Welcome to DIGITAL HEALTH BRIEFING, the newsletter providing the latest news, data, and insight on how digital technology is disrupting the healthcare ecosystem, produced by Business Insider Intelligence.
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PROVIDERS SLOW TO ADAPT AS HEALTHCARE CONSUMERISM TAKES HOLD: While US health systems have made strides in becoming more consumer-centric, providers aren't doing enough to improve the patient experience, according to a new Kaufman Hall survey. Health systems are confronted with consumers' newfound expectations of convenience, speed, and digital services, and healthcare delivery must be reimagined in order to drive patient volume and retention.
Most providers have failed to implement services that improve the patient experience. Ninety percent of healthcare providers say improving customer experience is a top strategic priority - up from 30% in 2017. But most are ill-prepared to do so, partly due to a lack of consumer analytics and expertise. And just over half of providers reported having a strong ability to improve the customer experience, and even fewer reported a strong ability to can engage customers with digital tools (23%), offer a variety of virtual access points (15%), or provide price transparency (11%).
Creating an improved patient experience could help more innovative health systems capitalize on the consumerization of healthcare:
- Investing in digital services helps drive customer retention. Investing in online scheduling platforms and virtual care services could improve patient satisfaction and encourage customer retention. Patients no longer feel obligated to stay with healthcare organizations that don't deliver a satisfactory experience, according to a survey by West.
- Developing a robust online presence helps drive patient volume. Nearly two-thirds of patients will choose their provider based on a strong online presence, according to Doctor.com.
GE TO SPIN OFF HEALTHCARE DIVISION AS AN INDEPENDENT UNIT: General Electric (GE) announced plans to spin off GE Healthcare as an independent division in a move to stabilize and refocus the company. The move isn't a reflection of GE Healthcare's performance - the division was a bright spot in a mostly rocky 2017, posting a 5% year-over-year (YoY) increase to hit $19 billion in revenue. John Flannery, chairman and CEO of GE, labeled GE Healthcare as an example of GE "at its best," and indicated releasing the unit as a pure-play healthcare company should free it to concentrate on strengthening its market position.
Moving forward, GE Healthcare will likely continue to focus on its strengths in key digital health areas:
- GE's using AI to power its imaging devices as improved clinical decision support tools. With a broad base of US hospitals already using its imaging devices, GE's in a strong position to capitalize on the use of AI to improve medical imaging. For example, GE partnered with chipmaker Nvidia in November 2017 to use AI to help radiologists better detect liver and kidney lesions from medical images captured on GE devices.
- Health systems have turned to GE's analytics and digital health expertise to reduce costs. In December 2017, GE's health unit partnered with Rhode Island-based Lifespan in an effort to reduce the health system's costs by $182 million by improving patient flow and operational efficiencies.
FDA CLEARS FIRST IMPLANTABLE GLUCOSE RPM IN LATEST ENDORSEMENT OF HEALTH TECH: Maryland-based Senseonics, a medtech company, earned the first-ever US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a monitoring system that uses an implantable sensor to track blood sugar levels, according to mHealthIntelligence. The implanted remote patient monitoring (RPM) sensor pairs with a mobile app to send a patient and their caregivers alerts when glucose levels stray outside the healthy range, which could enable earlier interventions in the onset of serious health issues. The FDA likely sees the sensor as a small step toward getting a handle on the steadily rising annual economic cost of diabetes in the US, which grew by 26% from 2012 to hit $327 billion in 2017. The FDA's taken a more open stance toward digital health tech in the past year, including a pre-certification program launched in 2017 making it easier to bring digital health products to market. The FDA's encouraging stance on digital health tech should send a positive signal to tech companies and could open the floodgates to more innovative devices coming to market.
NHS RECRUITS FOR CYBERSECURITY POSITION AMID ONGOING PRIVACY TROUBLES: More than a year after the WannaCry ransomware attack shut down multiple hospitals in the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) has posted an opening for a chief information and cyber security officer (CISCO), according to Digital Health. The CISCO will direct the NHS' cybersecurity strategy and could help shore up security practices and patient trust after a year colored by security concerns. As of February 2018, every NHS system tested against cybersecurity standards since the WannaCry attack had failed. And in March 2018, the NHS disciplined 29,000 staff members for communicating with patients using messaging apps like Facebook and WhatsApp, which aren't compliant with data protection regulations.
The NHS' security struggles are symptomatic of an industry-wide issue - the emergence of electronic health record (EHR) systems has created new access points for potential data breaches. And while more than half of physicians in the US are at least very concerned about future cyber attacks, security initiatives haven't adequately kept pace. Only 15% of US healthcare organizations employ a chief information security officer, according to Black Book. Health systems should address the resulting vulnerabilities issue with a sense of urgency - the average data breach puts a $700,000 dent in healthcare businesses' budgets. Moreover, nearly 70% of US consumers would consider leaving their provider if it was hit by a ransomware attack, according to cybersecurity software vendor Carbon Black.
Business Insider Intelligence
IN OTHER NEWS:
- Tech giant Apple may add biometric sensors to future generations of AirPods that could monitor metrics like heart-rates, according to Bloomberg. Apple's unleashed several digital health initiatives in 2018, including a new API that allows US iPhone users to share their health record data with third-party apps.
- HealthEngine, Australia's most successful online appointment booking service, is facing intense scrutiny amid accusations that it shared its customers' data with legal firms looking for personal injury clients, according to Healthcare IT News. The outcry over issues of consent and privacy could be a blow to the government's Australian Digital Health Agency, which is eager to increase utilization of the country's digital health records system.
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