Dr. Hilton Hudson
Five healthcare industry trends for 2024
December 22, 2023
By Hilton Hudson
According to a recent peer-reviewed study, health spending is projected to grow 5.4 percent from 2022-31, and account for roughly 20 percent of the U.S. economy by the end of that period. Those figures should encourage anyone left shell-shocked by the negative headlines about the business of healthcare, including a wave of hospital closures and negative operating margins among many surviving businesses. The fact that profit margins presented a mixed picture in 2023 should signal a long road to financial recovery.
As hospitals and health systems set their budgets for 2024, a unique set of priorities has emerged that go beyond mere survival.
New digital tools bring the potential to increase health equity and improve patient outcomes in financially strained regions. Expanding access to ACA-affiliated insurance plans should potentially improve patient access to basic healthcare. Meanwhile, the looming threats of digital cyberattacks and increased violence against healthcare workers will force providers to remain vigilant on multiple fronts.
Here are five trends to watch in the business of healthcare in 2024:
Focus on information security
A data breach affecting nearly 2 million patients was the subject of one class-action lawsuit in January. Another $4.3 million settlement was agreed to in January as the result of a separate data breach. These cases came less than two years after a $6.85 million class-action settlement was reached, compensating more than 10 million patients.
In each case, sensitive medical information and other private data was accessed by hackers over a period of days, weeks, or months. All should serve as a warning to hospitals and health systems about the threat of cyberattacks.
As organizations consolidate via mergers and acquisitions, or consider reducing their IT staff as part of cost-cutting measures, the importance of information security only increases. A data breach could be financially devastating, and erode the public trust in their local hospital or health system. Expect information security to be more vigilant in the cat-and-mouse game between hackers and providers going forward.
Addressing healthcare disparities
The effects of racial gaps in healthcare are well-documented. African American communities are more vulnerable to severe weather and floods, and are at higher risk to experience asthma as a result of polluted air, than other communities. Black women suffer from three times the maternal mortality rate as white women. People of color face disproportionate barriers to accessing mental health services.
Addressing health disparities like these is not merely a moral issue. In cases where patients have the financial means but not the ability (or vice versa) to access the care they need, providers have financial incentives to expand access to care in socioeconomically disadvantaged regions. A May 2023 study estimated the cost of increasing healthcare disparities on the U.S. economy at $451 billion.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently recommended more aggressive data collection to identify risk factors ― underlying health conditions, social factors, access to care, etc. ― to support providers’ business initiatives. For example, CMS recommends using data “to support health care organizations in building strategic relationships with other local community partners to better understand and meet patients’ unmet social needs.”
Expanded access to ACA insurance plans
Access to basic coverage drives much of the disparity in health outcomes among various groups. Often, government-sponsored health plans are necessary to bridge the gap.
For example, Native Americans and Hispanics were twice as likely to be uninsured as whites as of 2021, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey. CMS recommends “addressing gaps related to health insurance network adequacy, opportunities to enroll in coverage, affordable, comprehensive coverage options, and provider availability and shortages.”
Some progress is being made on that front. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, an additional 9.3 million people gained Affordable Care Act-related coverage plans between 2021 and 2023. About 4 in 5 individual ACA-related plan enrollees are now subsidized through policies included in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. As awareness and access to these programs increase, ACA enrollment numbers figure to increase as well.
Preventing violence against healthcare workers
More than one-third of healthcare workers experienced some form of workplace violence between Jan. 2020 and March 2022, according to a recent study. Healthcare workers are trained to “always do no harm.” But what happens when they are in the difficult position of being the target of abuse ― verbal or physical ― from the patients and families they serve?
While rarely fatal, attacks against healthcare workers are five times more common than in other workplaces. Post-traumatic symptoms among victims are common. To maintain a safe work environment for healthcare staff and their patients, the American Association of Medical Colleges reports that hospitals are adapting their practices to prevent violent incidents before they arise.
As more hospitals experience this growing phenomenon first-hand, look for their policies and procedures to evolve in response.
Providers bringing AI into healthcare
Artificial intelligence and machine learning tools have gained acceptance in many healthcare settings, but their full range of practical benefits and applications have yet to be realized. Based on industry sentiment so far, the positives seem to outweigh the negatives, based on some early examples of AI adoption.
Take coding. Without much heavy lifting, a medical coder can use an AI script to review 1,000 patient charts and flag any that meet certain criteria that pose high risk for coding errors. In hospitals where such coding errors have been costly, generative AI can be an especially useful time- and money-saving tool that reduces the burden on human coders. These tools are relatively inexpensive, making them available to hospitals of all sizes and operating budgets.
The potential for biased datasets to exacerbate disparities in medical outcomes through the use of AI is beginning to get the attention it deserves. AI tools also have the potential to reduce disparities. Anyone with an internet connection can access ChatGPT and input a question focused on their personal healthcare needs. Providers whose services are constrained by staffing shortages, or long driving distances for patients within a broad area, can educate patients on how to use an AI-based app to pre-screen their own symptoms at home.
About the author: Hilton M Hudson, MD, FACS, is a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon and the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Franciscan’s Michigan City and Olympia Fields health systems. He is also the CEO of HPC International (HPC), the leading educational purchased services supplier for healthcare, corporations and academic institutions.
