19 hours ago
The 3 C's Of Impactful Healthcare Innovation
Frank Harvey, Chief Executive Officer for Surescripts.
Complicated. That's the word that comes to mind when I think of healthcare.
Even for a thing as simple as seeing the doctor for a nagging cough and getting a prescription at the pharmacy, the whole process can be surprisingly complex and costly.
Despite incredible advancements in medicine and technology, we've yet to solve some contributors to clinician burnout that can add stress to the entire healthcare ecosystem and, most notably, erode patients' trust in their providers. According to Gallup's annual rating of U.S. professions, trust in medical doctors has fallen 14% since 2021, and at 53%, is now the lowest since the mid-1990s.
This doesn't have to be the case. As technology innovators in healthcare, it's up to us to improve healthcare with access to technological innovation that enables better quality, safer and less costly care for patients. We can meaningfully transform our industry with three C's: collaboration, comprehensive solutions and commitment to purpose.
1. Collaboration
What it means for healthcare: The different parts of healthcare have more in common than helping care for patients. Physicians, pharmacists, care managers, life sciences companies and healthcare technology providers are just some of healthcare's parts that often face the same challenges, including burnout, rising costs and the complexity of providing quality care, but they may require different solutions.
Cross-industry collaboration is key. We need to work together to diagnose the problems each healthcare sector faces and develop technologies to solve collective challenges, like prior authorization (an area in which my company works).
In context: Prior authorization is intended to protect patient safety and manage costs. But with over 37% of medical plans using a manual prior authorization process dependent on phone, mail, fax or email, according to a 2023 CAQH Insights report, this can be very tedious for patients.
For providers, prior authorization delays and administrative burden stoke frustration and burnout. Ninety-four percent of physicians surveyed by the American Medical Association say that the process always, often or sometimes delays care, and virtually all (95%) said prior authorization somewhat or significantly increases burnout. And at the pharmacy, prior authorization issues can keep pharmacists from filling prescriptions and spending more time with patients, with over half of pharmacists and prescribers describing following up on prior authorizations as 'very frustrating' in a 2021 survey from my company.
These care providers tend to have the same prevailing concern: Prior authorizations take too much time and manual work, which negatively impacts their ability to focus on their patients.
Collaboration can help identify the nuances and similarities of their challenges—a critical first step. Leaders need to leverage their existing ability to exchange health intelligence to take collaboration to the next level and develop solutions that meaningfully improve how they care for patients.
2. Comprehensive And Impactful Technology Solutions
What it means for healthcare: Technology and innovations that focus only on a single segment are likely just shifting the burden or creating a new challenge somewhere else. As a result, patients often face the most significant consequences of siloed innovation.
Comprehensive technology solutions depend on collaboration and can lead to a more holistic approach where every part of healthcare sees improvement—especially patients.
In context: While AI tools will grab headlines, these tools are likely only addressing one element of the system and may not be truly alleviating the burden on care providers.
Instead, I believe we need collaboration between health plans and care providers to develop systemic innovation. Together, we can build on the nationwide interoperability that exists today to deliver a swift, consistent and comprehensive experience for patients and those who care for them.
Collaboration can take many forms but really relies on the opportunity for discussion and sharing ideas. So next time you're at a conference, meeting a stakeholder from another organization or a former colleague for coffee, remember to be intentional about connecting ideas and seeking out different points of view. It could lead to the next comprehensive fix that leads to meaningful impact for care providers and their patients.
3. Commitment To A Shared Purpose
What it means for healthcare: It's important to remember why we're doing this work in the first place. Regardless of what part of healthcare we represent, we're all in this industry with the same purpose in mind—improving patient care.
In context: When we recognize that across healthcare we are committed to a shared purpose, the ability to collaborate and develop comprehensive, innovative technologies becomes far easier.
Recognizing the purpose behind organizations that compete in the same industry can be challenging—especially when focusing on a recent product launch, earnings report or partnership announcement. But when we peel back a layer to look beyond the headline, we ought to ask ourselves why this announcement matters. Looking closer, you'll see that launching a new product or announcing the latest financial report is simply a way to measure success toward achieving that organization's underlying purpose.
In my experience, this purpose is always about making healthcare better for patients and those who care for them. It's important to keep this in mind and work to deliver messages that connect us back to our purpose. When we do this across an industry, we can see more clearly that we're all committed to something bigger, and it's a reminder that collaboration toward this end is our greatest strength.
Conclusion
The ability to impact or even save lives is the purpose we ought to be working toward. It reinforces why collaboration is critical to tackling difficult problems but can also help amplify impact and fuel continued innovations.
And when all of the pieces come together, I think the result will be bringing meaningful improvements to healthcare for patients and those who care for them.
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