunday morning, after a delicious breakfast served by my wife, I was thoroughly enjoying myself reading statistics on Convid-19 cases in Malaysia and throughout the world. It makes me think about the influence on the private healthcare industry; challenges and new ideas for keeping the firm afloat must be addressed by hospital executives. These will not be limited to the pandemic period; the post-pandemic needs and new normal business behaviour make my sluggish Sunday becomes a whirlwind of ideas on this matter.

Around the world, private healthcare players are grappling with long-standing issues of affordability, access, quality, and efficiency. Existing care models, on the other hand, may impasse their efforts to adapt and evolve for the future. Care model innovation can help patients and doctors have a better and more pleasant experience while also bending the cost curve. COVID-19’s expansion is causing and exacerbating a number of fundamental changes. Consumer engagement in healthcare decision making is rising, as is the quick acceptance of virtual health and other digital technologies, as is the drive for data analytics usage and as is the unprecedented public-private partnership in vaccine and medicines research. Few trends are affecting transformation in the private healthcare industry, and they provide questions and actions that healthcare leaders should think about in the next years. How stakeholders evaluate and respond to these challenges will define their capacity to transition from recovery to flourishing in the post-pandemic; new normal, as well as accelerate their journey toward the Future of Health.

Customers are driving and accelerating healthcare reform as innovation in health related services is driven by their needs and requirements. Digitally enabled on-demand and seamlessly connected doctor-patient interactions are being driven by their choices. Across locational and socio-economic categories, their needs are driving the move to patient-centric care delivery. In response, industry players are striving to transform a transactional patient-customer healthcare encounter into a comprehensive healthcare experience. As a result, every person’s health path is unique and that’s why healthcare providers must adapt their offerings so that each engagement becomes a personalized health experience for the customers. Hence, to preserve or even re-earn customer trust, businesses must exhibit dependability, openness, and, most importantly, empathy in how they operate.

Private Healthcare providers are striving to address long-standing issues such as affordability, access, quality, and efficiency. Existing care models, on the other hand, may restrict their efforts to adapt and evolve for the future. Care model innovation can help doctors and patients have a more effective and enjoyable experience while also bending the cost curve. Hospitals must be ready to spend in improving or upgrading core structures, technology, and workforce procedures, as well as explore new finance models such as value-based care, health care services, and capitated payments, which prioritise patient demands and cost-control concerns.

Digital transformation may assist hospitals and the larger healthcare system in improving work processes, expanding access to services, and providing a more effective patient and doctor experience. Cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and virtual patient care are technologies in the field that are becoming increasingly important throughout the world. While customers are enthusiastic about future virtual visits, many are dissatisfied with current encounters with doctors. Training people in the development of virtual interpersonal connections may be a significant step toward improving the virtual visit experience of customers.

One of the pandemic’s legacies is likely to be a greater emphasis on collaboration across the health ecosystem. Traditional barriers have become more transparent, if not completely obliterated, offering potential for new healthcare practices, new business and finance models, and more effective stakeholder partnerships, resulting in unique customer experience combinations from incumbents and new participants. Interesting collaborations are expected to form between healthcare players and technology experts; with each bringing unique strengths to the alliances. Large data need to be gathered and discussed, and then transforming them into improved actions that reduce operation cost or enhances quality and the customer’s experience.

Data-driven, human-centric solutions will be required to address COVID-19’s immediate workforce problems, including protecting frontline staff’s safety and well-being while also developing future workforce flexibility and resilience. Data on how individuals and teams connect and cooperate may help the hospital to go beyond the standard organization structure to develop and grow alliances, nurture fresh ideas, and promote an inclusive and welcoming culture.

People and industry players will become accustomed to the new normal in their daily routines sooner or later. Whether you like it or not, innovative ideas and improvements must occur now or in the near future to ensure a better tomorrow.

Faizuddin Yusof
Marketing Manager
KPJ Klang Specialist Hospital