According to a recent peer-reviewed study, health spending is projected to grow 5.4 percent from 2022-31, and account for roughly 20 percent of the U.S. economy by the end of that period. Those figures should encourage anyone left shell-shocked by the negative headlines about the business of healthcare, including a wave of hospital closures and negative operating margins among many surviving businesses. The fact that profit margins presented a mixed picture in 2023 should signal a long road to financial recovery.
As hospitals and health systems set their budgets for 2024, a unique set of priorities has emerged that go beyond mere survival.
New digital tools bring the potential to increase health equity and improve patient outcomes in financially strained regions. Expanding access to ACA-affiliated insurance plans should potentially improve patient access to basic healthcare. Meanwhile, the looming threats of digital cyberattacks and increased violence against healthcare workers will force providers to remain vigilant on multiple fronts.
Here are five trends to watch in the business of healthcare in 2024:
Focus on information security
A data breach affecting nearly 2 million patients was the subject of one class-action lawsuit in January. Another $4.3 million settlement was agreed to in January as the result of a separate data breach. These cases came less than two years after a $6.85 million class-action settlement was reached, compensating more than 10 million patients.
In each case, sensitive medical information and other private data was accessed by hackers over a period of days, weeks, or months. All should serve as a warning to hospitals and health systems about the threat of cyberattacks.
As organizations consolidate via mergers and acquisitions, or consider reducing their IT staff as part of cost-cutting measures, the importance of information security only increases. A data breach could be financially devastating, and erode the public trust in their local hospital or health system. Expect information security to be more vigilant in the cat-and-mouse game between hackers and providers going forward.
Addressing healthcare disparities
The effects of racial gaps in healthcare are well-documented. African American communities are more vulnerable to severe weather and floods, and are at higher risk to experience asthma as a result of polluted air, than other communities. Black women suffer from three times the maternal mortality rate as white women. People of color face disproportionate barriers to accessing mental health services.
Addressing health disparities like these is not merely a moral issue. In cases where patients have the financial means but not the ability (or vice versa) to access the care they need, providers have financial incentives to expand access to care in socioeconomically disadvantaged regions. A May 2023 study estimated the cost of increasing healthcare disparities on the U.S. economy at $451 billion.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently recommended more aggressive data collection to identify risk factors ― underlying health conditions, social factors, access to care, etc. ― to support providers’ business initiatives. For example, CMS recommends using data “to support health care organizations in building strategic relationships with other local community partners to better understand and meet patients’ unmet social needs.”
Expanded access to ACA insurance plans
Access to basic coverage drives much of the disparity in health outcomes among various groups. Often, government-sponsored health plans are necessary to bridge the gap.
For example, Native Americans and Hispanics were twice as likely to be uninsured as whites as of 2021, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey. CMS recommends “addressing gaps related to health insurance network adequacy, opportunities to enroll in coverage, affordable, comprehensive coverage options, and provider availability and shortages.”
Some progress is being made on that front. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, an additional 9.3 million people gained Affordable Care Act-related coverage plans between 2021 and 2023. About 4 in 5 individual ACA-related plan enrollees are now subsidized through policies included in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. As awareness and access to these programs increase, ACA enrollment numbers figure to increase as well.
Preventing violence against healthcare workers
More than one-third of healthcare workers experienced some form of workplace violence between Jan. 2020 and March 2022, according to a recent study. Healthcare workers are trained to “always do no harm.” But what happens when they are in the difficult position of being the target of abuse ― verbal or physical ― from the patients and families they serve?
While rarely fatal, attacks against healthcare workers are five times more common than in other workplaces. Post-traumatic symptoms among victims are common. To maintain a safe work environment for healthcare staff and their patients, the American Association of Medical Colleges reports that hospitals are adapting their practices to prevent violent incidents before they arise.
As more hospitals experience this growing phenomenon first-hand, look for their policies and procedures to evolve in response.
Providers bringing AI into healthcare
Artificial intelligence and machine learning tools have gained acceptance in many healthcare settings, but their full range of practical benefits and applications have yet to be realized. Based on industry sentiment so far, the positives seem to outweigh the negatives, based on some early examples of AI adoption.
Take coding. Without much heavy lifting, a medical coder can use an AI script to review 1,000 patient charts and flag any that meet certain criteria that pose high risk for coding errors. In hospitals where such coding errors have been costly, generative AI can be an especially useful time- and money-saving tool that reduces the burden on human coders. These tools are relatively inexpensive, making them available to hospitals of all sizes and operating budgets.
The potential for biased datasets to exacerbate disparities in medical outcomes through the use of AI is beginning to get the attention it deserves. AI tools also have the potential to reduce disparities. Anyone with an internet connection can access ChatGPT and input a question focused on their personal healthcare needs. Providers whose services are constrained by staffing shortages, or long driving distances for patients within a broad area, can educate patients on how to use an AI-based app to pre-screen their own symptoms at home.
About the author: Hilton M Hudson, MD, FACS, is a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon and the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Franciscan’s Michigan City and Olympia Fields health systems. He is also the CEO of HPC International (HPC), the leading educational purchased services supplier for healthcare, corporations and academic institutions.