New Health: A vision for sustainability: Publications: Healthcare: Industries: PwC

Making healthcare systems more sustainable

The healthcare industry continues to struggle but there are signs that the industry is poised—finally—for major disruption, driven by persistent challenges of rising costs and growing demand; the rapid advance of technology; and the rise of the consumer.

There are many factors involved in creating more sustainable health systems, but we believe two are the most critical:

Delivering value to consumers—as they define the term. Adopting the consumer’s perspective is critical today, as consumers in many parts of the world are responsible for a greater share of total healthcare costs.

Developing a broader, more holistic, consumer-centred approach that focuses on wellness and prevention, and on continuous management of health. This new model also expands the definition of health that crosses sectors and encompasses economic, social, and other aspects of individuals’ lives. It is central to the emerging era that we call New Health.

We explore how we can make healthcare systems sustainable—how we can encourage innovation and investment in the sector to enhance wellbeing, improve health outcomes, slow the rate of cost growth, and bolster customer satisfaction.

Embracing new entrants

For decades the healthcare industry was relatively closed to outsiders, but today new entrants from outside the industry are emerging in force. Armed with advanced technology and new business models, they are reshaping the industry and upsetting the status quo. For incumbents, these new entrants are a force to be reckoned with.

Redesigning the workforce

New workforce models are needed to make care more accessible, affordable, and capable of meeting growing demand. The workforce will expand to include social workers and others outside the medical ranks. Traditional roles will shift as organisations pursue personalised service delivery and more integrated care. Robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) will help to compensate for a looming shortage of healthcare workers.

Leveraging genomics and personalised medicine

Advances in genomics are transforming the industry, enabling improvements in risk assessment, detection, treatment, and prevention, and improving the quality of patients’ lives. Genomics will help to shift the industry’s focus, from disease to wellness and prevention. As genomics advances, scientific, regulatory, reimbursement, and other challenges will have to be addressed.

Creating new care delivery models

Technology is transforming care delivery—enabling do-it-yourself (DIY) care via mobile devices, shifting care to lower-cost settings outside of hospitals, and enabling improved. New entrants are leveraging technology and pursuing business-to-business (B2B) models to improve care delivery.