0820_AUG Comstock's Magazine 0820 August | Page 40

ECONOMY
HEALTH CARE
Consumer Demand
Will Drive Changes
in the Health Care
Industry
by Garry Maisel
Over the past few months, our industry
has faced a pandemic that threatened
to overwhelm our health care systems.
While adhering to government and
public health organization mandates,
business leaders made critical decisions
that would impact their organizations’
economic and financial stability while
ensuring the safety of their employees,
customers and partners.
At Western Health Advantage, we
activated our crisis plans and initiated a
plan to safeguard our staff, as they are a
support lifeline to thousands of members
and clinical providers. As a health care
company, we had to stay fully operational.
We couldn’t just close our doors; we had to
adapt and respond. We moved our entire
operation to a remote situation, transitioning
250 people to new roles, including
a member services call center. Our support
services were uninterrupted, and our
team maintained excellent service (and
brief on-hold times) to member calls.
Just as businesses are adapting to
support a remote workforce, significant
changes are happening in how health
care is delivered. As a whole, the health
care industry is a slow adopter to consumer
demands. But due to the catalyst
of the pandemic, changes are happening
much more rapidly. Services such as telemedicine
and virtual visits are accelerating
at an unprecedented rate. According
to our clinical providers, 30-40 percent of
doctor interactions were through phone
calls, email, chat or video during the
pandemic. The adoption of telehealth
and virtual visits is certain to drive new
business opportunities (and new jobs) we
don’t even know about yet.
Moving forward, the consumer experience
of obtaining care will look different.
And while there’s a low health risk associated
with going into a medical facility,
consumers now have more options.
In the Capital Region, major health
systems and organizations are the largest
employers behind state and local government,
and the health industry is a more
significant economic driver here than in
other regions. To leverage the changes in
health care delivery and respond to the
awakening of consumer-driven health
care, our region’s businesses can make
significant strides toward enhanced
access to health care. The top areas of
change are:
Gary Maisel is president and CEO of Western
Health Advantage, where he is focused on improving
health care access and affordability
to residents in the Sacramento and North Bay
regions. He’s the board chair of the Greater
Sacramento Economic Council.
Home-health monitoring will increase
Health care will become part of the Internet
of Things. Now that we’ve become
more comfortable with telehealth and
virtual visits to our doctors, we can ask,
“What other health care services can
be accomplished remotely?” Consider
monitoring your health from home. For
example, vitals taken as part of every
doctor’s office visit might be done from
home. Patients can take their own blood
pressure, use smart pulse oximeters to
monitor their heart rate and oxygensaturation
rate, and even use connected
body-weight scales to determine their
body mass index. This information could
be shared with a patient’s doctor during
a call or uploaded directly via a smart
device. These inexpensive devices could
become regular fixtures in a home, just
as we have smart home security and
remote-operated home temperature controls.
A doctor might monitor key health
indicators through connected devices,
and these potentially life-saving screenings
(in combination with office visits and
labs), plus preventive health measures,
may help detect conditions early.
Bringing access in-house
As health care convenience improves,
equally important will be access to
care. Our region’s local, independent
businesses might model larger businesses
by bringing health care delivery
in-house (or even on-site). Employers
have long struggled with employee productivity
issues when employees must
leave work for doctor appointments.
Now an on-site clinic is conceivable
with this new delivery of virtual care.
For example, a small employer could
offer a health room equipped with a
computer and a video link, camera and
self-service blood pressure monitor,
and an employee could see their primary
care doctor (or a specialist) via video.
Better access to medical data
We’ve learned during this pandemic that
accessing data is more important than
ever. Health care companies, staff and
clinicians are working remotely, which
necessitates the need for improved access
to electronic information online, because
hard-copy patient files are unreachable.
I’m optimistic about the changes
evolving in health care. As health care delivery
becomes more consumer-friendly
and interdependent, it’s exciting to think
what other services and innovations will
follow. This may make way for a more hybrid
health care model, where connecting
with your doctor to renew a prescription
or diagnose a condition offers accessibility,
privacy and efficiency. While more
chronic conditions require a combination
of care, through home monitoring and
in-person procedures, the initial step of
telemedicine is inspiring. I predict it will
become better and more efficient.
Given how the Capital Region’s
businesses have adapted in the past few
months to remote consumer interactions,
I’m convinced the innovative consumerdriven
health care mindset will enable
business opportunities that will thrive in
a post-COVID business economy.
40 comstocksmag.com | August 2020