What's the latest in virtual healthcare?
At the outset of 2023, it was predicted that this year would be one of the most transformative periods yet for digital health. These predictions foresaw a landscape characterized by the ongoing transition to a post-pandemic "new normal", rapid adaptation to emerging technologies, and, the need to navigate an uncertain economic climate.
As we find ourselves closing in on 2024, here are a few trends that have undoubtedly come to define digital health in 2023, while also bringing forth the challenges they have introduced for tackling in 2024 and onwards.
Challange #1: The Integration of Face-to-Face, Telehealth, and Virtual Healthcare
While traditional face-to-face healthcare remains a vital component, and telehealth serves as a valuable means to enhance accessibility, there's a large gap when it comes to providing personalized attention and motivation between scheduled patient visits.
Challenge #2 Market saturation. Over the past five years, approximately 14,000 startups specializing in digital health technology have secured funding. Forward-thinking purchasers must possess the ability to navigate through this densely populated marketplace and identify digital health vendors that exhibit enduring presence in the industry, rigorous clinical standards, and scalability.
Challange #3 There has been a shifting of focus from Individual Solutions to Comprehensive Care
More than a third of Americans grapple with two or more chronic ailments, and over a quarter contend with three or more. To address the complex issue of coexisting health conditions, approximately half of organizations currently juggle between four and nine specialized digital health solutions — programs aimed at managing a single specific ailment — simultaneously. This leads to a state of exhaustion, stemming from the management of multiple vendors. Is this sustainable?
Challange #4: Benefits offerings are excessively intricate. Approximately 60% of employers confess to feeling overwhelmed by the intricacies of administering their benefits programs, with larger companies, those exceeding 100 employees, grappling with the greatest challenges. Employees also bear the brunt of navigating numerous specialized solutions, which can result in decreased engagement.
Enter Challange #5: GLP-1 Agonists
The demand for GLP-1 agonists is overwhelming both health plans and employers. The annual cost of GLP-1s can surpass $10,000 per person, placing considerable financial stress on employers and payers as demand surges.
These challenges are all contributing to a reduction in investments in digital health.
The question is, are they really challenges or are the opportunities?
As funding for digital health stabilizes, experts are saying that 2024 will be a year of survival of the fittest.
Excited to see (and willing to place bets on) the ones who will prevail!
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