Health industry issues 2021

The healthcare industry responded with astonishing speed to the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we start to move from crisis response to recovery and reform, we all owe a debt of gratitude to our healthcare and aged-care workers and leaders for their commitment and sacrifice.

Practically overnight, clinicians, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and payers shifted much of their work onto virtual platforms and other digital technologies. As consumers grappled with a deadly new virus, providers embraced virtual technology in unprecedented numbers so they could continue to serve patients despite restrictions on in-person interactions. In doing so, they packed a decade’s worth of reforms into a few short months. Players across the industry boosted data analytics capabilities to respond to ongoing shifts in healthcare needs, consumer behavior, and the economy. The deployment of digital tools in clinical trials helped companies quickly test whether existing medicines worked against the new virus, and enabled the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines. And work began to shore up the weaknesses evident in the healthcare supply chain.

All this took place amid the broader backdrop of changes coursing through the industry and a set of long-standing common issues affecting the health ecosystem. In the years before the pandemic, and in the months since COVID-19 altered the course of history, a series of transformations has been altering traditional paradigms. And they will continue to do so in coming years. These include a heightened focus on well-being and prevention, the push to develop cures in addition to treatments, paying based on outcomes rather than fee-for-service, new developments in gene therapy and precision medicine, cross-industry convergence, and an end-to-end focus on patient and clinician experience. These themes intersect and interact with significant issues, including excessive cost; health inequities; inadequate transparency, interoperability and collaboration; and a general lack of trust.

Though there are opportunities for improvement in every component of operations in the vast USD 8.3 trillion global healthcare system, the Global Top Health Industry Issues report focuses on four major themes that were given a shot of momentum by the response to the pandemic, and that will continue to grow in strength. These themes are the opportunity presented by the increase in virtual clinical care, the power of data analytics to deliver better health and economic outcomes, the influential technology-fueled innovation in clinical trials, and the efforts to build supply-chain resilience. The continuing digital transformation plays a key role in each of these issues as players across the healthcare spectrum embrace new tools and capabilities to improve clinical and business operations.

PwC looks at four top issues that now affect global healthcare providers, insurers, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, new entrants, and employers. Research is backed by new results from a PwC survey of 10,000 consumers across 10 territories, conducted in January 2021, along with interviews with healthcare leaders.

Striking the right balance on virtual clinical care
Advances in technology and consumers’ desire for convenience are expected to drive adoption of virtual care to a level that disrupts the traditional care-delivery system. The PwC global health consumer survey shows extremely high interest in remote care – whether via smartphones or video appointments – even once people are able to return to in-person care. As a result, provider and payer organizations must develop forward-looking, comprehensive virtual care strategies that make sense from both a patient care and business perspective.

Implications
Protect against care inequities. Though immensely promising for patients with mobility barriers or access issues, virtual care can create new disparities or worsen existing inequities if vulnerable populations, including minorities, the elderly, and the poor, do not have the mobile devices, connectivity, and digital literacy needed to participate. Some 3.6 billion people remain offline, and broadband services are too expensive for half of the population in developed countries, according to the World Economic Forum. Health organizations should take into account technology access among vulnerable populations when building their strategies.

Address health data privacy and security. The more people use telemedicine, healthcare apps, and remote monitoring devices, the greater the number of potential entry points for cybercriminals seeking to steal patient data or launch ransomware attacks. Healthcare organizations must boost their cybersecurity efforts, understand privacy laws, and build powerful security into solutions or products they design.

Manage for change. It is not enough simply to make digital tools available or demand that employees and partners use them. Providing digital upskilling opportunities, building organizational digital fitness, and helping employees adjust to changing work practices will be essential. “Managing the change and taking care of employee well-being will be huge,” said Ramsay Health Care’s Baggaley. “Organizations will have to work very hard to communicate with their employees and to explain what they’re doing and why.”

Harnessing data analytics
COVID-19 was the first truly global pandemic in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data. But when the pandemic arrived, healthcare organizations often struggled to find the basic information they needed to respond – whether it was disease and death rates or the availability of hospital beds and critical supplies. The experience shows the need for prospective models, fueled by a steady stream of data, in as close to real time as possible. The disorganized rollout of COVID vaccination programs in many countries illustrates how much more must be done to harness the power of data and analytics. At the same time, recognition of the power of data analytics to improve care, enhance the patient experience, and lower costs is driving a convergence among the tech, health services, and pharmaceutical and life sciences industries.

Implications
Leverage data to target interventions. Data can be used to target interventions to the right patients, thus improving outcomes and lowering costs.22 The PwC Global Health Consumer Survey found that though 36 percent of respondents overall experienced anxiety or depression as a result of the pandemic, the prevalence was higher among generation-Z (42%) and millennials (43%). Such findings can help healthcare organizations develop communication and outreach strategies directed at specific populations. Behavioral analytics can be applied by pharmaceutical and health services organizations to drive patient engagement and improve adherence to medication, health, and wellness regimens.

