Expectations from 2022

There is little doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic is an unprecedented, global health crisis. With rise in globalization and enhanced inter-connectivity between communities, epidemics are expected to be more frequent in times to come. Although countries around the world did well to respond, however, the pandemic did test the resilience of each and every healthcare system by highlighting how ill-equipped the world was for such a public health emergency. Resilience of any system is often a function of its flexibility. Therefore, amongst the many lessons learnt, flexibility within the hospital space has emerged as a critical feature to enable optimum resilience.

Over the past two years, significant changes have been witnessed across sectors, especially in healthcare service delivery. Advances made in medical technology and digitally driven medical solutions have put preventive healthcare in focus, enabling a willful shift from illness to wellness.

Building a digital culture and workforce readiness
Increasingly, tech innovations are becoming inseparable from healthcare delivery. Embracing a digital culture would make data accessible to both caregivers and patients, increase co-operation between patients and their caregivers, and enable a well-functioning patient-physician relationship. Focus has to be on building a technology-enabled healthcare ecosystem for improving quality and accessibility.

Digitization
In times to come, it is expected that healthcare systems across the country would accelerate their journey on digitization. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) aims to develop the backbone necessary to support the integrated digital health infrastructure of the country. Under India’s Union Budget, allocation for ABDM was increased to ₹200 crore for developing the national digital health ecosystem (NDHE).

Automation

• A clinical decision support system (CDSS) is an important facilitator for clinicians, nurses, and para-medical staff for improvement in healthcare delivery through targeted clinical knowledge, patient information, and other health information. In a traditional CDSS, a software enables clinical decision-making, wherein individual patient’s features are matched to a computerized clinical knowledge base, resulting in patient-specific assessments and recommendations. One of the means of improving patient care through adoption of CDSS is its ability to amalgamate patient’s medical history, lab and test results, and evidence-based guidelines for best care practices, thereby reducing errors.
• The complexity and volume of data is making application of artificial intelligence (AI), increasingly prevalent in clinical decision making. AI may be considered as a bouquet of technology rather than one particular tech feature. Studies suggest that AI and use of algorithms may match human performance in key healthcare tasks, such as diagnosing disease.

Opportunities

• Accelerated demand for high-quality healthcare in Tier l/ll cities;
• Hub and spoke model for hospitals and associated clinics. While hospitals offer full range of services, clinics would offer limited services;
• As the pandemic recedes, significant resurgence in demand for OPD and elective procedures;
• Holistic healthcare models to improve patient outcomes and satisfaction;
• Shift in patient focus from illness to wellness with greater awareness around mental health; and
• Rise in remote monitoring of patients and home healthcare demand for maintaining continuum of care.

Flexibility in hospital architecture and design; provisioning unidirectional corridors; isolation rooms to address risk of infection.