Healthcare Issues

These are the 12 health issues defined by 2018 according to AwC.

Twelve healthcare sector trending events will be highlighted in 2018, such as the emergence of AI, a step towards securing the web of things, catastrophe prevention and the growing complexities of healthcare reforms. PwC's PwC Research Institute provides new insights and analyses on healthcare related industrial trend.

Research at the Health Research Institute is conducted independently and is not funded by companies, governments or other bodies. Below are 12 topics that the 2018 edition of the Health Research Institute will focus on, requiring the focus and innovative power of medical C-Suite leaders, hospitals and other healthcare workers. Businessmen overall said they hoped to be able to automate functions such as rote bureaucracy (82 percent), schedule planning (79 percent), time recording (78 percent) and bookkeeping (69 percent) with AI solutions.

Thirdly, thirty-nine per cent of providers' managers said they were invested in artifical intelligentsia, mechanical education and predictive analysis. Healthcare managers are planning to spend three years on AI, but many are lacking the skills to deploy this type of leading-edge healthcare solution, says PwC. Just 20 per cent of those surveyed said they had the technologies to be successful with AI.

In 2018, if many health care reform measures are implemented, political leaders and decision-makers at national levels could take important steps. Indeed, the overall tendency is towards state independence in health care policies. Health organisations, especially those operating in several countries, should reinforce adherence and representation of interests locally, PwC said.

Companies must notify older people about Medicare Advantage before they reach the age of 65. Just 28 per cent of PwC Research Institute respondents between the age of 50 and 64 said they were comfortable with Medicare Advantage. Instead of being just a pass-through that serves a contractual role, healthcare mediators can develop. It could increase price visibility and take more of the value added chains, making producers accountable for the effectiveness of medicines, promoting public healthcare by bringing together pharma and clinic information, and helping individuals better manage their healthcare.

More cyber security violations will occur and preparation of clinics and healthcare delivery must be made. "Costs and reputation costs of injury to patients' healthcare can far surpass revenues foregone from interruptions to operations," writes AwC. Whilst 95 per cent of providers' senior managers believe their company is safe from cyber-security attack, only 36 per cent have security policy and only 34 per cent have a cyber-security auditing procedure, the survey says.

PwC recommended that companies train both physicians and patient practitioners on how to use the available resources and how to incorporate them into nursing operations in order to manage the information they produce. These changes are leading to new alliances, for example consumers' organisations that are joining forces with insurance companies. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services this year provided $157 million to 32 healthcare organisations in their two-track Accountable Health Communities Model.

During the five-year demonstrations, early payments and deployment schemes will be explored, such as setting up a coordination platform for collaborative organisations or assisting clients in contacting such organisations. Assuming corporate citizenship has helped some health organisations to retain and recruit staff. PwC reports that 84 per cent of the suppliers stated that personnel training and personnel lifecycle are important for their future five -year succes.

However, 78 per cent of vendor managers say they do not have the information to identify patients' societal needs; and while doctors collect standardized geographic information in the EHR, more impeccable societal and life-style information is available, PwC said. Companies need to find business associates who already have widespread approval of sharing information among physicians - many healthcare providers have made investments in information infrastructures and want to use them as a differentiating feature, PwC said.

A number of smart pharma firms - such as networked pills - are collecting their own information. This type of IT tool could be a playground for pharma firms with already in place digitally invested IT assets to bring loyalty instruments to the markets. Health organisations need to make additional efforts in DRR to maintain health care, such as supplying power to power plants and crucial equipment in an underground-based concrete plant.

Companies need to assess the latest state of resistance and are planning what comes next. There is a need to update the accounting system in order to collect different types of information as new fiscal rules enter into force. On the basis of any definitive fiscal reforms adopted by Congress, companies must review their schemes to identify the necessary changes.