Convene regional collaborations. Health systems and medical research organizations can bring together and lead data-driven regional healthcare collaborations with local players, such as community organizations, pharmacies, government, and local employers. Tech players can serve as key partners, helping generate insights from health, consumer, and social determinants of health data that can be used to identify trends, target interventions, and drive smart outreach strategies.

Develop a data-driven culture. The increasing focus on data and analytics means that healthcare organizations need to create a culture of data-driven decision-making, in which information is transformed into insights. “You need to be much more data-fluent as an organization and have people who not only can read the data, but also have the insight and influence to make something of it,” said GSK’s Haines.

Evolving clinical trials
The pandemic’s disruption of the existing in-person clinical trials forced the adoption of digital technology and remote-care tools that enable researchers to handle some aspects of trials virtually, including digital recruitment, remote visits by telehealth, and the use of home-based testing or monitoring technologies.

In the PwC Health Research Institute Survey, 93 percent of pharmaceutical and life sciences executives said trials that include digital elements were important to their company’s pipeline in the next five years, and 66 percent of respondents in the PwC Global Health Consumer Survey said they would be very or somewhat willing to engage in digital clinical trials.

Positive experiences during COVID-related trials undoubtedly increased enthusiasm for incorporating digital components into trials when feasible.

Implications
Determine the right studies for new models. Not every therapeutic area is a good match for decentralized studies, or those that incorporate remote patient interactions, due to trial requirements and patient safety and needs. Trial sponsors should identify and prioritize appropriate disease areas and, in the case of decentralized trials, examine the feasibility of running studies in unconventional locations that can adequately facilitate patient visits, drug storage, and biospecimen collection. Some locations, such as retail health clinics, may already have the necessary infrastructure in place.

Weigh the costs and savings. Trials that feature remote tools for some patient interactions and monitoring create savings in a number of areas, including those associated with onsite monitoring and management. However, sponsors must factor in nontraditional costs, such as the expense of providing participants with any necessary monitoring devices or wearables.

Address consumer concerns. In the PwC Global Health Consumer Survey, 23 percent of respondents said they were unwilling, or somewhat unwilling, to take part in remote trials. Among reasons were trust concerns (30%), time commitment (21%), and health concerns (20%). To boost consumer interest in remote trials, research organizations could engage in messaging that addresses these barriers.

Developing supply chain resiliency
The pandemic shone a harsh spotlight on supply chain weaknesses. The over-reliance on cheaper markets – primarily China and India – resulted in shortages of APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients), supportive care drugs, ventilators, and personal protective equipment in early 2020. In a PwC Health Research Institute Executive Survey, 94 percent of pharmaceutical and life sciences executives and 86 percent of provider executives said that improving their supply chain overall was a priority in 2021.

Implications
Consider supply localization. Healthcare organizations – whether buyers or providers of products – must decide the degree to which they need to localize their supply chains for different products. Such factors as risk and resilience, development of a broader ecosystem, cost-benefit analysis, tax incentives, and talent availability should be considered for the short and long term. Organizations should build in agility with redundant infrastructure.

Build partnerships required for resilience. Governments, pharmaceutical companies, and providers collaborated at an unprecedented level in the effort to develop and manufacture COVID vaccines. Going forward, healthcare organizations should explore partnerships that enable innovation, foster supply chain resilience, and advance product distribution. For example, the partnerships and infrastructure put in place to support the efficient deployment of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines could be leveraged to accelerate development of any new cell and gene therapies or mRNA products.

Invest in the workforce of the future. Supply chain resilience requires investment not only in advanced manufacturing processes and data analytics, but also in people who understand the technology and the power of data. As AI and machine learning pervade the supply chain – from identifying promising molecules for drug development to getting finished products to customers – companies are competing for people with data science skills. “There is a massive war for talent on at the moment, be that the vaccine companies looking for the best scientists or the supply chain companies looking for the people who are the best at combating the likes of Amazon,” GSK’s Haines.

A brighter future
To be sure, healthcare organizations face much uncertainty as the COVID-19 pandemic continues more than a year after it began. They continue to grapple with a series of demands, each of which in isolation would be a major challenge. They have to operate with a deadly pathogen in their midst, conduct a massive immunization drive, catch up on deferred preventive and elective care, and manage normal healthcare demand.

Still, going back to the same old way of doing business is not an option. Healthcare organizations have the opportunity to build on the lessons they learned in 2020 by establishing a stronger footing on the balance between in-person and virtual care; embracing digital technologies and analytics to improve operations, clinical trials, preventive health and patient care; and taking steps to strengthen their supply chains. Healthcare organizations that do so will grow stronger, more resilient, and more effective from the clinical and business perspectives in 2021 and beyond. Reimagining healthcare as we emerge from the COVID-19 crisis gives us the opportunity to deliver better health outcomes to all, with more sustainable and affordable costs – truly a silver lining from the pandemic’s dark clouds.

This article is based on a recent report Global Top Health Industry Issues 2021 by PwC.